We’d all been hanging out at the lake that night, drinking. Julia was there.
But…she wasn’t at the boathouse when Blair hit her head. So, even though my gut has been sick with suspicion that she might’ve been behind this accident, too, how could she be involved, unless she snuck out there the night before, untied the canoe, and then it magically drifted out just as Blair was diving into the water?
She was riding Cookie that day, shopping.
Or was she?
Either way, and regardless of how hard it will be to leave Pa, we really do have to get the hell out of this town, away from all this. What if the police want to ask me some questions, keep me stranded here? Will I really turn on my sister? And what if someone finds out about the money and we lose it? No, we are leaving first thing, even if it hurts me to say bye to Pa, to Cookie, to Indy.
I pat Pa on the back, then pull away. “You owe it to me to tell me the truth.” Now I stare him straight in the eye. “Who is my real mother, Pa?”
He whistles out a sigh, shakes his head. Then stares at me straight back. “I’m gonna level with you, but promise me this, that you’ll never breath a word to anyone. And I meananyone.”
“Okaaay,” I say, genuinely baffled at what it could be, and even more curious now than I was when Mom first told me.
“Her name was Marissa. She was gorgeous, just like you.Same green eyes, same smile. Beautiful. And, I’m ashamed to admit this, but when your mom was pregnant with Julia, I fell in love with Marissa.”
I nod, not blaming Pa one bit for cheating on Mom. My mind swirls with thoughts of this beautiful woman, myreal mother, and where she might be and when I might be able to meet her. “Where does she live?”
Pa shakes his head. “I’m getting to all that. So, she was as pretty as a summer daisy, and I was smitten. And I’m not proud of this, but after Mom gave birth to Julia, we found out Marissa was pregnant. Withyou. I’d gotten her pregnant, and it was a mess.”
“Okay, so what’s her last name?”
“Smith. But that doesn’t matter anymore—” Pa’s face is sad now.
“What do you mean?”
“Because she’s no longer with us, I’m sorry to say.”
My head reels. “Cancer? She must not be very old.”
“This is the part you can’t tell anyone. Hear me?”
“Yes.”
“I was gonna run off with her—that’s how in love I was—start a family with her. I know it sounds terrible, but she was just like you. Same spirit, same brilliant mind, an artist. But then—”
“But then, what?”
“Your mom caught wind of our plan, stormed away in the middle of the night while I was sleeping. You had just been born; you were just a few weeks old. And—”
“And tell me!”
“And there was a horrible accident.” Pa shakes his head, stares at the ground. “And your mom was there.”
“Anaccident?” I shrill. “What, did she poison her? Take her out with one of her freaky potions?”
“God, no. It wasn’t anything like that, anything premeditated. You have to understand, life was harder on the prairie. It was…different. Rougher. Like I said, it was an awful acci—”
A shadow sweeps across the barn floor.
Pa looks up.
Mom’s standing at the entrance, scowling at us. I don’t think she’s heard us because she just got here, but it’s enough to shut us up.
“Molly’s crying. I need you to bounce her on your knee so I can get everyone’s goddamn breakfast ready.”
I need to hear the rest; waiting is going to be torture. And what does he mean, Mom was there? But I’ll have to wait; I have no choice. Mom never uses the Lord’s name in vain, and Pa has closed up like a clam.
