'EWA BEACH — They were high school sweethearts, "the perfect couple," as one friend described them. They married young, started a family and lived what appeared to be a storybook marriage with four attractive, well-behaved kids and a modern, two-story home in a pleasant Ewa by Gentry neighborhood.

At their 20th class reunion at Waipahu High School last August, classmates were drawn to Della and Domingo "Bunny" Dikito, the two popular students who were, not surprisingly, still together after 20 years of marriage.

"You couldn't imagine her without him and him without her," said lifelong friend Renee Tomas. "They were a big part of the reunion because everybody knew them. I guess they had the typical marriage spats here and there. But they seemed very happy together."

But on the night of April 25, neighbors heard screams and shots from their home and police swarmed to the Dikito residence on Kaukolu Street.

Domingo, 39, a forklift operator at a warehouse, had shot and killed Della, 38, a clerk for Better Brands Hawaii, then turned the gun on himself.

In a single, agonizing instant, four Dikito children — the youngest of whom had watched the shooting — had become orphans.

Yesterday, the oldest child, Blayne Dikito, 18, sat at the dining room in the house where the shooting took place and sorted through family snapshots with his younger sisters, Brelynn, 15; Bronlyn, 13; Brenna "Aloha," 8; and their cousin Talia Quiocho, 26, of Las Vegas, who had come to be with the family and to help make funeral arrangements.

Blayne said he and his sisters were doing all right under the circumstances. He said they've had an extraordinary amount of support from family, friends and members of the community. He said he wanted people to know how much their concern has meant to them.

The three daughters have returned to school, where they said classmates, teachers and counselors have been supportive and caring. One of the concerns for the Dikito children and their family has been what to do about the house. None of the children said they were uncomfortable living in the house. It's their home, after all, they said.

It may not be home much longer.

"I don't mind living here," Blayne said. "But if we can't afford it — and that's the problem, there's still a mortgage — and we've got to move, that's what we'll do."

He said they've considered maybe going to Las Vegas, where they have family and friends. But nothing has been decided yet. The house is only one of many unanswered questions. Right now the family focus is on his mother's funeral Wednesday.

Quiocho, Brenna's godmother, expressed concern about the youngest child, the one who saw the shooting.

"I've tried to talk to her, but she's not ready," she said. "Maybe after everything's settled."

The majority of the photos on the table were of the four kids with their mom, who was smiling contentedly in nearly every shot. But beneath the outward pleasure of looking at the pictures, Blayne admitted he and his sisters have the same lingering questions as others — namely, why did this happen? He has no idea.

"They'd fight like any other couple," he said. But nothing approaching the shooting incident had ever happened in the family.

Asked what emotion he most associates with the incident, Blayne fell silent for a moment.

"For me it's super mad," he finally said. "I'm raging on the inside but I'm just trying to hold it in. I'm really mad."

And then, with a slight laugh, he added, "Because, I was mama's boy. She did everything for me."

The target of his anger is his dad. Blayne said he thought he had worked through some of it. But when he saw his mother lying in a casket at a private family viewing, the inner fury returned in full force, he said.

MEMORIES OF DAD

Quiocho and Brelynn yesterday unpacked a stack of photos of Domingo, and the children began looking through them. Like Della, Domingo was smiling in nearly every picture. Asked to describe their father, almost in unison they smiled.

"Fun guy," Blayne said.

"Really," added Bronlyn. "He always made us laugh."

"He liked to talk story," Brelynn said.

As Blayne thumbed through the photos of his dad, he said he doubted if any of them would ever really know what happened. It would likely remain a mystery. He also doubts that he'll be able to forgive.

He is not the only one.

People like Tomas, the family friend, feel the same.

"He didn't have to do that," she said. "To go that far. ... We wish we knew the reason. But he left his children without a mother.

"And also," she added softly, "without a father, too."