The day after my telephone conversation with Mildred Kane I wrote Marilyn a letter describing everything that Mrs. Kane had told me. I added, "I believe that our Aunt Marion knows everything we wish to know regarding Veronica. Mildred Kane was at one time Aunt Marion's Sister-in-law. Marion had been married to Mildred's brother Tony Silva. I think Marion is trying to protect our mom by denying that Veronica ever existed. When I questioned Aunt Marion at the family reunion she determinedly stated that there was no truth to the rumor. Therefore, much as I would like to, I would not feel comfortable to question her again for to do so would be to imply she was lying. I guess I will just have to let it go. I don't know what else to do."

Two evenings later Marilyn telephoned me. "I telephoned Aunt Marion and read her the letter you wrote me," she stated. "After listening to what you had to say she became very upset to the point of crying and then admitted to me that she had lied to you. She said she held the truth from you to protect you as well as Julie. She asked me to have you call her. She says she will tell you everything that she knows. Please be gentle with her, Wally. She is very old and frail and has recently suffered a stroke. She is also undergoing treatment for cancer. She feels so badly that she lied to you. I did not question her about anything and I will look forward to your letting me know what she has to say about Veronica."

Later that evening, assuming my aunt had finished with dinner, I telephoned her. The moment she heard my voice she began to weep. "Oh, oh, I am so embarrassed! I am so ashamed! I'm sorry that I lied to you. I held the truth about Veronica from you and Marilyn because I did not want to hurt you," she wailed. "Wally, you had such a sad and difficult childhood. I knew of the things your stepfathers Les and Guy did to you. I knew how you lived in fear from day to day that your mother would die. My heart ached with pain for the things I saw you subjected to. I did not tell you about your other sister Veronica because I figured that what you didn't know could not hurt you. Please know that I meant no harm!"

My aunt's words touched my heart deeply. I could feel the pain she was feeling and I felt compassionately sorry for her embarrassment.

"Please don't cry, Aunt Marion," I pleaded. "I am not angry at you. I understand why you held the truth from me and I love you for trying to protect me, truly I do. Please don't cry."

I paused for a few moments listening to see if my aunt had calmed herself. When I was certain that she had, I continued my conversation. "My sister's married name is Veronica Simas, isn't it? Her maiden name was Veronica Luiz?"

Aunt Marion replied quietly, "Yes. You have found her. How? How ever in this world did you find her? I am the only person still alive who knew about her. How did you find her?" she asked again.

"It's a long story, Aunt Marion. I ran onto a lead and I followed it," I answered.

"Well you found her. I will never figure out how you did it, but you did. Your mother never even knew where Veronica was. Julie searched for her until the day she died. On several occasions she hired private investigator to find her daughter. Year after year, she begged our parents to tell her whom they had adopted the child out to, but they refused to tell her anything except that the baby was put up for open adoption, and therefore they had no idea who the adoptive parents were. That was a lie of course and I think that Julie was suspicious of that. She and I were still living at home with Mama and Papa when the baby was born so of course I knew about the birth. Our older brothers and sisters had already moved away so they were never aware of Veronica's birth. Your aunt Lorraine and your Uncle Tony were so young at that time have remembered the incident. Your Grandmother was a midwife and she delivered the child in our home. I was the only one other than your Grandparents who knew of Veronica's birth. My parent's demanded that I NEVER tell anyone about the baby. I was asked to swear upon the family bible which I did. Later when they became aware of the fact that I had discovered who had adopted Veronica they swore me to silence again. Julia had threatened to find the adopted parents and take back her child. She swore she would never give up looking until she found her. They said that I too must protect the child by keeping the secret. You must remember too that back then we all had been told by doctors that Julia would not live beyond her teen years. None of us thought she would live to raise Veronica. I was young and frightened and confused and I kept the secret for the sake of my parents, thinking too that I was doing what was right for everybody concerned. Maybe I was lying to myself? I don't know? Time passed, years passed, and I just buried the truth within me because I was scared and ashamed. Have you any idea how guilty I felt because I was holding the truth from my sister? I was in fact deliberately lying to her. In the years that followed I watched your mother's fruitless attempts to find her daughter. She never overcame that loss. I wanted desperately to help her but I was frightened."

My aunt's words were followed by a long silence as I waited for her to stop weeping. "Veronica was adopted by Alfred and Katherine Luiz, wasn't she? How did they happen to be chosen to parent the child?" I asked.

Marion took a deep breath and then replied, "Because Katherine was the daughter of Mama's best girlfriend, Mary Lima. Mama and Mary were both born in Salinas, California. They were childhood friends and their friendship lasted throughout their lifetimes. They were as close as blood sisters. Mary married Anthony Silva and they had one daughter who they named Katherine. When Katherine became an adult, they discovered she could not bare children. Now isn't it likely and proper that Mama would have chosen the daughter of her very best friend to raise her grandchild? Also, Alfred and Katherine Simas were extremely wealthy people. Mama knew that Veronica would have a very privileged and secure life."

My aunt's story fit perfectly and logically together. "Of course it makes sense. It makes all the sense in the world," I admitted.

After another short pause in conversation my aunt's voice became very agitated as if she were either angry or deeply disgusted.

"Marilyn read me that hog wash that Mildred Kane fed you! That horrid woman! When I divorced her brother I also divorced myself of her! You can't believe anything she tells you! Everything Marilyn read me that Mildred said was a pack of lies!"

"Was absolutely everything she said a lie?" I asked.

To hear my aunt denounce Mildred Kane's stories comforted me for some of the tales that Mildred had spun were too ugly for me to wish to believe.

"Almost every word she spoke was a lie," Marion replied. "Papa never shot Alfred Luiz! And furthermore, there was NO money paid for the child whatsoever. The simple agreement between my parents and the Luizes was that the whereabouts of the child would be kept secret, but that Mama and Papa could occasionally see Veronica just as long as Veronica was never told that they were members of her family."

"And…did they visit Veronica as agreed?" I asked.

"Yes, Papa delivered eggs to the Luiz ranch every Saturday morning up until the year of 1955, when He and Mama sold their farm and moved to Santa Cruz."

As Marion spoke, my mind wandered backwards in time. I thought of the summers I had spent on my grandparents' farm and of the times I would sit beside my grandfather in his old pale green Studebaker and drive about town as he delivered his farm fresh eggs. I realized at this moment that ‘the beautiful red brick house trimmed in white wrought iron that I had told my mother of, and which I vowed to ‘buy one just like it for her when I grew up and became rich,' was the home that my sister had been raised in. As incredible as it may seem, my grandfather had deliberately taken me to the home of the sister to whom I was unaware. I was certain that he would have defiantly taken Marilyn onto the property too.

I had a shadowy memory of sitting in the old Studebaker and drinking a glass of cold lemonade under the shade of a Chinaberry tree as I waited for my Grandfather to return. A pretty young girl had brought me the lemonade and sat with me while my Grandfather visited her parents inside the house. Was that girl Veronica? Had I met her and never known it?

"The house is a beautiful two story red brick one, isn't it? It's trimmed in white wrought iron balconies and railings and surrounded by Chinaberry Trees, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes. Veronica, her family and her mother still live in that very same house today," Marion replied.

"Do you mean, that all of those years, my mother's parents' home was less than two miles from the house my mother's child was being raised in? How could my mother not know her child was there?" I asked.

"I know it seems incredible…but she did not know," Marion replied. "She had moved away from Tracy shortly after the adoption. She only returned for occasional visits."

"And what about my father, did he know about Veronica?" I asked.

"I have no idea Wally. I do not know if Julia ever shared her secret with him?" she replied.

"I will never know. He too may have known but carried the secret with him to his grave hoping to protect both my mother and myself." I answered.

He must have known, I thought to myself. I would find it hard to believe that my mother would not have told him. There had to be somebody whom she trusted and could share her secret with. My father was aware that she was the mother of Marilyn. It was also then probable that she would have shared with him that fact that she gave birth to Veronica too. As if she had read my mind, my aunt replied, "You will never know if Bud knew, Wally. But if he did, then I am certain that he held the truth from you because he loved you, just as Julie and I had done for the very same reason."

"I have one final question to ask you, Aunt Marion, but I am almost afraid to do so."

"Please go right ahead. If I know the answer to your question, I will tell you," she replied.

My mouth became dry as I spoke the words, "Who is Veronica's father, Aunt Marion? I am embarrassed to ask you this but I very much want to know. Is Alfred Luiz Veronica's father?"

Marion paused for a moment and then quietly said, "No, Alfred did not father Veronica. I know Mildred told you that Katherine had told Veronica that he was her natural father. Perhaps she did. This I do not know. However I do know for absolute fact that Alfred was not the father of your sister."

"Then please tell me who was?" I asked softly. My aunt took several deep breaths and when she again spoke I could hear great tiredness in her voice. She began stuttering as she spoke and for the first time since the beginning of our conversation I could hear the symptoms she had suffered from her recent stroke.

"The boy's name was N….N….Na…Na…Nate…………….Ha…..Ha…H-a-u-g-h," she stammered. "I believe that is the way he spelled his last name. Forgive me for stuttering. Due to the stroke which I had some words are very hard for me to pronounce. Nate was a sweet and very handsome boy. He and Julie had been childhood sweethearts. Your mother was very pretty and she had many admirers in those days. Nate was one of her favorites. When Julie and Nate discovered that she was pregnant, Nate asked her to marry him, but Mama and Papa forbid it. Julia was going to elope with Nate anyway, but our parents intervened and threatened to have Nate arrested and put away in jail if he ever saw or spoke to Julia again. Nate was forced to leave Tracy at gun point. It was he that your grandfather threatened to shoot. Much to Julia's heartache, she never saw the boy again. She believed at that time that she loved the boy, but in truth her great love was your father who was yet to come into her life. It would have been a grave mistake had she married Nate, for they were far too young and inexperienced to have been husband and wife, let alone parents of a child back at that time."

"Thank you, thank you for sharing all of this with me Aunt Marion. I love you for being honest with me. I love you for letting me know what is true," I said in utmost sincerity.

"There are other things I must tell you too." My aunt continued, "Two or three years after your mother and father died we had a family reunion which was held in Tracy. Do you recall that reunion?"

"Yes, I was there," I stated.

"The year was 1975. Well, I decided at that time to contact your sister Veronica and to invite her to the reunion. After your parents deaths, I felt that it was time that you and Marilyn knew of Veronica's existence and so I telephoned her and I invited her to that reunion. ‘You have a brother and sister whom you have never met,' I told her. ‘You have an entire family who you have never known and we would love to have you attend. Please come and meet us?'"

"What did she say?" I asked.

"She said, ‘I have a family of my own and my family does not include yours! It never did and it never will! I would suggest that you NEVER contact me again. If you ever contact me again, I guarantee you that I will have my lawyer put a stop to your intrusions!'"

"Veronica slammed the receiver into the cradle. Several days later, I received a nasty letter from her family attorney, warning me that my having any further contact with Veronica would lead to unpleasant legal circumstances. Although my intentions were honorable, I could go no further." My aunt finished her sentence with a deep and tired sigh.

"Thank you for sharing this information. Now I know for certain that Veronica is aware that Marilyn and I exist, and that she is rejecting us intentionally," I replied disappointedly.

"Well…I'm not certain that I told her that she had a brother and a sister. I believe that I did. However, it was so long ago that I can no longer recall. She does know that she is related to The Cardoza Family. I made that clear."

By the time we had finished our conversation, my aunt sounded so weak and tired that I insisted that she get into bed and rest. I promised that I would come and visit her next spring. I was to keep that promise, but by the time that I did, one year had passed since I had mailed my first letter to Veronica. I had sworn to myself that I would wait on full year before attempting to contact her one final time. With the information my aunt had given me there was no longer be any doubt whatsoever that Veronica was my mother's child. I wrote:

That evening, after having posted my letter, I telephoned Marilyn and told her what I had done.

"I don't think it is going to do you any good," she remarked. "I feel certain she got the first letter and has chosen to ignore it. You shouldn't have sent her a follow up letter. It may just frighten her and make her feel that you are stalking her."

"I thought about that too." I admitted. "However, I have waited a whole year and it has been so difficult for me to understand why she would have been threatened by my first letter?. She has always known she was adopted. Her entire family is aware of that fact. Why would she feel she could not make contact with me even if it was just to say ‘I am not interested in knowing you? Please don't bother me again.' There is a possibility she didn't get the first letter. I needed to give it one more try."

"I know how hurt you are, and how desperately you have tried to make contact with Veronica," she said caringly. "After a month had passed and she did not reply to your letter, I told you to be prepared for rejection. The truth is that I never thought that she would reply. I doubted it from the very beginning, for as you know I myself was put in much the same position as Veronica. Both she and I were adopted and so I can empathize as to how she feels. Whether her decision comes from anger or her pride, it is all the same in the end: you and I are not welcome in her life and you must accept that fact. Veronica does not care that we exist. She has her own family and she is content. Please, let it go."

"You are right. I will not pursue this matter any further. My last letter is the end of it. I just wanted to try one last time to be certain that she knows I have tried to reach her. I know that her children work in her floral shop with her, and I thought that possibly one of her daughters may have signed for the original letter I sent her and that maybe she opened it out of curiosity, felt embarrassed that she had intruded into her mother's privacy and then threw the letter out. That is possible isn't it?" I asked.

"Possible, but not probable," Marilyn replied.

"You're right," I admitted. "I promise you that this was my final attempt. I tried my very best. Despite my disappointment I discovered our truth and I am grateful for that."

After a short pause in conversation Marilyn asked, "I have been curious as to why you never mentioned me in either of the two letters you wrote to Veronica."

I waited for a moment before replying, hoping to find the proper words to justify my lack of proper consideration.

"Please don't be hurt by what I am going to say. The simple truth is that I was too ashamed to. I was afraid that if she knew that her birth mother had given two children up for adoption that her opinion of that woman would be too disgusting for her to ever want to make contact with me. I was going to bring you up when she and I were able to talk in person."

"I understand," Marilyn replied. "You don't have to apologize."

"I hope you do understand. I certainly don't want to hurt you. Please also remember that I never told her about my lifestyle or that fact that I am an astrologer. She would probably run the other way! I was just trying to break the ice with what little information I have given thus far. I was going to play it by ear, kind of feel her out as to where to go next with her when we spoke."

"I am not hurt. I understand completely. You were being delicate and I agree that that would be necessary."

"DELICATE!?" I exclaimed.

Suddenly the ridiculousness of our circumstances occurred to me and I broke into laughter. "Can you please tell me how in hell I am going to introduce myself to Veronica? From everything that I have learned about her I believe that she is very conservative, very Catholic, and very much the protective mother. I am the total opposite of everything she must value and respect. Let's face it; I am unquestionably different from most people. She will probably scream and run in the opposite direction when she learns the facts about me. And what is she going to think when I introduce you to her as ‘Marilyn, our other illegitimate half sister.' No; Veronica, you and Marilyn do not share the same father. As a matter of fact, my father is a different person than your fathers are too. You were the first child to be given away. Marilyn was the second. Due to my idiosyncrasies, there wasn't an adoptive family in the world that would take me and so I stayed. Now one might think that our birth mother might be SLIGHTLY dysfunctional…."

"Stop it!" Marilyn said laughing. "Don't be so damned dramatic! I agree that our life stories sound like the scenarios of soap operas, but in truth it isn't all as bad as it appears to be once it is all explained. You are very articulate and will find the right words to make her understand, if and when that time comes. But I urge you one more time not to get your hopes up. You may never hear from Veronica or ever get the chance to tell her anything other than what you have already written her. Disappointment can be so terribly cruel as you have already discovered."

"I have one last question to ask you Marilyn. You may not be able to remember what I am going to ask you because it was a long, long time ago."

"I'll try," she answered.

"When you were a little girl, did you sometimes keep Grandpa company while he drove around Tracy delivering eggs to his customers?"

"Sure, hundreds of times. Why?" she asked.

"Do you remember a pretty red brick house decorated with white wrought iron and surrounded by Chinaberry trees?" I asked.

"Oh, you mean that beautiful old place on New Jerusalem Road? Of course I remember that house. I used to wish I lived there because the house and farm land was so beautiful. Grandpa would deliver eggs there on Saturday mornings and I would wait for him in the car."

"Did he ever take you in the house with him? Did you ever meet the people who lived inside that house?" I asked.

"No, not that I can remember. I'm almost positive that I never did. I just assumed that whoever lived in that house was very rich and important, but I never met them so far as I can recall. Why are you asking me this?" she asked quietly as if she were very puzzled by my questions.

"That is the house where Veronica moved to when she was adopted. She still lives in that very same house today," I stated.

Marilyn took in a deep breath and then gave a soft whistle as if I had amazed her. "You have got to be kidding! Do you mean that all of my childhood years, our sister lived just down the road from me? Wally, when you discovered her and the fact that she had been raised in the same town we lived in, why I assumed she must have lived far on the other side of town. I can't believe she lived so close to us. I am shocked. I am truly shocked."

She paused for a moment and then went on, "I'll bet Grandpa took us there on purpose. It was his way of hoping us kids would meet and could all know each other."

"I think so too," I agreed.

At the end of our conversation, we agreed to get together as soon as possible. My aunt's poor health was greatly worsening.

"You promised Aunt Marion that you and Pat would come to visit her," she reminded me. "You must not put off you visit much longer. I don't know from day to day what her condition will be. She is very much looking forward to seeing you again. We can all meet at her place any day you choose and I will fix lunch for us."

"Pat and I can be available a week from this Friday, if that's good for the two of you?" I replied.

"That Friday is perfect for both Marion and I. Oh, by the way…I forgot to mention to you that Marion told me she has something she forgot to tell you when you spoke with her recently."

"Maybe I should phone her now and find out what it is." I asked.

"No, I wouldn't, Wally. She was just recently released from the hospital. A nurse comes to look in on her twice a day. She tires very easily and spends a great deal of time just napping. It's probably best not to disturb her. Whatever she has to say to you will hold until next week. It will give us something more to talk about as well as something for her to look forward to," Marilyn concluded.

When we ended our conversation that day I did not realize how prophetic my sister's final words were, for two days before our get-together I received a telephone call that would put an end to my search forever. Our sister Veronica contacted me. Marilyn was right; we would have much to talk about indeed.