PART 13

My mother’s letter began with an apology.

Not the dramatic sort that demands forgiveness before anyone understands the harm, but a plain admission that she had been afraid.

Natalie, she wrote, if you are reading this, you know there is more to your father than the story I gave you.

I hope you will forgive me for choosing a story that was easy for a child to hold instead of one I was too frightened to tell.

Evelyn described meeting Warren at a shipping office when she was twenty-two.