‘Well, you can stick in one place or you can get on with life,’ my grandmother said. ‘If I was to hold on to my daughter I would have to listen to what Aki was telling me. And yes, of course when I calmed down there was a baby already reaching out its arms, whose breath was already on my neck, who was already sitting in front of me on an ambling horse, although there was no horse by then.’

They decided on a summer wedding, which gave three months for everyone to put their minds and efforts to wedding preparations and the reception of visitors from Hawai‘i. In the meantime, Binnie returned to her studies with just a month to go before completion.

The wedding dress, Oriwia thought at first, would have to announce her daughter’s sullied condition by being blue, pink or apple green. Then she decided it would be white, virginal. If she was to do a turnaround with this wedding, let it be a full turn. Aki’s sister Ti agreed with her. Ti was to be the dressmaker.

When Ti left home at fifteen, she’d found work as a machinist making shirts and trousers in a clothing factory. During the war, she made army and air force uniforms, and later went to work for a tailor where she learned pattern-making and fine stitching. It was Ti to whom the family turned for bridal wear, bridesmaid’s dresses and presentation gowns.

‘I went to see Funny Face,’ Ti told Oriwia. ‘Come down in the weekend and we’ll go and see Funny Face. Little Binnie’s the dead spit of Audrey. We’ll make her an Audrey gown.’

Binnie did resemble Audrey Hepburn in some ways. She had the same slight figure and the same quickness. Her hair was dark and cut short, her skin pale and clear, her face elfish and bright. ‘She doesn’t have Audrey’s large, sweepy eyes, nor her wide mouth,’ Oriwia said. ‘My Binnie’s eyes are watchful and they show her heart. She has a gentle smile.’

But Oriwia thought Ti was right, Audrey’s Funny Face gown, with small adjustments, would be perfect for Binnie. However, they thought cap sleeves and a ballerina-length skirt a little too modern for their home town and went for long, fitted sleeves and a full-length skirt. All in white satin, it would have a fitted bodice, rounded neck, a V waistline in front and a sheer organdy overskirt. When they arrived home from the theatre, Ti drew sketches, took Binnie’s measurements adding ‘room for expansion’, and soon had a pattern drafted.

It was not only a perfect gown that Oriwia wanted. Everything else had to be perfect too, for the people coming. She had to show the visitors ‘we weren’t “nobodies”’. The Hawaiians had to realise they were privileged to have Aki and Chappy living among them, even though temporarily.