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didn’t tell you…Why wouldn’t Pearl tell you that?”
    “Pearl
would never shatter my image of him; not ever. As for how I know, my
grandmother told me just before she died. Funny, she loved Pearl, just like
Pearl was her own,” Candace reminisced.
    “Like
Pearl loves you,” Jameson said.
    “Yes.”
    “Wow.
Are you worried about someone unearthing that skeleton? Candace, no one has ever
even mentioned that Pearl…”
    “Things
are different now, Jameson. People delight in unearthing old drama. They don’t consider the people involved. They just like the
sensationalism. My Granddad, he was a popular figure, a successful governor. I don’t ever want to see that tainted. I don’t
want Pearl to endure that either.”
    “How
would anyone even find out?” Jameson asked.
    “I
don’t know that they would. I don’t know if it’s worth that risk to me.”
    Jameson
leaned in and kissed Candace gently. “I think you should talk to Pearl.”
    “I
can’t,” Candace’s eyes began to grow teary. “How can I ….”
    “Yes,
you can,” Jameson said. “Pearl loves you. I mean…Candace, I think you are the
most important person in her life in most ways. I never really understood that,
but…”
    “Pearl
is my mother in every way that matters,” Candace said. “My grandmother, when
she told me, she was so calm. It was as if she believed it was just meant to be
that way. She told me that Pearl’s
mother…well, she was absentee. She took off when Pearl was barely eight. Pearl
actually lived with my great grandmother for seven years before she moved into
my grandparent’s house as their ‘housekeeper’. I knew that, but I never knew
why. No one talked about it.” Jameson was stunned. It was the type of story she
envisioned as the makings of a T.V. movie. Candace continued. “But, Grandma
felt about Pearl the way Pearl does about me. Truthfully, Pearl is just like
Granddad. If anyone bothered to pay attention they would see how much she even
looks like him, like me.”
    Jameson
chuckled. It was true. She had always found it uncanny, but Jameson chalked up
the likeness she saw in Pearl and Candace to all the mannerisms they shared
more than anything. That, she accepted came from so many years of being around
each other. “I can’t tell you what to do,” Jameson said. “I think you owe it to
yourself to talk to Pearl. She’s wondering what is holding you back too.”
    “I
know. I feel like I am betraying a confidence. It’s her past. It’s their past.
I don’t want my future to bring up painful memories for Pearl, or to taint who
my Granddad was.”
    “Well,
I don’t see how what you told me taints anyone. It was a different time. Your
grandparents never walked away from Pearl. I would say that is a testament to
who people thought they were. That they were right,” Jameson said. Candace
closed her eyes and listened. “Plus, Candace, couldn’t this come up some time
anyway? I understand he was governor and maybe you think someone will reach,
but sooner or later it might come out anyway. And , I think you and Pearl deserve to be honest with each other.
You’ve both been keeping this secret to protect the other. I know it feels
earth shattering; it really isn’t. It just feels that way. Sometimes, you have
to face the past before you can confront the future.”
    “When
did you get so insightful?” Candace asked playfully, but lovingly.
    “I’m
not. I’ve learned a lot this year about that. Letting go of the past, I mean.
It’s the past. You can’t change it. I think it hurts you more if you try and
avoid it. You’re hanging on to something you can’t change when you need to let
it go.”
    “What
about you?” Candace asked.
    “Me?”
    “Yes.
You just moved to open an office here in D.C. for one thing,” Candace said.
    “I
would have done that no matter what happened eventually,” Jameson said. “And,
who knows? That might prove a very wise decision in another five or six years,”