Preface
SHE’D HAD ONLY THE PHOTOGRAPH, all these years.
The old woman had viewed the cherished black-and-white image thousands of times in secret. She knew every detail by heart. There was the wisp of a baby with a sweet, sleeping face, always the first place her eyes went. And off to the side, gazing at the baby, a young mother, her damaged hands lying across the skirt of a good dress. Those same hands, now thickened and spotted by age, held the precious photograph carefully.
Had she really been so young once?
Her tidy apartment was quiet, as usual, with a warm ocean breeze filtering through the open windows. But the silence no longer echoed emptiness. In recent days the space had been filled to overflowing, like her heart.
She was ninety-four now, undeniably old. And after all this time, along with everything else that had been restored, her letters had come back to her. So many pages, hundreds of them, written over years and years.
The trauma of that long-ago time covered her memory like a fog, but she remembered the pain revealed in the words —the pain and the love. She remembered those well. They had been her constant companions for nearly eighty years.
Her bent fingers reached for the pages, and time unspooled.
Her hands stopped at a letter bearing a signature other than her own, a letter she’d never seen before. This one was written by the dear Reverend, long dead now, like nearly everyone else mentioned in these letters.
She read, and the words opened the door to another time, another century. Another August day, like this one and yet nothing like it at all . . .
Ev. Luth. Synod of Iowa
And Other States
Office of Secretary
Rev. W. F. Kraushaar, M.A.
Aberdeen, South Dakota
April 3, 1929
My dear madam,
I have an unfortunate girl in my congregation that expects to give birth to a child about the end of this month. I have investigated her case and am convinced that she was the victim of a dastardly crime of assault. She comes from a good family and has been staying with relatives in Sioux City. Could you take her in and help her when her time comes? Her family is not wealthy, but they will pay whatever your regular fees are.
I must mention too, that her people want her to give her baby away since the father is a fugitive criminal, but the girl seems rather inclined to keep it, possibly you can give them the best advice. Do you find good homes for such children? Of course, they would prefer a Lutheran home.
I would greatly appreciate an early reply.
Faithfully yours,
Reverend Kraushaar