When they entered Frank’s mother’s room, they found her watching television. It was an old 1970s sitcom,Three’s Company. Candice thought this was a good sign as she prepared to ask his mother about the late seventies and early eighties. When they entered, his mother threw her head back in laughter, then paused and blinked at Frank and Candice, as though she were trying to place them.
“Frank,” she said after a pause.
Frank went over to kiss his mother on the cheek. “Good afternoon! How are you doing today?”
“Just fine.” But his mother continued to look at Candice like she didn’t trust her. “Who is this? Is this a new nurse? I told you, I liked the other one.”
Candice tried to maintain her smile, but she was nervous. Had she already given Frank’s mother the impression that she wasn’t trustworthy?
“This is my friend, Mom,” Frank said, dropping into the chair beside his mother’s. “I went to high school with her. You were really good friends with her mother. Her name is Candice. Candice Vanberg.”
In the course of a minute, Frank’s mother’s face transformed several times. For a little while, she furrowed her brow so hard that deep wrinkles formed across her face. But then, the furrow melted, and she gave Candice a look of profound emptiness.
“My mother was Stella,” Candice offered meekly.
“Stella,” Frank’s mother muttered. “Of course. Stella.”
But Candice wasn’t sure if she remembered Stella just then.
“Candice wants to play you some music,” Frank said brightly. He seemed to be used to his mother being like this.
Frank gestured for Candice to put the record in the record player. She did, focusing on her breathing as she set everything up. When she finally put the needle down, she hurried to the chair in the corner and waited. The crackling began, and then Stella and Sally began to sing.
For a few seconds, Frank’s mother frowned, listening. “It’s country western,” she said.
“You love country western,” Frank said.
Candice wondered if this first song about Mountain Dreams was the same song his mother had been singing a couple of weeks back. But Frank made no indication of that.
“I recognize it,” his mother said then.
Candice’s heart shot into her throat. Her instincts told her to let Frank handle this.
“Do you? Do you know the singer?”
“Know her?” His mother’s eyes widened. “She was the talk of the island when she got here. Nobody knew what to make of her. She was such a little ragamuffin. And that voice! She sounded like she’d crawled out of some honky-tonk in Alabama or something like that.”
Candice squeezed her hands together. Was she talking about Stella? Stella Vanberg? It didn’t make sense. Stella Vanberg was a renowned philanthropist and millionaire. She was the sort of woman who knew about fine dining and haute couture. How could both versions of Stella ever have existed?
The first song ended, and the next began. Frank’s mother started tapping her feet happily. She mouthed a few of the words, as though she’d heard this one many times.
“Mom, what did you say about Stella coming to the island?” Frank asked, pushing things. “I thought she was born on the island. I thought she was from here.”
His mother threw her head back. “That’s what she wanted everyone to believe. She didn’t let anyone say a thing about her past. Well, that idea might have come from someone else.”
“What idea?” Candice asked.
Frank’s mother answered, “The idea to hide it all away. To change her story. I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
Frank and Candice locked eyes. Candice couldn’t fathom this.
“Someone else might have told her to keep it hushed?” Frank asked. “Maybe her husband? Wasn’t his name Ben? Ben Winthrop?”
Again, his mother laughed. “No, no. The woman who owned the Harbor House. It was her idea. I’m almost sure of it.” She tapped her foot more exuberantly, as though very pleased.
Candice’s shoulders fell forward. Clearly, his mother was still confused. Stella had owned the Harbor House.
Frank filled this in for her. “Stella Vanberg owned the Harbor House, right?”
