grabbed a tissue from the television stand and sneezed into it. “No, thank you.”
“I’d do it just to see if Daddy is a descendant of Noah or maybe Moses.” Nessa laughed out loud as she pulled another piece of paper from the envelope.
“I should go to the waterfall,” April said. “Lightning could shoot through the ceiling and hit you for comments like that.”
“I’ve said far worse, and I’m still alive,” Nessa said, and then she lowered her voice. “Well, well, well, no wonder Nanny Lucy didn’t want you digging around in the closet. This is your birth certificate, April, and it has your father’s name on it.”
April’s chest tightened, and her pulse raced. The room started to go dark, but she shook her head and took a deep breath. Her hands trembled when Nessa passed the paper over to her. “I’ve never seen this.”
“And here’s the adoption paper, and your original Social Security card.” Nessa handed them to her.
“I never knew that Nanny Lucy adopted me, either.” April laid both documents on the floor in front of her and stared at them. She had always figured that the birth certificate would have “father unknown” on it.
“Why didn’t you have a copy of your birth certificate? Didn’t you need it for something or other through the years?” Flynn asked.
“Nanny Lucy took it to school when she enrolled me in kindergarten. I didn’t need it after that. She must’ve gotten my Social Security card when I was born. I’ve never seen the birth certificate before right now,” April whispered, unable to take her eyes off the papers. “I didn’t ask many questions. I learned early on that her answer to most anything like that was to tell me it wasn’t any of my business.” She gave the certificate to Flynn. “This is all overwhelming.”
“Well, from what this says, your father was Lucas Green, and until Nanny formally adopted you, you were April Green,” Flynn said as he studied the piece of paper.
April had a father somewhere out there in the world. Where had he been? Did he even know he had a daughter?
“When Nanny Lucy was mad at you, did she mention anything about your father?” Nessa peered over her shoulder.
April shook her head. “Maybe the sin she kept fretting about was that she killed him. I wonder if he loved my mother, or if I’m the result of a date rape or a one-night stand.”
Flynn pulled his phone from his pocket. “You want me to see where Lucas Green is these days? I can look him up on the internet. I’ll just add ‘Blossom, Texas,’ so we narrow it down. You might even meet him.”
“I’m not sure. What if he ran out on my mother, or what if he was a married man?” April asked around the lump in her throat. Her palms got clammy, and her breath caught in her chest. “This is too much information for one night. It makes me want a double shot of whiskey to calm my nerves.”
“Well, I want to know, and he’s not even my father,” Flynn said as his thumbs flew on the phone’s keyboard. “I’m sorry, April.”
“What?” April was suddenly hungry for information about this Lucas Green.
Flynn read from his phone. “I found an old obituary dated thirty-one years ago. ‘Lucas Green, sixteen years old, of Paris, Texas, was killed when a drunk driver struck him as he was walking to town, two days before his junior year began. He leaves behind his foster parents, Lola and Melvin Sully, and two foster sisters, Crystal and Jamie Davidson, ages four and six.’”
“Good grief!” Nessa gasped. “Aunt Rachel was pregnant, the father of her baby was killed, and she had to live here with her super-religious mother. What a mess.”
Tears flooded April’s cheeks, dripped off her jaw, and left wet dots on her T-shirt. “I never knew him or even his name, so why do I feel grief for him now? Why didn’t Nanny Lucy tell me these things?”
Nessa draped an arm around April’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry, but maybe Rachel refused to tell her who your father was until you were born, or since he was already dead . . .”
April laid her head on Nessa’s shoulder. “Dead, alive, married with six other kids. I deserved to know.”
“Yes, you did,” Flynn agreed. “Even if she didn’t tell you until . . . Hey, when I scrolled down, there’s a picture of Lucas. It’s a newspaper print, but at least