“Things started to fall apart while she was pregnant. I wonder if the pregnancy hormones triggered depression. I don’t know anything about that illness or what brings it on. She did write that she had made that vow to God when the tornado hit this area, and that God wouldn’t be happy with her if she divorced her husband. She was married to a man who was constantly looking at other women and even telling her how pretty they were when she felt like an ugly elephant. She had Uncle Isaac and was pregnant again when he was just a few months old, and all this before she was twenty years old. I thought I had it bad, but poor Nanny Lucy drew the short end of the stick all the way around,” April said.

Nessa tossed a slice of ham into a cast-iron skillet and made toast while it cooked. “Did she ever say anything about all that to you?”

April shook her head. “But the more I think about it, the more I realize that she was lashing out at herself, not me. It sounds crazy, but it helps.”

“Grandpa wasn’t a very nice person,” Flynn said, “but my question is, If he was such a womanizer, why did she stay with him? She was so independent and sassy that it’s hard for me to imagine her putting up with that crap.”

“She wrote that she’d made two vows.” April set the table while she talked. “One was to God that she would go to church, and the other was to love Everett O’Riley in sickness and health and for better or worse. In order to keep her vow, I guess, she figured that she had to stay with him even if it was mostly for worse.”

“Dad has vowed that same thing several times,” Flynn said. “I guess saying the words means about as much to him as it did to Grandpa.”

“Did her affair with Joseph Wilkes last very long?” Nessa asked. “Saying that about Nanny Lucy sounds so wrong. As if I’m already condemned just for asking.”

“About a month, from what I read,” April said. “She felt guilty about betraying her friend. But at the same time, Joseph told her she was beautiful and even brought her flowers when they met in secret. She just wanted someone to love her, and to see her. I don’t think Grandpa ever really looked at her after they were married. He didn’t compliment her or say nice things about her. She did write that she was glad when Joseph and April moved away so the affair would end. She didn’t have the power to stop it, and yet she was cheating on her best friend as well as her own husband.”

“Did she love him?” Nessa asked as she poured eggs into a skillet.