Blaze (Steel Brothers Saga 21)

“They’re hard to see. Do you have a loupe?”

“A what?”

“A jeweler’s loupe. You know.”

“Do I look like I keep a jeweler’s loupe in my office? I’m a rancher.”

Good point. “A magnifying glass, then. You know what? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. The initials are there. LW. I saw them. Do they ring a bell to you?”

“Not offhand… Actually… Yeah. But that doesn’t make any sense. They didn’t have that kind of money.”

“Uh…Dad, you’re going to have to say all the words. I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Right. Sorry. My grandmother. My mother’s mother. Her name was Lucy Warren. No. Lucy Wade. My father changed my mother’s birth certificate.”

“You’re talking in weird circles, Dad.”

Dad rubs his forehead. “I’m sorry. I’m tired, and these meds…”

“Let’s get you to bed.” I rise.

“No, no. I’m fine. God, there’s so much you don’t know.”

“I know that, Dad. Maybe it’s time you let me in the loop.”

“It’s a long story, Donny. I’m not up for it tonight.”

No, he’s definitely not. “Just tell me who Lucy Wade or Warren or whoever is.”

“She was your great-grandmother. And her married name was Wade. It’s a long story why my father changed my mother’s maiden name. But either way, LW are the initials of my maternal grandmother. But this can’t be her ring. My mother didn’t grow up with money. Not the kind of money that could afford a ring like this, anyway.”

“So all the money comes from your dad’s side?”

“Yeah. All of it. My mother’s parents lived in a suburb of Denver called Westminster. She was on a scholarship to college, where she met my father.”

“How come you never talk about your parents?”

Dad inhales and rubs his chin. “I don’t remember much about my mother, Donny. She… Man, this is a long story. Suffice it to say she checked out when I was around ten years old.”

I gulp. “Right around the time…”

“Yes. When I was taken. She never got over that. The stress forced her into preterm labor with your aunt Marj, who wasn’t expected to survive, but miracle of all miracles, she did. My mother was never the same after I came home, and she… Well, she left a year or so later.”

“What do you mean she left?”

Dad inhales. “I guess we’re talking about this now.”

“It’s okay, Dad. We don’t have to.”

“No, I can tell you at least this much. We thought she died. That’s what my father told us. In reality, she declined mentally, and Dad put her in an institution.”

For a moment, my head spins. I can’t form a thought.

“You all right?” Dad asks.

“Would you be?”

“Don, I’ve told your brother this, and now I’ll tell you. Your mother, uncles, aunts, and I made a conscious decision after you and Dale came here and before Dee was born. We decided to mask the horrid parts of the past. None of it would affect you anyway, so why should you have to carry it?”