Free Cloudy with a Chance of Ghosts (Destiny Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 4) by J.D. Winters

that, didn’t I? Still, so did Bebe. She’d gone through the same pain and loss my mother had. Could she have run off and left a baby behind? Somehow, knowing her, I couldn’t imagine it.  
      “She was a wonderful singer right from the start. Even as a little girl, her voice was like a gift from heaven. But that talent was a blessing and a curse, all rolled into one. And in the end, it was what took her from us.”
    I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming next—dreading it but looking forward as well. I loved the sound of Bebe’s voice, falling into the old island tone and rhythm. It made me smile to realize Bebe was slowly, unconsciously taking on some of her island heritage, speaking with a bit of a pidgin inflection.
    “Boys started coming around when she was much too young to know how to deal with it. We tried to protect her, but she struggled against rules. She was barely sixteen when she had you. Much too young. When she had you, she wasn’t even ready for marriage. But they did get married, she and your father. And they had some good times. They loved you.” Bebe smiled at me lovingly. “You were the sweetest little baby right from the first. It would have been hard not to love you.”
    Why was it that I could believe that love from my mother, despite what she did, and couldn’t quite get myself to believe that my father gave a darn about me. I guess that was the reality of knowing him against the dream of what I didn’t know about her. Was that what made me feel, sometimes, like I was balancing on the top of a mountain, not sure how to step on anything firm that would support me?
    “But your dad was not a homebody,” she went on, saying it nicely. “He was much too young, too. He liked best to go off with his buddies, surfing or drinking beer, playing guitar and talking story, as we say in Hawaii.”
    “Your mom would sit home. She was sick during a lot of the pregnancy, and she had some troubles after you were born, too. I used to go over and help her.”
    “How old were you?”
    She thought for a second. “I must have been about twelve or thirteen, I guess. I stayed overnight a lot of times. Grandma Kalena would come over and make us food and we would have a great time, talking and singing and wondering what you were going to be like. After you were born, she loved you so much. She wanted to get everything for you but there was no money. Friends gave her baby things and diapers and some supplies, but it was pretty sparse at your house. As soon as she could, she got herself a job and she would leave you with Grandma Kalena. She didn’t have any real education or training or skills, but the one thing she could do was to sing. She sang in some of the local clubs, and for weddings and luaus. Then she met De Ponce. Do you know who that is?”
    A feeling of dread shivered through me. “I’ve heard the name,” I said evasively. The truth was, there had been people who had made sure I heard of him. They’d told so many conflicting stories about my mother when I was young, I never knew which ones to believe. As a consequence, I didn’t believe any of them. It seemed safer that way.  
    “I don’t think anyone hears of him anymore, but in our day, he was very big. He was a sort of cult leader, a guru, and he held tent meetings that were almost like religion.” She sighed. “Whatever religion he was, it wasn’t anything normal. But he had charisma and he mesmerized your mother. He treated her like a princess, charming her, making her feel wanted and needed like your father just didn’t seem to want to do.”
    I ached, thinking of them both, so young, younger than I am now. They weren’t ready to have a family. And still—could I forgive them? In a way, I was the one who ended up paying for their mistakes. I was the one who was abandoned.  
    “So she ran off with him.” My voice sounded flat even to my ears. My resentment was showing. I glanced up at Bebe, wishing I could laugh and brush