“He’s gone, isn’t he?”
“Gone? Gone as in dead? No, Aunt Jo. We believe he’s very much alive.” Gil covered his aunt’s frail hands with his own. “We almost found him. I mean we found him but didn’t see him.” Gil sighed. “Let me start from the beginning. Maddy found a gallery with an O. Clark exhibiting his paintings in New Orleans. Get this. One of his paintings was titled One and Only. It was a lone live oak tree. Aunt Jo, there was a heart carved into the tree in the painting. There was an O plus J inside the heart.”
Josephine gasped a quick breath. “That has to be him.”
“We tried to catch up with him the next day, but ran into… a little trouble… and missed him.”
“Oh.” Josephine’s eyes filled with tears. “He’s alive. He remembers.”
“I’m sure he does. We left our name and numbers with the gallery owner. The owner gave the information to Paul. But Paul said he’d never heard of us or Comfort Crossing.” Gil looked at his aunt, his eyes filled with concern.
“He must still be angry that I didn’t meet him. I don’t understand why he didn’t come find me when I didn’t show up. It doesn’t make any sense. There has to have been a reason.”
“I’m sure there was. I’m going to keep looking for him now that we know he’s an artist. I’m going to try to find a way to see him in person and talk to him.” Madeline didn’t want Josephine to give up hope.
“You are a very kind woman, Madeline. I appreciate all that you’ve done. You’ve already given me so many answers to questions I’ve had for years. And I know Paul is alive. That is a comfort.”
“We’ll keep looking, Aunt Jo. We have more leads now. He’ll turn up.”
“I hope so, Gilbert. I’d give anything to see him again.”
“I’ll try to make that happen, Josephine. Try to find out why you never got the letter.”
Josephine reached out, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it. “I’m so very grateful to have met you. That you cared enough to find out who the letter was written to.”
“I’m glad I found the letter. I’ve met such wonderful people while looking for answers.”
Josephine patted Madeline’s hand and stood up from the table. “Now you wait right there. I have something to show you.”
Josephine crossed over to a box on the kitchen counter and brought it back and set it in front of Madeline. “Go ahead, open it. I found some photos of your grandmother from when she lived in Comfort Crossing.”
Madeline carefully lifted the lid and peered inside. “Oh. Wow.” She took the photos out, one by one and looked at them. Her grandmother looked so much like her mother.
“That one is of your grandmother, my sister, Catherine, and me at the city park on the fourth of July. I think I was in high school by then, the girls were a few years behind me in school.”
“I love these! Thanks so much for showing them to me.”
“No, I want you to keep them, you’ve done so much for me.”
“Oh, thank you. I’ll treasure them. I don’t have many photos of my grandmother.”
Josephine reached in the pocket of her sweater and drew out another photo. “I also found this photo of Paul and me. This was taken right before he disappeared. It’s Paul, my sister, and I.”
Josephine took the picture and looked at it closely. The girls were dressed in summer dresses and Paul had on slacks, a white shirt, and a jaunty driving cap. “He’s so handsome.”
“He was, wasn’t he? He wore that driving cap a lot, not that he had an automobile, mind you.” Josephine took back the photo. “I hope he’s had a good life. I wish only the best for him. I’m glad he’s made a success from his art. He enjoyed it so much and I thought he was very talented.”
“It appears that other people think he’s talented, too.” Gil reached and took the photo from his aunt. “You were so young. Very beautiful. Of course you still are.” He grinned at her.
“Oh, go on.” Josephine blushed the tiniest bit, with a bright spot of pink on her cheeks.
Gil reached over and kissed his aunt on her cheek. “Guess good looks just run in our family.”
“Gilbert, there is just no stopping your nonsense.”
“I tell the truth, Aunt Jo. I’m cursed with that trait, I’m afraid,” Gil teased.
“I just don’t know what to do with you, Gilbert. You’ve always been incorrigible. You just drink your lemonade and let Madeline and I talk for a bit.”
Gil picked up his lemonade, shot Madeline an impish grin, and settled back in his chair.