1022 Evergreen Place - Debbie Macomber [101]
“And your mother assumed it was because you two had something important to tell us.”
“Which they did,” Corrie stated gleefully.
“I would like to remind you,” Roy said with a comical scowl, “that you made the same assumption once before and you were totally off base.”
“Yes.” Corrie nodded. “I was then, but I’m not now.”
Mack held up his hand. “The thing is, Mary Jo and I ran into a problem in our research. So we kind of dropped it for a while.”
“It’s been fascinating, learning about World War II,” she told them. “Mack and I rented the movie The Longest Day and we found out even more about the Normandy invasion.”
“Jacob was part of the 101st Airborne unit that dropped in behind enemy lines,” Mack reminded them.
“One group missed their target and landed right inside Sainte-Mère-Eglise, only to be mowed down by the Germans,” Mary Jo said. “It was horrible.” She’d hardly been able to watch the scene, especially since the man who’d written those beautiful letters might well have been one of the young soldiers who’d lost his life there.
“I believe the group you mean was the 82nd Airborne,” Mack inserted.
“I saw that movie, too,” Roy said. “Years ago.” He rubbed the side of his face. “Didn’t the men who parachuted in have a clicking device?”
“Yes,” Mack confirmed, “the clickers were handed out so the men could find one another. They were to click once and those replying were to click twice.”
“They dropped dummies in parachutes, too,” Roy said. “They exploded on impact and confused the enemy.”
“Getting back to the letters… What stumps us is the fact that they stop after that one in early June 1944,” Mary Jo said. For her own satisfaction if nothing else, she wanted to learn his fate, even if he’d been killed. All they knew was that he hadn’t been listed among those buried in France or among the known dead.
“Are you sure Jacob’s his actual first name?”
“That’s how he signs all his letters,” Mack said. “He—”
“Mack,” Mary Jo broke in softly.
He glanced at her.
“If you wrote me, you’d sign your letters ‘Mack,’ right?”
“Right.”
“But your given name is Jerome.”
Mack’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought of that. There were other Dennisons included on the website.”
“Let’s go back and check,” Mary Jo said excitedly.
“There’s another possibility,” Roy murmured.
“What?” Mary Jo wished now that they’d taken this to Roy earlier. Talking to him had given them a new approach. If they found Jacob, if he was still alive or even if he wasn’t but had family, they might also be able to learn Joan’s fate.
“What’s your idea?” Mack asked his father.
“You said he isn’t listed among those who were killed?”
“That we know of,” Mack said.
Mary Jo felt it was important to add, “We couldn’t find a list of the wounded, though—so he might’ve been injured and shipped home.”
“But we discounted that,” Mack said. “If he was injured, he still would’ve had a way of getting in touch.”
“Yes.” Mary Jo nodded. “If he was injured, he could’ve written eventually or had someone write for him.” Mary Jo was convinced that if Jacob had been capable of it, he would’ve found a way to tell Joan he’d survived.
“He might have been captured,” Roy suggested.
“Captured,” Mack echoed. “You mean taken as a prisoner of war? We didn’t even consider that.”
Mary Jo stared at Roy, stunned. How could they have overlooked such an obvious possibility?
“Well, I guess we’ll be doing some more research. You’ve certainly given us something to think about,” Mack said. “Thanks, Dad.”
“No, thank you,” Corrie told him. “It’ll be a long time before I let your father live down the fact that I was right.” She gleefully rubbed her palms together. “We’re going to love having you and Noelle as part of our family, Mary Jo.”
And Mary Jo was going to love being a McAfee, too.
Twenty-Nine
Bellamy Towers. Linc stared up at the four-story building in Bremerton, feeling his mouth go dry. He’d got the address of his father-in-law’s office out of the telephone directory but he’d only had the street name and number. He was shocked to discover