Prime’s hand covered mine.“Say it, Shay.”
I swallowed hard.“If Bernice is my mom’s mom…” My throat tightened.“That means Bernice was my grandmother.”
Pearl’s eyes filled with tears.“Oh my god.”
The cabin fell silent.
The kind of silence that didn’t just settle, it slammed into place.
Pieces clicked together.
Slotted in.
Found their home.
My mother had always told me she never knew her parents.
Never had family.
Never had anyone.
She lied.God, she lied.
Bernice wasn’t just some kind woman on this island who painted creepy shit and made people laugh.
Bernice was my blood.
My grandmother.
I felt something crack open inside me.Not grief.Not fear.Something deeper.Something that felt like a missing piece had finally returned after being gone my entire life.
Pearl wiped her eyes and whispered, “I wonder…”
I looked up at her.
She held the first photo, the one of young Bernice holding me, against her chest.
“I wonder,” Pearl said softly, “if you were theherBernice wanted us to find.”
My breath caught.
The words hit me straight in the center of my chest, spreading outward like a shockwave.
The “her.”The cryptic message Bernice had said to Pearl before she died.The last thing she ever said.
Find her.
Pearl stared at me wide-eyed.“Shay… I think Bernice meant you.”
I didn’t have words.
I couldn’t breathe.
Bernice had died thinking of me.
Her granddaughter.
The one she lost.
