“Yes, of course you can. I should have given them to you years ago.”

“How about Ma? Do you have pictures of her?”

“I don’t remember having any. I’d be willing to sort through more old papers to see if they turn up, but I’m not sure where to start. Maybe that’s a task I can give myself in the near future.”

At least Win was sure she remembered her mother. A picture would have been a cherished possession, but her memory was keen. “Tell me about yourself, Pa. Your childhood. Where did you grow up?”

Her father’s eyes sharpened. He smiled easily enough, but it went no further than his lips. “I grew up in Chicago. Lived there all my life until your ma and I headed west.”

“Tell me about your parents.”

She saw his gaze shift. He looked down to the left, and she could almost feel him creating a story. She knew what he’d say next was a lie.

He talked of his father, a lawyer. A successful one. And his mother, a lovely society matron. He was an only child.

Since Win assumed it was all a lie, she wondered for the first time if her father wasn’t an only child. Did she have aunts and uncles? How could she find out?

He went on, talking about a happy childhood. A fine school that made him want a finishing-school education for Win.

On he went, and Win prayed as she listened to a made-up life so grand and pretty it was only fit for a fairy tale.

Lord, how do I honor my father? Is there a rule in the commandments that allows a believer to abandon this one commandment if there is only dishonor in the parent?

She’d told Kevin that honoring was not to let her father’s lies and mistreatment, possibly even to the extent of murder, go on to the next generation. She would honor him by not living as he did. And she would honor him by being honest. That was the hard part. To honor him by speaking truth to him and giving him a chance. He might change his life. He might become worthy of honor. But she couldn’t do that as long as Molly was in his house.

God, is that right? It has to be right. Because there is no way, as honor is traditionally understood, to honor such a man.

Her pa talked of meeting Ma, and she wondered if there was truth in that. Even if he wasn’t the well-connected young man he pretended, he might have lied his way into Ma’s social circle. Charmed a pretty young woman. Married her while keeping the falsehoods alive. These lies might be of long-standing, lies he’d told in his youth and clung to even now.