“I still think it’s a PO Box,” Antony replies.
“You’ll need a key for that,” Threes says.
“Could be a key in Cherry’s house for all we know,” Antony says.
“Cherry, do you know if there’s a key to a PO box around here?” Nate asks.
“Maybe. There are a bunch of keys on a ring at the store.”
“There could be more paperwork, too,” Threes says.
“I’ve been through an awful lot of Aunt Ginny’s papers, but now that I know what to look for, I might find something else.”
“Let us check things out here,” Nate says. “We’ll call you all tomorrow with what we find.”
Nate ends the call.
“We will get to the bottom of it,” he says as he tightens his grip on my hand. “It’s still early enough, and we can start right now.”
“All right.”
“Where shall we begin?” Nate asks.
“I have no idea.”
“Did your aunt have any close friends with more information or maybe frequent visitors?”
“Not really. She had a lot of friendly acquaintances but no one she was very close to. No one ever came to visit us from outside of town except that once.”
“You mean Roland Ramsay,” he says, and I nod. “How old were you?”
“About ten, I think. I remember it vividly because it was Christmas time, and we never had visitors from out of town before.”
“Do you think you might have any pictures from then?”
“Of Roland or of me?”
“Either. Both.”
“Certainly not of him. There are a few pictures, I’m sure, though Aunt Ginny wasn’t really into keeping photos around. She never had albums full of them or anything, and she hated the very idea of a smart phone. I had to beg and plead to get one when I was in high school.”
“I suppose that makes sense. She was trying to keep you a secret, and cell phones track you. Letters, maybe? Lots of people, especially older ones, hold on to their letters.”
“Aunt Ginny definitely had a lot of those!” I laugh. “I didn’t see any I’d consider unusual, but there were so many. I didn’t look through them very much, but most of them were from long before I was born. She had a boyfriend who was killed in a boating accident when they were teenagers, and there were a lot of notes they must have passed back and forth in school. I found them kind of hard to read.”
“Hmm.” Nate’s eyes narrow as he scratches his chin.
“What is it?”
“I was just wondering if the letters belonged to Sofia Ramsay or the real Virginia Bay.”
“I hadn’t considered that.” The thought saddens me. “Considering they were from way back before I was born, I guess they’d have to be Virginia’s, wouldn’t they?”
“Or Sofia brought them with her.”
“No, they were addressed to Ginny, not Sofia.”
I’m beginning to wonder if I will ever know the truth, and my frustration must show on my face. Nate pulls me into a tight embrace and kisses me gently. I hold on to him for a long moment before stepping away.
“Let’s start looking in her office,” I say. “That’s where I found the adoption papers. It’s on the second floor.”
I show Nate where I found the papers, and we both carefully sift through all the other documents we can find but to no avail. We go through my aunt’s bedroom drawers and a few boxes in the basement. It stirs up a lot of memories for me, but we find nothing of interest.
“To the shop, then?” Nate asks.
“Maybe that is a better place to look,” I say, “but there are a lot of places information could be hidden there.”
We head outside, but I grab Nate’s hand and pull him to a stop.
“I’m going to make a little side trip before I go inside. Take the keys and let yourself in. I’ll be right back.”
I start toward the back of the house.
“Where are you going?”
“I want to go visit Aunt Ginny’s grave,” I tell him. “The cemetery is just a short walk from here.” I look away, suddenly embarrassed. “I know…I know she wasn’t who I thought she was, but I want to go see her.”
“Of course. I’ll come with you unless you want to be alone.”
I think about it for a moment. It feels strange being in this place with Nate, as if the life I have now is so far removed from where I was just a few months ago that having the two intermingle is unfathomable. On the other hand, I have been alone so much, I like having another person near me.
“I’d like the company, actually.”
I lead Nate straight to Aunt Ginny’s grave, immediately wishing I’d stopped somewhere for fresh flowers first. A few plastic ones sit nearby, covered in snow. I’d placed them there shortly after coming back. I crouch down and wipe the accumulating powder from the top of the rose-colored marble headstone, and Nate takes a few steps away from me, granting me a bit of privacy.
I feel like I should say something, but no words come to mind. All I really want is to be able to ask her the multitude of questions in my head. Sadly, and with more than a little frustration, she’s no longer here to provide answers.
“Maybe it doesn’t matter,” I whisper to myself. “You cared for me and loved me my whole life. Maybe that’s more important than answering any questions.”
I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye.
“Hey, Cherry?”
“Yes?” I blink back tears and rise. Nate is standing just a few feet away, looking down at a small gravestone.
“Come look at this.”
I walk up beside him and look down to find the name “Cherice Montgomery” on the marker
