She was just about to ask Maria about it when, from the glow of the firelight, she saw a glint of a tear on her face.

Quinn leaned over close to her. “What’s wrong?”

Maria shook her head. When the song was over, she turned to Quinn.

“There’s a long story behind those words,” she said. “And that was also Jaime’s favorite song. Liam always played it for him. I miss him sitting here next to me, listening. We were supposed to grow old together, watching our children’s children play on this very same beach.”

Quinn didn’t know what to say. How could a woman miss a husband who had wronged her so deeply? It was unimaginable. Abandoning a family without even leaving word of why?

“I’m sorry,” she said, unable to think of anything better.

“I just worry about him,” Maria whispered. “Our marriage was good. This doesn’t make sense. But I pray to the gods every night that they will watch over him, wherever he is and whatever he is doing. That he will just make it through to the next morning. Then I begin the prayers again at daylight.”

That was a serious case of commitment, Quinn thought. If Ethan dropped out of her life without a trace, she’d probably find a voodoo doll and stick pins in it every night, not say prayers of protection for him.

Liam started another song, the lyrics telling of a couple destined to be together but parted by a long distance. It seemed all of his songs were also stories.

But Quinn’s mind was still on Maria. She realized that despite their different paths in life—one of them focusing on family and the other on career—they had a lot in common. Both of them were weighed down under a mystery that caused them worry and anguish. Maria didn’t know what had happened to her husband and the marriage she thought was solid, and Quinn was clueless about where and whom she came from.

Would either of their mysteries be solved? Quinn didn’t know the answer to that, but she did know that for the first time in a long time, she felt a kinship to someone other than her mother.

Then she had an epiphany.

What Maria needed most right now was to find out what had happened to her husband. Liam had to know something. Or his famous coconut wireless could find out. As he said, Maui wasn’t that big, so how far could one man go?