But as I sat here now, blankly staring back at Janie while I tried to come up with an answer to her question about if William had found a house yet, I was at a loss.
“Not yet,” I said slowly, my mind scrambling to find an answer that sounded believable. “I’m going to go out there soon and help him look though.”
“Just you?” Claire asked. “Or are you taking Willa too?”
“And Willa of course,” I said, making it up as I went. “And Aunt Victoria. We’re making a fun cross-country trip of it. I’m just sad Uncle Frank can’t go, but he has to work.”
“Well, I think that sounds lovely,” Janie said. “And what about the wedding? Will it be here or there? Oh...you must have it here! We’ll have such fun!”
I held back a sigh. The number of lies I was accumulating were staggering.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “It’s honestly the last thing on our minds right now. We just want to get me and Willa to Seattle and find a house. Then we’ll figure out the wedding. But I promise, you two will be the first to know anything. After Aunt Vic.”
“So, this upcoming trip to Seattle,” Claire said. “Is that it? Unless you come back for the wedding?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to open my mouth again. Who knew what fable I’d tell next.
“We should have a little party then!” Clair said. “A proper send-off.”
“Oh no...you don’t have to do that,” I said.
“It’s done,” Janie said, pulling an elegant pink notebook from her handbag and opening it to the calendar. “How about this Friday?”
And so Friday it was. A small elegant affair at the house that Janie and Claire organized with my aunt. Some of the neighbors came, a couple more women I’d known from high school, and Janie and Claire and their families. I tried to enjoy the evening, but it was hard when it felt like a farce, and by the end of the night, I felt as though my face might crack from smiling so hard to cover the pain.
The following morning made it all feel that much worse.
“Good morning,” I said as I entered the kitchen, having followed the aroma of coffee brewing. Willa was still asleep and I’d snuck down quickly in hopes of having a couple minutes to myself before she woke and needed me.
“Good morning,” Aunt Victoria said from where she was sitting at the kitchen table, the newspaper laid out before her. But there was something in her voice that made me pause.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
She took in a long breath, held it, then blew it out, sliding an envelope from beneath the paper as she did.
“This was in the mail yesterday,” she said. “With all the excitement about the party happening, no one went through it until an hour ago. It’s...” She chewed her lip and then held it out.
I was confused at first by the sight of my own handwriting, and then I saw the crude stamp plastered across the front.
“Not At This Address. Return to Sender.”
“It probably just means they’ve moved,” Uncle Frank said, entering the room. “Something we considered.”
“I need to go there,” I said. “I can ask whoever lives in the house now if they know where they went.”
“Kate...” Aunt Vic said and then looked to her husband. “I’ll go with you.”
On a humid day in mid-August, I boarded a train for Seattle, my aunt and daughter by my side.
Uncle Frank had booked two hotel rooms for us and, after the weeklong journey, we checked in and went straight to bed. In the morning I rose, dressed myself and Willa, and then met my aunt in the downstairs restaurant.
“You’re sure you don’t want us to come with you?” she asked. “I could hire a driver.”
But I shook my head. I had no idea what I would find, and I wanted to be alone when it happened.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She nodded and then smiled down at my daughter, who was happily making a mess of a banana in the high chair the restaurant had provided.
