CHAPTER 13

"What Sue means by that, Mom is, we found something we... I need to talk to you about." He started. "It's about Gramms and Gramps." Jack said sadly.

"Why so serious son? What did you find that you think I don't know about?" She asked. For the first time, he began to wonder if perhaps his mother DID know about her mother's past...

"We found these old love letters..." Jack said holding up the hat box.

"And this diary..." Sue added.

"I think there are some things you may not be aware of... something you need to know."He said pulling out the diary and opening it.

"Just spit it out boy... what did you find?" She asked her son.

"Gramm's had an affair, or... at the very least lied about when she and gramps got married... She had you with another man... Gramps isn't your biological father..." Jack said shyly.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Emily asked.

"It's all here..." Jack said, opening the book to the pages that described her affair with JW and then her subsequent marriage to Jacob. Emily flipped through the book, and casually read over a couple of the love letters.

Jack mother started to laugh. She laughed harder than he'd ever seen her laugh before. She laughed so hardily tears began to fall onto her cheeks and she had to excuse herself for a minute. When she returned to the table, Sue and Jack both looked at her rather oddly.

"Mom, what are you laughing at?" Jack insisted.

"Come one... let's take a ride..." She said. She picked up her keys and everyone followed her to the SUV in the yard.

"Mom, where are we going?" Jack asked.

"I want you to meet someone." She said. They drove for 20 miles or so, and pulled into a drive way that was beginning to become overrun with weeds. Emily got out of her car, and again, everyone followed. She walked gingerly up the front steps of an old farm house. The stairs creaked when they stepped on them. Emily knocked on the door. A woman came to the door. She seemed to be about Emily's age, and just as spry. As soon as the door swung open, the other woman screeched out her name and pulled her into a bear hug.

"As I live and breathe! Emily Hudson! How the heck are you girl?" She pulled her once again into a hug. "I was so sorry to hear about your mamma. I wish I could have gotten to the services, I wanted to say a proper goodbye, she was always so good to me and my family, but I had no one to watch mama while I was gone..." She said sadly, nodding her head toward an old woman rocking in a chair in the middle of the living room.

"It's good to see you too. I understand about your mom. It's hard, that's for sure." Emily said.

"So what brings you all the way out in the middle of nowhere, especially after that horrible storm I heard you guys got." Emily's friend asked.

"Actually, my son Jack and his girlfriend Sue were going through some of the things in Mom's attic and came across something I think you might like to see." She said. Jack walked up to her, and shook her hand as did Sue.

"Mom... Sue and I are only..." He began.

"Save it honey... If you're about to say that you and that young woman over there are just friends, you're lying. I can see lover written all over you two a mile away... and if you're not yet, you will be!" Emily's friend teased.

Jack and Sue blushed.

"That's what I thought..." She said. "So, what treasure did you find in your grandmother's attic that I might be interested in? She asked.

"Umm, I'm not sure..." Jack began.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jack, let me introduce you to my good friend... Emma Joanna Phillips."Emily said. "See Emma and I were born on the same day, in the same town... just not to the same parents." Emily explained.

"Wow... don't I feel like an idiot!" Jack admitted.

"Don't feel bad... I found the same 'evidence' when I was about 8... brought it to my dad's attention. He had a good chuckle, and introduced me to Emma... one of his best friends daughters.

"Your grandpa and both my daddy's were in the war together. We both got lucky, our dads came back... well, one of mine did." Emma said.

"Well, then, these belong to you and your mom." Sue said as she handed the hat box to her. Emma opened it and fanned through it.

"Oh, thank you so much. I thought this had been lost forever." She admitted. Momma would be so happy to know it's back.

"You should tell her." Jack suggested.

"I will, but it won't do much good. She has Alzheimer's, advance stages of it. She doesn't say anything anymore. She just sits there, quiet." Emma said.

"May I?" Sue asked.

"Sure." Emma answered.

"I know what it's like to be locked in a dark world. I was lucky enough to have my mother who pushed me out into a hearing world..." Sue said as she took the diary and a couple letters to the elderly woman.

"Mrs. Phillips? My name is Sue. I found your letters from JW... he wanted you to have them." She said, tucking them in her hands. Emma's mother crunched the letters in her fingers, pulling them to her heart. A tear fell onto her cheek but she just sat there quietly.

After a few more minutes visiting, Emma said she had to get back to things before she lost day light. The two women hugged and agreed to get together for coffee soon. The entire crew piled back into the SUV and headed home.

"I feel like such an idiot..." Jack said under his breath.

"Don't." His mother answered.

"How could I have thought Gramms would have had an affair?"

"Son, things weren't that different back then from what they are now. It just wasn't as widely advertised as it is now." Emily said chuckling.

"Things you kids do now, we did when we were young, and your grandparents did too..." His father said. He smirked at his wife, she playfully slapped him.

"LALALALALALA..." Jack yelled loudly as he covered his ears.

"Very mature Jack." His mother said. Sue laughed along with the others.

"Not something I ever want to think of my parents, and especially my grandparents, EVER doing!" He said emphatically.

"I understand son... just like I don't want the image of you and Sue making love in your grandmother's spare bed over the past two days, but it's going to be burned there..." Emily said to him teasingly. Jack's mouth dropped open and he turned a bright red shade.

"Mom!" He exclaimed. "Oh my God! Did you..." He started.

"No, I didn't see anything that I would have to gauge my eyes out for... but don't think you're the first to christen that bed!" She said laughing. His father had a guilty look, and an evil giggle as well.

Sue looked at him, trying to figure out the conversation. She had only picked up part of it, but figured enough to know, she didn't want to know more about it.