Clipped Wings: A Paradise Crime Mystery Christmas Novella with Recipes (Paradise Crime Mysteries) by Neal Toby

Author:Neal, Toby [Neal, Toby]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Neal Enterprises
Published: 2019-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Consuelo — several weeks later

Consuelo took a shuttle from the San Francisco airport to San Rafael with Lei, who had been appointed her temporary guardian ad litem, an advocacy role used in orphan cases by the Hawaii courts. They then took a rideshare from the bus stop to her aunt’s little house on D Street. “Aunty couldn’t get us because she’s at work at the restaurant,” Lei had explained to Consuelo. She had spent a bit of their plane flight from Honolulu telling Consuelo more of her story, and why Rosario was the closest thing Lei had to a mother. “She has a big heart. She’s taken in three kids who would have been deported. They are all living at the house with her now. She says it’s going great.”

“They were lucky that your aunt was so understanding,” Consuelo said, fiddling with her ever present notebook.

“You’re right about that,” Lei said. “Aunty is really something. I think you’ll like her.”

Lei located the house key, hiding under a rock like it had been for years, and unlocked the side door.

The little three-bedroom bungalow felt cozy and smelled of ginger and cinnamon from a big bowl of potpourri on the round kitchen table. Lights strung around the living room and a brightly decorated Christmas tree added to the festive feeling.

Consuelo glanced around the tidy house, filled with Hawaiiana decor. Nineteen forties-era koa wood furniture dressed in Hawaiian print slipcovers filled the living room. A lamp in the shape of a pineapple decorated a side table. The kitchen was bright with tile squares painted with palm trees and tropical fruit. They headed through the house, and Lei pointed in through a doorway to a small bedroom, crowded with a set of bunk beds and a single twin separated by a tall chest of drawers. Clothing and backpacks hung neatly on hooks on the wall. “That used to be my room. Aunty said she offered to split up the kids so the boys, Josef and Carlos, could be in one room and the girl, Isabella, in another, but they wanted to all stay together.”

Consuelo could easily imagine that, after what she’d heard had happened to them. Consuelo and Lei dropped their bags on the two twin beds in the guestroom.

“I love this house,” Consuelo said. “It feels like being in Hawaii, even though we’re in California.”

Lei smiled. “It was a refuge for me, too, when Aunty took me in. I was about Isabella’s age. I have a little bit of an idea of what they are going through.”

“So do I,” said Consuelo, peering in at the bunk beds. “Only I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. It might have been easier if I had.”

Lei pulled her in for a brief hug. “They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. We must be really, really strong.”

“I guess we are.” Consuelo smiled. Her face felt stiff, like she hadn’t done that in a while.

They walked the six blocks to the restaurant through the yellow,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.