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“What could make a difference after that awful news?” Chris asked, heartbroken. “So that’s why she gave me up.”
“No, it’s not why. Maggie’s mother, Rose, found a letter in Emily’s belongings from her mother explaining why they felt it was necessary for her to go away to a maternity home and give the child up for adoption.”
Chris slouched in the chair, his head bowed, shoulders slumped.
“There’s one more thing, though. This has been the most difficult for us, Chris. Our father confessed to us that out mother took her own life. We didn’t know it. We thought she’d fallen off her horse and just died on the spot. But it didn’t happen that way. Tomorrow we’re going to the spot where he found her in the woods. If you’d like to come along, you’re invited.”
“Did she leave a note or anything saying why?”
“According to our father, she never recovered from the sexual assault and having to give her child up. Ten years ago, she probably didn’t think of the power of the internet or DNA to find you. It probably never entered her mind. But he said she never forgot about you. That she grieved every day until she died.”
Annie held Chris in her arms. He finally took a deep breath.
“It’s awful. I’m so sorry for our mother. So sorry it was my father that did that to her. I wish he could be punished.”
“I thought about that,” Dave said. “Rose even wondered if there could be a rape kit somewhere that could be processed. But the statute of limitations in Louisiana for rape is ten years. All it would do is stir up bad feelings, and I think we have all had enough of that.”
“I’m ready to move on, if you are, Chris,” Justin said. “Dave, you said you’ve had enough.”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve had more than enough. What do you think, Chris?”
“Yeah, I’m over it. If it’s okay with you, I’ll tell Val I know, and maybe that will help him relax enough to want to know me. But then I wonder if I want to know him now. Maybe having Rose and Vic is enough in my life.” He looked at Annie. “What do you think, therapist?”
“I think you’ve figured it out. I love Rose and Vic. I’m sure they’d be happy to adopt you.”
“I might ask them to,” Chris said, laughing. He sat back, relieved. The laughter of small children in the yard rang out, making him smile.
“Annie, you said you had good news. What else?” Katrina asked. “How much more could have changed between this morning and now?”
“I asked her to marry me, and she said I had to get her a ring,” Chris replied, chuckling, glad for the change in topic.
“Ah! So, she’s not letting you get away with anything. Is that the way it works?” Dave asked, laughing. “If I get you a ring, will you marry me, Katrina?”
“No,” she said. But she quickly sat on his lap and put her arms around his shoulders. “I promise to love and cherish you until death do us part.”
“God, I love you, Katrina,” Dave said, kissing her.
“Aw, that’s what I want! Justin, can’t we do that?” Maggie cried. “Just vows in front of our friends and not the big shebang?”
“I’m crushed,” he said. “You’re telling me this now, in front of everyone?” But he was kidding and swooped her into his arms, dipping her to kiss passionately.
“You asked what your brothers are like. Well, here you are,” Annie said, sweeping her arm out.
“It’s touching,” Chris said, grinning down at her. “Three brothers and three friends, together.”
***
While her daughter entertained Justin’s brothers and her friends Saturday afternoon, Rose Angel returned to Emily’s closet. Vic was occupied filling in at the clinic, giving Justin the day off.
Continuing the search for information about what had happened to Emily, she moved on from the box of letters and cards that revealed little, to the ceiling-high stack of hat boxes that were filled with, of all things, hats. She stood back and looked up at the shelves that held shoe boxes. Some exciting designer names were listed on the sides of the boxes, and she longed to peek in and try on a pair or two, knowing it would be the only time in her life she’d have Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin on her feet.
Out in the bedroom, she looked for something to stand on to reach the shelves. She dragged a satin-upholstered bench from Emily’s vanity into the closet. Up two feet higher, she could see more. Up on the first shelf, out of sight of anyone standing on the floor, was a black leather-bound book. Her heart rate increasing, she knew right away it was a journal or a diary. It was almost out of reach, but standing on tiptoe, she nabbed the edge with a fingernail, pushing it off the shelf, and it crashed onto the floor.
Jumping down from the bench, she picked up the journal and pushed the bench back into the bedroom. Coffee was in order for a time such as this. She took the journal with her, unwilling to let it out of her sight for even a moment. The coffee was old, so she poured it down the drain and set about making a new pot, her eye on the book, also watching the clinic to make sure Vic didn’t come out.
When the coffee was done, she took a cup and the journal through the formal dining room and out through the French doors to the terrace that faced the water. Everyone in the town lived on some body of water—lakes and rivers and creeks. Rose hadn’t even known what the water was when she first moved in with Vic, and he’d told her it was just the marsh.
She placed the mug on a side table and sat in a lounge chair. The thought crossed her mind that this was Emily’s house, her terrace, furniture she had probably picked out, as she looked out at a body of water that Emily had also looked at.
