Journals of the Secret Keeper by Jennifer L Ray Read Free Book Online Page A

idea
what she was talking about, but felt sure she was
about to find out. The woman's old crinkled hand
gently rubbed her jawline and Willetta willed
herself to stay put. She wanted to move away from
the elderly woman, but something in her eyes stilled
her.
The woman's eyes filled with tears and she
said, "My momma's name was Willetta. My
grandpapa's name was William and my
grandmama's name was Etta. They named their one
and only child, Willetta."
Willetta felt the skin on her body tighten in
response to the implications of the woman's words.
Unwilling to guess and terrified to believe, Willetta
waited, but her next words sent both Andrik and
Willetta into a mental tailspin.
"You look a lot like Stanley, my son. I
didn't know he had fathered a child. I bet Jean
knew it. It was just like her to keep it to herself
too."
Andrik swung the car into Mama Jean's yard
and turned the switch off abruptly. "Do you mean
to tell me that Willetta is my sister," he yelled.
"Hold your voice down young man. I ain't
got no hearing problems," the old woman said.
"What's your name," Willetta asked.
"I'm Martha Thomas, your grandmother. I
ain't never been married because the one man I ever
loved got me pregnant and ran off with another
woman. It was always me and Stanley until
momma took him away from me."
"Where have you been all this time? How
could you not know about me and Andrik," Willetta
asked in disbelief.
"Now wait a minute. I knew about Andrik.
Andrik is Anita's son, but he ain't Stanley's son. I
just never knew about you, missy. I been in
California for thirty-five years now," she said as her
eyes slid towards Andrik.
Both Martha and Willetta turned their
attention to Andrik who was not lost to the
significance of the fact that Martha had been in
California for thirty-five years. He was exactly
thirty-five years old and his birth must have had
something to do with her exodus or either her exile.
Andrik suddenly had a very strong dislike
for Martha Williams. He didn't like or trust her.
She could be lying. He had never seen her in his
life and the things she was saying were unbelievable
and devastating. His mother could have told him on
her death bed, because he was there, that Stanley
Thompson was not his father. The one woman he
loved and trusted above all others, Mama Jean,
could have told him. But neither she nor his mother
had ever told him the truth. He wondered why. He
also wondered why the nasty old woman in the back
seat had suddenly resurfaced after all these years,
seemingly sober and ready to straighten out all that
Mama Jean had messed up. All her peers were
dead. No one was left to agree or disagree with her
account of events.
"Ms. Williams, Willetta and I are on our
way to town for supplies. Do you need anything
back from the store?" he asked coldly.
"I'm going to stay here with her, Andrik.
You can go on," Willetta said.
"Are you sure, you want me to leave you
here," Andrik said and glanced at the woman in the
backseat.
Martha Williams was eighty and she had
learned over the years to understand people. So,
she kept her silence and let Andrik draw his own
conclusions. It wasn't too many secrets that actually
went to the grave anyway. People are always
thinking somebody has taken a secret to the grave
with them, but in reality somebody somewhere
knows the truth. Andrik was going to find his own
truth and it wasn't going to be from her.
"Go on with him, gal. We got plenty time to
talk. I'm just gone get on in the house and take a
nap. If I know Mama Jean, everything is still where
it always was. I'll find my way around."
Willetta and Andrik helped Martha into the
house and headed back down the road towards
Clarksdale.
CHAPTER 11
Volume 8, pg.1 (September 27, 1906):
"Willetta Thompson was born this morning. I
could hear her wailing all the way out in the
field. She gone be alright. This baby gone live
to tell her own babies about life. I just know it.
'"
#
"Can you believe this," Willetta said. She
shook her head and