Many times they were hearing the stories about their mama for the first time. Some had to do with how Marjorie had helped them, or how they always looked forward to the solos she sang in the church choir. What they had taken for granted, others saw as the loving, generous-hearted woman she was.

So far, none of the people had mentioned Hunt, likely because they were still unaware he’d come back, which was a relief to Emma, Junior, and Ray. They didn’t want to talk about him at all, or try to make excuses for why he wasn’t there with them tonight.

Birdie didn’t have much to say to her siblings and gave all of her attention to the visitors. She was still in shock at what she’d learned and confused about why her mother had never told her. Since she’d found about the theft, she had been thinking long and hard about what she remembered going on inside the house immediately after Hunt was gone.

She remembered Emma going to Florida for the summer to work at Disney World, and being so jealous that she couldn’t go, too. And when summer was over, Emma came back all tan and smiling, with a Cinderella T-shirt for Birdie and Pluto and Goofy T-shirts for Junior and Ray.

That fall, when it was time to go back to school, Junior dropped out, and nothing Marjorie could say would change his mind. And Birdie remembered her mama and daddy fighting almost every night after they went to bed. She had never connected the dots of Hunt’s absence with it being the trigger of all that upheaval, but she did now.

Birdie looked across the viewing room at Emma. She was a nice-looking woman who took pride in her appearance, and her husband, Gordon Lee, was a good man. Birdie liked him. Sometimes she thought Emma was mean to him, but it was none of her business.

She saw Ava come in, and then a half-dozen people followed her inside, and Birdie lost sight of her in the crowd as she began looking for Junior until she saw him. He looked decent for the first time in ages, but he wasn’t going anywhere in life because he had no aspirations for anything better than getting by.

Ray was off in a corner talking to a couple of his pool buddies. His girlfriend, Susie, was at his elbow. Birdie liked her, too, but wondered what she saw in Ray. None of her siblings had pride in themselves. And now she knew why.