He was probably more like Candice’s real father, Billy Long.
It took ages for Lindsey to twist the conversation back to their mother. “You know, the truth is, our mother is from here,” she said, throwing her head back in a way that made her hair flourish.
Willy was amazed. “You’re kidding! I know everyone. Everyone who’s everyone, and everyone else besides. What’s her name?”
Candice and Lindsey exchanged glances before Candice came out with it.
“Her last name was Kimpel,” she said. “But she called herself Stella, later on.”
Willy the bartender’s jaw dropped. “You’re not talking about Stella McGee?”
Candice and Lindsey were quiet.
Willy took a long sip of his beer, as though hearing that name did something to him, emotionally. Of course, he was so young that he had no memories of Stella McGee, nor of whatever name she’d had before she escaped from this town.
“I know the Kimpels,” he said finally. “One of her brothers took over the family house. Calvin Kimpel. He still lives there with his wife, Gina, their eldest son, Trevor, his wife, Izzy, and their five kids. I can give you a map to the property, if you want.”
“We’d like that very much,” Lindsey said, smiling.
Candice watched as Willy drew out a childish map from the sports bar to the house where, she assumed, her mother had grown up. Going that far back in a town like this, it was probable that her mother had been born in that very house. It wasn’t likehospitals were anywhere around here. Mountain people liked to keep to themselves, she guessed.
“What about Sally McGee?” Candice asked finally, holding the map in her hands.
“Oh, you mean her sister,” Willy said. “The younger one. I believe her name was Carrie Kimpel.”
“Did she ever come back?” Candice asked.
“Oh no. Neither of them ever came here,” Willy said. Excitement shimmered in his eyes. “Not till you two walked into this bar! What are the chances? I can’t wait to tell my mama.”
Candice and Lindseyagreed that it was too late to visit Calvin, Gina, Trevor, and his five Kimpel kids up at the Kimpel house that evening. Taking Willy’s advice (hopefully for the last time), they grabbed two rooms at the local bed-and-breakfast, where they slept fitfully and woke up to a massive breakfast of biscuits and gravy. Neither of them could eat it, but they drank their weight in coffee and were on their way by ten.
With five kids, they assumed, the Kimpels would be up and around and unperturbed by surprise visitors. That, and it was a Saturday, which meant that hopefully, Trevor Kimpel wouldn’t be at work. They assumed Calvin was retired, although it was impossible to know for sure.
When they reached the Kimpel house, they stopped at the base of the driveway and gazed up at the house their mother had once known like the back of her hand. It was scrawny and run-down, with broken and rusty bicycles in the yard and a rusted-out truck in the back. Plastic toys were scattered everywhere, and the house was in dire need of a paint job. Several windows were broken. There was also a sign out front that read BEWAREOF DOG, although Candice saw no dog to speak of. Maybe it was a fake sign to keep people away.
“This can’t be where Mom is from,” Lindsey breathed as they approached.
Candice didn’t know what to say. It felt impossible that their long, arduous journey had brought them here. But their mother had been secretive. This was her biggest secret.
They’d found her out. Would they regret it?
Calvin’s wife, Gina, was the one who answered the door. She was a woman in her mid-sixties, with tired eyes and gray, frizzled hair. From the kitchen came the sound of a baby crying.
“Can I help y’all with something?” she asked. Hers was the biggest Southern accent of all.
Candice and Lindsey had practiced what they’d say when they got here. They’d imagined all kinds of routes forward. But something about Gina told Candice that she knew nothing.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” she said. “I’m sorry to bother you. But is your husband, Calvin, home?”
Calvin was home. He was out back with Trevor and two of the boys. The boys were throwing a baseball around while Calvin and Trevor drank coffee and grunted about what sounded like sports. Candice and Lindsey followed Gina out back, where Gina announced them as “friends of the family, they say. I don’t know.” She returned to the kitchen and the baby without another word.
Calvin and Trevor looked at Lindsey and Candice with confused expressions. Candice could imagine how bizarre this was. Why would two Northern women stop by your house like this? What did they want?
“Morning,” Lindsey said brightly.
“Morning,” Calvin and Trevor said. They stood and scowled. They probably thought Lindsey and Candice wanted their money somehow.
Candice decided to come right out with it. “We’re your sister’s children,” she said to Calvin. “We don’t even know her real name. But we’re hers.”
