I moved closer and laid my hand on my father’s shoulder. “We don’t know anything for sure, and even if he was your father, you have nothing to do with any of this. You’re a good man, and you weren’t part of whatever happened back then.”
“But if we’re related,” he argued, “and my own mother... how could she have kept this from me? Was she ashamed? Because she must have known what he did, what he represented, what side he was on. If not at the time, then at the end of the war when it all came out. And she was married to another man. That alone is enough to change everything I ever believed about her. You know what I’m talking about, Gill, after what Malcolm just did to you. How is it possible I never knew any of this? How could she have hidden this from all of us? Grampa Jack especially?” His face was flushing with color. I wished he would calm down.
“Maybe it’s not what it looks like,” I suggested. “I take it you haven’t asked her about it?”
“No. I just can’t believe it, because she was like a saint as a mother, and Jack was a hero in the war, risking his life to fight Hitler. I can’t imagine what he would have done if he’d found these pictures.”
I worked hard to speak in a relaxed tone. “We still don’t know what this is. Maybe there’s some other explanation, like... maybe she was a spy, and her husband sent her to Berlin to seduce this man. I mean... who has a chest like this with a secret compartment? It’s very James Bond.”
“Now you’re making fun.”
“No, I’m not, because that kind of stuff really happened, you know. There were lots of female spies during the war.”
He looked up. “I know there were, but not my mother. She would have told me about that.”
I took a step back, not wanting to remind him that he’d just finished saying that maybe it wasn’t possible to know everything about a person—even someone you loved. Maybe good people are just better at keeping secrets.
Dad checked his watch. “We should get going. I have to pick her up at the nursing home.”
“I’ll come with you,” I replied, “and then we can ask her about this.”
Dad shook his head, as if he dreaded the idea of bringing it up. “I don’t know how we’re going to do that.”
“We’ll just show her the pictures,” I replied, “and see what she has to say about them.”
A Fire Sparkling – Available now
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Books by Julianne MacLean
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
The American Heiress Trilogy
To Marry the Duke
Falling for the Marquess
In Love with the Viscount
Can This Be Love Trilogy
(American Heiress Spinoff)
Love According to Lily
To Annabelle, With Love
Where Love Begins
Love at Pembroke Palace Series
In My Wildest Fantasies
The Mistress Diaries
When a Stranger Loves Me
Married by Midnight
A Kiss Before the Wedding -
A Pembroke Palace Short Story
Seduced at Sunset
Captured by the Highlander
Claimed by the Highlander
Seduced by the Highlander
The Rebel – A Highland Short Story
Return of the Highlander
Taken by the Highlander
The Royal Trilogy
Be My Prince
Princess in Love
The Prince’s Bride
Dodge City Brides Trilogy
Prairie Bride
Tempting the Marshal
A Time for Love
Colonial Romance
Adam’s Promise
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
A Curve in the Road
A Fire Sparkling
The Color of Heaven
The Color of Destiny
The Color of Hope
The Color of a Dream
The Color of a Memory
The Color of Love
The Color of the Season
The Color of Time
The Color of Forever
The Color of a Promise
The Color of a Christmas Miracle
The Color of a Silver Lining
About the Author
JULIANNE MACLEAN is a USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the contemporary women’s fiction Color of Heaven Series. Readers have described her books as “breathtaking,” “soulful” and “uplifting.” MacLean is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA® finalist and has won numerous awards, including the Booksellers’ Best Award and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from Romantic Times. Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been published in over a dozen languages.
MacLean has a degree in English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a degree in business administration from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She loves to travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband, daughter, and mother. She invites readers to visit her website for more information about her books and writing life, and to subscribe to her mailing list for all the latest news: www.juliannemaclean.com