Anna hadn’t spoken to Aunt Lucy in years. They had last seen each other at her mother’s funeral. After that they exchanged holiday calls for a while, then gradually lost touch.
Anna found an old address book and tried the number, but it no longer worked. So she decided to go see her in person the following weekend. The little town of Lukeville was about sixty miles from the city.
As the old bus rattled along the back roads, Anna felt more and more anxious. How would this meeting go after so many years? What if her aunt didn’t even recognize her? What if she didn’t want to talk?
By the time the bus pulled into town, the March sun was already dropping low. Anna got off at the last stop and stood there, uneasy. If her aunt turned her away, she’d have nowhere to go. The next bus back wouldn’t leave until morning.
She had only been there once or twice as a child, but somehow her feet remembered the way. Aunt Lucy’s place should have been the second house from the end of the road on the right. When she reached it, she stopped short.
The place was right, but the house was not. The old wooden farmhouse she remembered—with its crooked fence and sagging gate—was gone. In its place stood a large brick home with a modern roof and a tall metal fence.
Anna hesitated, then pressed on the gate. It opened. She stepped into a wide, tidy yard. Whoever lived here now was doing well.
There was a brick garage, sturdy outbuildings, and a huge dog in a kennel that barked with such force Anna nearly jumped out of her skin. Then the front door opened, and a broad-shouldered man in his fifties stepped out.
“Can I help you?” he asked, not unfriendly.
“Hi… Aunt Lucy used to live here. I’m Anna, her cousin’s daughter,” Anna said awkwardly.
The man squinted, then broke into a grin. “Anna? Annie? It’s me—Sam. Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me.”
“Sam?” Anna gasped.
He was Aunt Lucy’s son. As kids they had spent summers together. Anna remembered him teaching her to swim in the lake and showing her how to spot mushrooms in the woods.
After high school he had joined the Army, then worked for years up north. After that, Anna had lost track of him.
“It is you,” Sam said, laughing. “You’ve changed, sure, but I can still tell. Come on in. Mom’s here. We were just sitting down to dinner.”
Inside, Anna met Sam’s family. His wife, Tammy, was warm and welcoming, and their son, Owen, was already grown.
It turned out Sam had come back home after years away and built a successful farm business. He had rebuilt the family place from the ground up, and his mother now lived with them.
Anna had expected to find Aunt Lucy frail and elderly. Instead she found a small, lively woman who recognized her instantly.
“You look just like your mama,” Aunt Lucy said, hugging her tight. After the first rush of catching up, they promised not to lose touch again. The phone number had changed years ago, which explained why Anna hadn’t been able to reach them.
“Aunt Lucy, I actually came because I need to ask you something important,” Anna finally said. The rest of the family tactfully drifted away, and the two women went into Lucy’s room.
“I figured as much,” the older woman said. “Go ahead.”
“You and my mother were close when you were young,” Anna said. “Did she ever tell you anything about my father? Who he was? Where he lived?”
“Why do you want to know now, after all these years?” Lucy asked, studying her.
Anna explained about the photograph. About the sailor. About the locket. “I found it hidden away,” she said. “Inside were pictures of him and my mother.”
“A locket, huh,” Aunt Lucy said, and her whole expression changed. Her voice hardened. She sat very still for a long moment, thinking.
Anna waited.
Finally Lucy said, “Your father wasn’t a sailor. He was a criminal.”
Anna stared at her. “What?”
“That’s why your mother never talked about him. It was painful. Shameful too.”
“But he’s wearing a sailor’s uniform in the picture.”
“A costume,” Lucy said flatly. “That man liked disguises.”
