“We do? Who is it?”
“Oh, no one you know.”
“I thought all us Accidentals knew each other,” I said with a laugh.
“He’s not from Accident, Cherry.” Aunt Ginny smiled and shook her head. “He’s from Ohio.”
“I know where Ohio is,” I said. “It’s a state and there’s a river, and they have trains and they mine coal there.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s on my puzzle map of the United States! There’s a picture of the river, and a picture of coal cars on a train.”
I heard a knock at the door, and I jumped up to join Aunt Ginny as she greeted the visitor. He was an old man with grey hair and a moustache. I didn’t like his moustache, so I went to sit by the Christmas tree and string popcorn as Aunt Ginny talked to him. He didn’t stay long, but before he left, he came over to me.
“You’re doing a good job there, Cherice,” he said.
“Do you like popcorn?” I asked.
“I do.”
“Aunt Ginny said I had to string all these together, and I’m not allowed to eat them. They’re going to decorate the tree at the antique shop!”
“That’s an important job,” he said. “You are a very important girl. Did you know that?”
“I am?”
“Oh, yes. You’ll know all about it someday.”
Had my father been right there in our house, and I hadn’t even known who he was? Had he visited other times as well just to check in on me? Why did he tell me I was important, and should I reveal this to Nate and the others?
No, at least not right now.
Part of me is thrilled that I may have actually met my father at some point in the past even if I didn’t know who he was at the time. The rest of me is just in a daze. Despite how important it is for me to find out about my lineage, all this information has me wishing I’d never found out at all. Clearly, Nate feels the same way.
They continue to pour over the information, lining up the clues and pointing the proverbial finger right at me.
“Cherry not knowing about any of this,” Nate suddenly says, “even if I believe her, doesn’t make any difference. I can’t go against what Pops says.”
I glare at him. I’m so officially tired of his questioning my word, I clearly miss what’s happening around me. Again, I want to defend myself, but when I look at the faces of Nate’s family, I realize something else is going on.
They aren’t looking at me. They’re all focused on Nate.
“Pops?” Nora shakes her head.
“Nate, dude, what are you talking about?”
“He’s right there! What the fuck is wrong with all of you?”
I look in the direction Nate points and see a painting of a severe man hanging on the wall. I assume it’s Nate’s late father, but something isn’t right. Nate keeps talking about his father in the present tense and making references to him like he’s standing in the room with us.
Nate had never mentioned his father’s death to me, and I’d wondered why on many occasions. The rare times he had talked about him, it had been as if his father were very much alive, but I didn’t want to push him on such a sensitive topic even after Nora told me.
“Oh my God,” I whisper as I start to understand.
Nora approaches Nate and places her hand on his arm. Antony moves up behind her as if he thinks Nate might try to hurt her, but I don’t see any anger in his eyes, just confusion.
“You heard him,” Nate says as he turns to me, his eyes wide. He looks terrified. “He was right here when I was…was asking you…”