Divided Interests (Southern Bride 3)

I stood and walked back to where Paige had found the chest. I lifted a blanket and nearly jumped for fucking joy. There was another chest, exactly like the one we had found. It was laid on its side; apparently it had fallen over at some point.

“There’s another one. Another chest, Paige.”

She rushed over to my side. “Does the key fit in there?”

With the chest in my hands, I walked back to the sofa, took the key and slipped it in. I almost let out a cry of joy when I heard it unclick.

Inside the chest were papers, along with a few letters. I pulled out the top paper.

“It’s a birth certificate. It’s got Granddad’s name and Millie’s name on it. They had a son, his name was … Phillip Joseph Miller Foster.”

“I’m going to get sick,” Paige said, covering her mouth.

“The next paper is adoption papers.”

“Adoption papers?” Paige asked.

“Joseph Miller, the brother of Millie Miller Foster adopted his nephew, Phillip Joseph Miller, one month after his birth.” I kept reading. “It states in the paper that Phillip is not to ever know who his true father was, that both men agreed to keep it a secret.”

“Why? Why would William not want to know his own son?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. But Granddad did know your father. He was friends with him. He did know his son, Paige, just not the way he should have.”

“Yes. They talked often, and William was very fond of my father.”

Her voice trailed off again.

“It looks like Millie got pregnant almost right after their marriage. She died in childbirth. There is a note in here, a letter. It’s from Granddad…to you.”

Paige looked at me, fear etched in those beautiful eyes. Her hand shook when she took it.

Slowly, she opened it and read out loud.

Dear Paige,

You were but only a week old the first time I laid eyes on you. Oh, how I wish I could have held you. Time had healed my broken heart, but by then it was too late for the truth to come out. I wanted to tell you the truth tonight. As we decorated the Christmas tree outside. Oh, how I wanted to tell you how much you looked like your grandmother. Millie was beautiful. She was also my savior. She saved my life, Paige. She was there for me when I was broken in more ways than one. Wounded and sure I would never be able to love again. I was on my way to the train station in Austin, off to run after my first love, May. You see, May was a free spirit when she was younger. An adventurer, much like you. I asked her to marry me, and she got spooked. Ran off to Europe. It didn’t take me long to figure out I needed to go after her. But fate had other plans, and I was in a car accident. In the hospital, I met and fell in love again, with a beautiful woman who had been my nurse. Your grandmother, Millie Miller. I used to tease her about her name. Soon, I realized I wanted to marry her. I asked her to move to Johnson City and be my wife. She agreed. When I got back to Johnson City, months after the accident, I had all of May’s letters waiting for me, unopened. I couldn’t bring myself to read them. I wrote to her and told her I had met someone and fallen in love and was to be married. May returned home right before the wedding, but she must have had second thoughts and never came to the wedding. She left for England a few days later. For the longest time I was so conflicted. You see, I had been in love with two women. I loved your grandmother with all of my heart. When she died giving birth to your father, I nearly lost my mind. No, I did lose my mind. I couldn’t care for Phillip, and your great-uncle, whom you have known as your granddaddy, stepped in and raised his nephew as his own son. I took every piece of furniture that had been Millie’s and put it in the barn after she passed. I couldn’t bear to see it because it brought me such sadness. Eventually, I had it all put into a proper storage unit, but you will most likely know that before you ever find this letter. I saved it all for you, Paige. Of course for your brother too, but he never has been the one for those types of things. Those were pieces that meant something to her, family heirlooms, that belong to you. Please let Tom and your daddy look through it as well.

After Millie’s death, I took to the bottle. That was when May appeared back in my life. I missed her, I truly did. She was the first woman I had ever given my heart to, and she would always own a piece of it. When she heard about Millie’s death during childbirth, she came back to America. I loved Millie, but Lord, I also loved May, and seeing her again sparked that love once more. May had her own demons, and she had fought them while we were apart. When she showed up on my doorstep, she was nearly three months pregnant. I knew in my heart I wasn’t going to let her go again. I couldn’t lose another love. We married as quickly as possible. The only person who ever knew the truth was your great uncle. I told him, explained to him that I needed to raise this child, that it was my second chance to get things right. The three of us agreed that we would keep it a secret. All of it. May had a son six months later. We told everyone the baby was premature, and he was little enough to make our lie believable. He was the spitting image of his mother. We named him after her father.