“It is a long way from here,” the woman said.
“What brings you to Nashville?” Stella asked.
The woman let her eyes drop to the ground. “Another man deceived me.”
Stella didn’t know what to say. What was this profound honesty all about? Why was this stranger spilling all of her secrets?
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Stella said. “I know all about deception from men.”
The woman looked at her darkly. “I can hear that in your songs, too.”
Stella was taken aback.
“I would like to take you and your sister to dinner this week,” the woman said. “I love your music. And I am very lonely here.”
Stella understood. “We’d love to,” she said, although she wasn’t sure if that was a good idea.
Then again, what had rejecting closeness with anyone ever done for her? This woman was honest and lonely. She was far from Martha’s Vineyard and far from Germany. She needed someone, anyone, to talk to. Stella supposed that person could be her, for now.
Two nights later, during a one-night break in their intense performing schedule, Stella met the woman for dinner. Sally couldn’t make it. Not only did she not understand why the woman wanted to take them out but she also wanted to hangout with Isaac. But Stella was reeling with confusion about her pregnancy and didn’t want to spend the night alone.
The woman, who’d eventually introduced herself as Greta Vanberg, was waiting for Stella at a swanky steak restaurant several blocks from Boo’s Country Western Bar. She was wearing brand-new cowboy boots and a cut, long dress that made her look about a decade younger than she was. Stella felt immediately endeared to Greta. Greta’s smile when she entered reminded Stella of how little her own mother had ever smiled at her when she’d entered. To Stella’s mother, Stella had been the first of many mouths she’d had to feed.
“I’m so glad you decided to come,” Greta said.
Stella realized she was glad, too.
They ordered a bottle of wine and two steaks, then fell into conversation that felt easy and inspired. Briefly, Greta explained her backstory: that she’d married when she was nineteen, right before Germany invaded Poland. That her husband, Hans Vanberg, had been born into a wealthy family but had fallen in love with her during a trip to Munich. His family had protested, but he’d loved Greta so much that he’d married her in secret.
“I have been a wealthy woman most of my life, now,” Greta told her. “But I remember what it was like not to have anything.”
Stella hesitated, then said, “Back in the mountains, we had nothing. My father forced me to marry someone much older than me so that someone would take care of me. Ever since Sally and I came here and started making real money in music, I haven’t known what to do with myself. I don’t understand money. But it’s so much better to have it.”
“You earned it,” Greta said. “It is good to know what to do with it. It is good to learn.”
Stella raised her chin. She recognized that Greta was asking her to own what she’d made of herself. Greta meant,You are a powerful woman. Own your power.
Stella had never considered that before.
For reasons that Stella couldn’t fully fathom, she found herself sharing the biggest secret of her heart: that she was pregnant, that she was married to another man, that she was terrified of what was going to happen next. “I love Billy,” she whispered to Greta, her eyes flitting back and forth in the now-empty restaurant. Somehow, they’d been speaking for hours. Somehow, everyone had already cleared out.
A look of ache fell over Greta’s face. “You are saying that you are pregnant by the man you are in love with,” she said gently.
“Yes,” Stella offered. “But it’s complicated.”
Greta touched Stella’s hand. “You are a woman in love. It means that your baby will be perfect. It means that no matter what, you will find a way through.”
Stella didn’t know what to say. Her thoughts chased themselves around her head.
“I always wanted a baby,” Greta said finally. “It was not in the cards for me, and now, my husband is gone. If your boyfriend is half as wonderful as you think he is, he will be thrilled. Tell him. Always say what you feel out loud! Otherwise, how can anyone know the truth?”
20
Present Day: Martha’s Vineyard
After another full afternoon and evening of reading Greta Vanberg’s correspondence with Rita aloud, Candice, Lindsey, and Henry sat on the veranda, wordless. They felt they knew Greta Vanberg. They knew what had terrified her and knew her wants and her needs and how lonely she’d been throughout her life—prior to the end of 1979, when, it seemed, everything changed. Very suddenly, “Stella McGee” was included in her correspondence with Rita. Very suddenly, “Stella McGee” was coming to Martha’s Vineyard to stay with her.
Lindsey read the letter aloud. “I see something of myself in this young woman. I hear her sorrows about her family. I understand how frightened she is. I was never able to use my voice or write songs, but if I had ever had such talent, I might have written songs like this. (Imagine me, Rita! A country singer! A German country singer! Ha.)”
