Avenging Heart

By A.J. Llewellyn

World War Two brought them together...but a family's threat to take away Tinder and Jason's son, Christopher, could tear them apart.

Avenging Heart, follows Jason and Tinder's adventures in Honolulu in 1947.

The war is over, but the islands are slow to heal from the devastating ravages of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jason and Tinder are part of the rebuilding effort. Tinder's stepmother is spearheading a growing movement of housewives who are keen to help their husbands bring home the bacon—it's a time of remembrance, hard work, fancy clothing, Tupperware and other intriguing new inventions.

Tinder and Jason, the proud parents of their five-year old son, Christopher, are shattered when his birth mother's family challenges their legal adoption of the child. His mother, Melody, a former working prostitute on Hotel Street, had been murdered, her sins long buried...until now.

The surprising discovery of her killer and the couple's desire, both for vengeance and to maintain the loving home Christopher has always known, make for nonstop twists and turns of Tinder's Avenging Heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pride Publishing
• Release date: Apr 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9780857159496

A.J. Llewellyn

A.J. Llewellyn lives in California, but dreams of living in Hawaii. Frequent trips to all the islands, bags of Kona coffee in the fridge and a healthy collection of Hawaiian records keep this writer refueled. A.J. never lacks inspiration for male/male erotic romances and on the rare occasions this happens, pursues other passions such as collecting books on Hawaiiana, surfing and spending time with friends and animal companions. A.J. Llewellyn believes that love is a song best sung out loud.

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A Total-E-Bound Publication

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Avenging Heart

ISBN # 978-0-85715-949-6

©Copyright A.J. Llewellyn 2012

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright April 2012

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2012 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-burning and a sexometer of 2.

This story contains 88 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 8 pages.

Pearl Harbor

AVENGING HEART

A.J. Llewellyn

World War Two brought them together…but a family’s threat to take away Tinder and Jason’s son Christopher could tear them apart.

Avenging Heart, follows Jason and Tinder’s adventures in Honolulu in 1947.

The war is over, but the islands are slow to heal from the devastating ravages of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jason and Tinder are part of the rebuilding effort. Tinder’s stepmother is spearheading a growing movement of housewives who are keen to help their husbands bring home the bacon—it’s a time of remembrance, hard work, fancy clothing, Tupperware and other intriguing new inventions.

Tinder and Jason, the proud parents of their five-year old son, Christopher, are shattered when his birth mother’s family challenges their legal adoption of the child. His mother, Melody, a former working prostitute on Hotel Street, had been murdered, her sins long buried…until now.

The surprising discovery of her killer and the couple’s desire, both for vengeance and to maintain the loving home Christopher has always known, make for nonstop twists and turns of Tinder’s Avenging Heart.

Author’s Note

The bank depicted in this story is fictional but Chinese-owned banks were among the first to do business in Honolulu. I have based Jason’s story in part on oral histories of Oahu’s first Chinese residents. Though fictional, his experiences are similar to those of the hard-working men and women who lived in the Hawaiian Islands before and immediately after World War II.

My sincere thanks to all my readers for accompanying me on this fourth and final chapter in Jason and Tinder’s love story.

I would especially like to thank my dear friend, my chosen brother, Gary Hill whose research efforts gave me the idea for this story. The events depicted such as the prison riot in Oahu on March 31, 1947 and United Air Lines’ first commercial flight into the islands are historically accurate.

I’d also like to thank the wonderful team at Total-E-Bound—our awesome publisher, Claire Siemaszkiewicz, Nicki Richards, Heidi Blakey, and my patient and loving editor, Stacey Birkel.

Finally, to all the men, women and children who lived through, worked and sacrificed so much during World War II…the documentaries, home movies and flash footage I have watched of the VJ Day celebrations in Honolulu on August 14, 1945 do not do justice to your pain and horror. To quote filmmaker Richard Sullivan, ‘none of us would be here without you’.

—A.J. Llewellyn

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

The Andrews Sisters, Rum and Coca Cola: Morey Amsterdam

Ford: Ford Motor Company

Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney

Dole: Dole Food Company, Inc.

United Air Lines: United Air Lines, Inc.

Pan Am: Pan American World Airways

Tupperware: Tupperware Brands Corporation

Butler Brothers: Butler Brothers Company

Ben Franklin: Promotions Unlimited

Hostess CupCakes: Hostess Brands

Glenn Miller, Three Little Fishies: Saxie Dowell

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: Universal Pictures

DC-4: Douglas Aircraft Company

K-Y Jelly: McNeil-PPC, Inc.

Charles James: Charles James Clothing

The Brownsville Herald: Freedom Communications, Inc.

Chapter One

Monday, April 21, 1947

Honolulu, Hawaii

My life in Honolulu, like so many others in the islands, remains restricted under the dark cloud of World War II, even though the war has been over for almost two years. Every day we hear of ordinary families struggling to regain their homes and plantations that had been taken over by the military during the war. Though Martial Law was abolished in 1944, the US Supreme Court has just today, finally, declared it unconstitutional.

Just as we began to think we could put the past behind us, my partner Jason and I learned on the radio this morning that the people of the isolated, outer island of Ni’ihau are still being subjected to the most austere restrictions of all.

Thanks to the island’s feudal ownership by the Robinson family, the residents of Ni’ihau have no access to news, cannot own radios, and do not have adequate educational facilities or medical care.

Imagine. A life with no news and no music? I became instantly despondent. Jason immediately began plotting how to get radios, first aid kits, books, toys and newspapers over to the island. The words ‘They live in complete subservience to the island’s paternal owners’ reverberated in my brain, rendering me immobile.

This is terrible, Jason said, getting out of our bed and picking up his ever-present to-do list. I am a worrier—Jason is a doer. A born doer, all the way.

My name is Tinder McCartney, and Jason and I have been together for six years. It is my privilege to love him and care for him, and our precious son Christopher, who is a robust, healthy, happy little boy of five. We inherited him in 1942 when he was just two weeks old. His mother Melody had been a prostitute at the same hotel I worked at—only fate handed me Jason, and Melody… Well, poor Melody got knocked up by a US military officer. She’d lived in fear of him and paid dearly for her relationship with him.

He murdered her.

So, now, Christopher is ours. I have a dim memory of his father who came to see us once. I never forget a face and I could identify him if I ever saw him again, but now Christopher is safe and loved.

Daddy? He knocked on our door. I glanced at my husband. We might not be legally married men, but we are husbands. In every way. Jason looked up at me from his position on the floor. We were both naked and I’d hoped for some early morning fun until Ni’ihau’s problem became our challenge. We both laughed.

No rest for the wicked, my handsome man said. We rushed around getting dressed and opened the door to our little boy. He barrelled in, dressed only in pyjama bottoms since the weather was so humid. He is such a beautiful child. He loves us both equally but Jason was closest. Christopher put his arms up to Jason, who snatched him up, hoisted him into the air and kissed him.

Christopher laughed. Then it was my turn. I love to see him with Jason, who could not love a child more. Everything we do is for our son. He looks nothing like Jason, who is Chinese, but he is blond, like me. We put out the rumour that he is my dead sister’s child when we first took him in. He was the child nobody wanted but now he has four adults who fiercely love him, the other two being my father and step-mother. Dad and Linda adore our rambunctious little handful. They have been the perfect cover for us since I don’t really have a dead sister. I was an only child, but even my dad has come to believe the story. He and Linda are Christopher’s legal parents, but he is our child.

Tinder, he said, showing me his treasure. We had been careful to teach him to call me by my given name since I was technically, in the eyes of the world, his uncle. Jason was Daddy. I checked on Christopher’s trophy. It was a gecko, though the poor little guy looked the worse for wear in my son’s trusty grip. He adores animals but has to learn not to squeeze them to death out of love.

It took Jason and me a few minutes to coax Christopher into releasing the gecko to our bedroom windowsill. He cried hot tears when the little yellow lizard ran to safety.

We’ll get you a dog, I promised.

When? he asked me, more tears pooling in his big, beautiful, blue eyes. I felt a tug at my heart. My mother would have loved him. I missed her so much but she died before Pearl Harbor was bombed. I am glad she didn’t have to suffer, though I miss her smile, her laughter and her wonderful hugs.

Soon, I promised.

Bacon, Christopher said. All three of us laughed. Next to getting a dog, Christopher’s other obsession in life is food. He’s in good company. We both love to eat and Jason is a generous husband who frequently takes us out to dinner. One of the most prominent bankers in Honolulu, he also owns several small businesses and his shipping line brings in luxuries from Japan and China so that the people of Honolulu can have things like rice and silk stockings. These were hard to come by during the war. We also have an icebox filled with ice cream, just because we can.

Sometimes I wake up and think we are still in the war. There are sirens and then we are placed under curfew. It all seems designed to keep us afraid…keep us in line. Sometimes I think Honolulu is just one