“Violet, I think you should consider the opportunity. Talk to her and hear what she has to say. Then if you like, you and I can talk it over before you make a final decision.”

“I won’t hurt you again, Rose.” Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you.”

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. “Vi, you have no idea how much that means to me. But I’m tellin’ you that I want you to hear her out first.”

“Okay.”

I kissed her cheek and looked into her eyes. “And I promise you that you won’t lose me. We’ll still be sisters no matter what.” Even if it turned out Daddy wasn’t my real birth father, it wouldn’t change the years we’d clung to each other as little girls. We had a bond that couldn’t be broken. It wasn’t determined by blood.

She squinted. “What’s goin’ on?” Just like I could pick out a fake smile, she could read me too.

“I’ll tell you about it later.” I glanced at the clock and untied my apron, tossing it on the stool. “But now I’m late for an appointment.”

“What kind of appointment?” she asked as I grabbed my coat.

“An appointment with the truth.”

There were far too many secrets in this town and it was time to clear this one up, no matter how bad it hurt.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I pulled into the parking lot of Big Bill’s Barbecue right at one. The lunch crowd had begun to thin a bit, but it was still as packed as a tin of sardines. It didn’t seem like the best place to hold a personal conversation, but maybe Hattie wanted plenty of people around. She didn’t know anything about me or even if I were telling the truth. For all she knew, I was a serial killer.

There was a chill in the air, so I tightened my red scarf and headed for the door, but before I could even make it to the sidewalk, a car door opened and a middle-aged woman got out. I relaxed when I saw how closely she resembled the photo in Dora’s yearbook.

“Rose?”

I smiled, my stomach a bundle of nerves. “Yes.”

“I’m Hattie.” She was shorter and heavier than me, and her light brown hair was streaked with gray. She looked wary.

“Thank you for meeting me. I know you don’t know me.”

“I do. Kind of. I kept track.”

I sucked in a breath. “You know about me?”

“I was Dora’s best friend. Of course I kept track of her baby.”

“How?”

The corners of her mouth tipped up and she said softly, “Harrison.”

An unexpected surge of anger raced through my veins and tears pricked my eyes. “So you know how horribly my mother treated me?” When she didn’t answer, a tear slid down my cheek. “Did you?”

Her eyes hardened. “Agnes Gardner was not your mother.”

I began to shake. “Agnes Gardner was the only mother I ever knew. Dora Middleton may have wanted my life to be full of love and happiness, but that couldn’t have been further from what happened.” My temper flared again. “How many people watched me live through that hell and just stood by to watch it happen?”

Contrition filled her eyes. “I’m sorry. We wanted to protect you. I did what I thought was best.”

“And that’s supposed to make everything I went through better?”

People were openly staring at us. I was already enough of a spectacle in this town, so I didn’t need any more fuel to add to the fire. “Why are we doin’ this here?” I asked. Then I realized my previous assumption about her motives were wrong. She’d already admitted that she knew all about me. She knew I was harmless. By meeting someplace so public, she’d hoped to avoid a scene.

I turned around and stomped off to my truck, aggravated with myself for leaving, but not trusting myself to stay either. I wasn’t sure I could go through with this.

Hattie slammed her car door shut and hurried after me. “Rose, please don’t go. Please. I have so much to tell you. Information you need to know.” When I kept walking, she said, “Your life may depend on it.”

Now she had my attention, but then again, that had been her intent. I fought back my tears and spun around to face her, squaring my shoulders. “What are you talkin’ about?”

She moved closer. “Did you find Dora’s journals?”

“Yes… Why?”

“Both of them?”

I didn’t answer, suddenly unsure that I should trust her.

Her eyes looked wild and a little desperate. In my ever-growing experience, that was never a good thing.

“Oh, God. You did. You found it.” Tears filled her eyes. “Of course you did. She was your momma. It makes sense you’d have a special bond.”

I had no bond to Dora Middleton other than the inheritance she’d left me, which was starting to feel like a double-edged sword.

Hattie sucked in a breath, as though trying to regain her composure. “Did you read them? I’m sure you did. Harrison never told you anything about Dora. You would want to know about your momma.”

I still didn’t answer.

“There’s more to those books than meets the eye.” She paused and looked into my eyes. “Go get the coded one and bring it to Atchison Manufacturing.”

As she made the suggestion, it suddenly hit me how odd it was that I hadn’t thought to go there since this had all begun. But then again, what could I hope to find there now? It was nothing but a burned-up shell of a building. Any clues to the truth would be long gone. Still, I found myself saying, “All right.”