Page 83 of All We Thought We Knew

At long last, I’d fallen in love, but the man my heart chose was the enemy.

TWENTY-FIVE:MATTIE

DELANEY HORSE FARM

DECEMBER 1969

I sat on the sofa in the living room, a fire in the fireplace sending out warmth and comfort into the quiet house, when Nash returned from town. Jake wagged his tail from where he lay in front of the hearth, but not even Nash’s presence was enough to entice him from his cozy spot.

“How was dinner?” I asked as he settled on the opposite end of the couch. The light scent of his cologne wafted over, and I inhaled.

“Good.” He didn’t elaborate. “So what’s the big mystery you discovered about your mom? Does it have anything to do with the letters?”

I reached for a stack of envelopes next to me and handed them to him. “These are the letters from the guy in Hawaii to Ava Delaney.” I tapped my mother’s name.

Nash nodded, squinting his eyes. “And?”

“Ava Delaney is my mom. This guy,” I said, moving my finger to the return addressee, “is herfirsthusband.”

I let that news sink in.

“Wow.” His brow rose. “You and Mark didn’t know your mom was married before?”

“Not a peep was ever said about it.”

He looked at the letters again. “What happened to him?”

“He was killed when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.”

“That’s heavy.”

The fire popped and crackled as we processed the shocking realities of the unfolding tale.

“When did your mom meet your dad?”

I shrugged. “It was during the war, but I don’t remember the details. I just know they lived here, on the farm, after they got married. Mama was too tired to finish telling me everything and said I needed to read the other letters. The ones from the guy in North Dakota. But I have to admit, I’m kind of nervous about what I might learn from them. I mean, she’s got letters from two men, but neither of them is my father.”

A startling thought rocketed across my mind, and I gasped.

“What if—”

I couldn’t finish the question.

“What if what?” Nash prompted.

I met his gaze, my heart racing as my imagination took off in a direction I didn’t want to go. “What if my dadisn’tmy dad?”

Nash stared at me. “Do you think that’s a possibility?”

I fell back against the couch cushion, stunned by the wild implications. “I honestly don’t know. I would have never dreamed Mama’d been married before, but it’s true. Who knows what other secrets she might have kept all these years.”

I heard accusation in my voice, but I couldn’t help feelingbetrayed by my own mother. Why hadn’t she told Mark and me the truth about her past?

“I think we should read the other letters.” Nash’s calm words slowed my whirling thoughts. “We might be jumping to the wrong conclusion.”

He was right. “Thanks for being here with me.”

I opened the first envelope in the stack from Gunther Schneider.