“How on earth did your folks ever get together to begin with?” Nessa asked. “They were so different.”

“She got a job as a secretary at the oil company where he worked,” Flynn answered. “She fell in love with him, and I believe that even after he cheated on her and asked for a divorce, she loved him until she died.”

“I want to find peace, and to do that, I’ve got to be at peace with me. Somehow I don’t see either Nanny Lucy or Grandpa doing something immoral, but maybe our great-grandparents . . .” Nessa paused to take a bite of cake.

“April, did Nanny Lucy ever talk much about Grandpa?” Flynn asked. “He was dead before any of us were born, and I never heard her mention him, except to say that the green rocking chair was his.”

“He died before my mother was even born,” April answered. “Nanny seldom ever said anything about him, but she did tell me more than once that raising my mother and then me was what she got for trying to punish him. She never did tell me what he did that made her so mad.”

“Did she ever tell you how he died?” Nessa asked. “I’ve asked Daddy, but all he’ll say is that his father died on the job when he was a teenager and just before Rachel was born.”

“My dad says that Grandpa was away a lot and pretty much only came home on weekends. When he was home, he spent most of his time getting ready to leave again. He worked on the railroad, and Dad said that at the end of his life he was an engineer, but it wasn’t on a passenger train,” Flynn added.

“Freight trains?” Nessa asked. “Are there pictures of him anywhere?”

“Not that I’ve ever seen, but Nanny Lucy told me that he worked with freight trains, too. She said that she kept her memories in the hall closet and that I’d get in big trouble if I ever prowled around in there,” April said.

“Do you think there’s pictures in there?” Nessa asked.

Flynn left his cake, stood up, and started down the hall. “Let’s see if there are. Could be that we’ll find some answers in the pictures.”

April didn’t think for one second that they’d find anything helpful, but it was worth a try. Still, a shiver chased down her spine at the very idea of prying into that closet.

“Holy smoke!” Flynn yelled when he opened the door and a whole raft of items fell from the top shelf, covering him with quilt tops and crocheted afghans.

“Need some help fighting your way out of all that?” April yelled back.