Ike feels the horse under him slow, and realizes that he has been pushing the animal too hard. Not wanting to hurt her, he reigns the mare to a stop and dismount. He is on a small hill that looks out over the horizon. There is one stubby tree atop it, standing as if it were a sentinel. Ike sits down with his back against the trunk and pulling his knees up to his chest, stares out over the plains. The sun is starting to set and it is really a beautiful sight, but Ike is too upset to notice.

Ike mind is reeling with unanswered questions. 'Why now?' 'What do I do?'

He looks down at the paper he still clutches in his hand. Slowly he removes the letter from the envelope and begins to read it again.

Dear Mr. Ike McSwain,

I know this letter will be like a voice out of the dark, but there is no other way. I am writing this letter on behalf of my best friend, Margaret Lowe. She has been searching for you for a very long time. Let me start at the beginning.

Many years ago, my friend married a man named Isaac Lowe. He was a man of some importance and substance. He was also a very hard and proud man, but my friend loved him and she thought she could change him. A few years went by and they had a child, a daughter. The labor was extremely difficult and both mother and child were almost lost. Afterwards, Margaret was told she would never have another child. The daughter became the pride and joy of both parents, and she even managed to melt her father's heart, until the day she broke it.

When the daughter was eighteen years old, she fell in love with a poor tanner's son. He was a good lad, but Isaac did not approve of the couple. He forbade them to see each other, but they didn't listen. Instead, they eloped and moved out west to start their own life. Father and daughter did not part in love, and Margaret was forbidden to ever try and find her daughter, and the daughter never sent any word home.

That was many years ago, and now Isaac Lowe has passed on to the next life. Margaret has spent the last three years trying to find her lost daughter and son-in-law and make amends. She has searched this country over, using what little remains of her husband's money, trying to locate them. She finally traced them to Missouri, only to find out that they, along with their daughter had been killed, but one child, a son, supposedly survived. Finally, my friend traced the child to a Catholic mission in central Missouri, but there the trail went cold, until one day a few months ago. My own grandson keeps books for the firm of Russell, Major, and Waddel, and he noticed a name on the payroll that looked very familiar. He wrote home and told me and I told Margaret. She begged me to write a letter to you, and so I have.

You are that child, Ike, the one my friend has been searching so desperately for. The daughter was your mother, and the man she eloped with your father, and Margaret is your grandmother. You were named after your grandfather, a man your mother both loved desperately and yet couldn't forgive.

Margaret is no longer in good health, the last few years of worry and strain have drained her of her strength, and she will soon pass on. Margaret's last wish in life is to be able to meet her grandson, see him face to face. There are many things about your heritage she would like to share with you before she dies. Please, as her friend, I beg of you, grant her this wish!

Enclosed is money for the stage and train fare to Philadelphia as well as directions to my house, where Margaret now lives. I know you have your own job and life now and you may not want to take this trip. You may also be angry with Margaret for not finding you sooner. However you may feel, I again beg you to come.

We will anxiously await your reply.

Sincerely,
Lorraine F. Brarring

Ike stares at the letter in his hands, rereading the words again and again, until it is too dark to see them. Then he just sits and gazes up at the stars, not sure how he feels about anything anymore. Part of him is, like the letter said, angry that he has gone so long without knowing any of this. Angry at this unknown grandfather of his, for turning his parents away, and even angry at this new grandmother for not stopping it. If they hadn't turned them away, Ike would still have his mother and father and sister! And yet, at the same time he thinks it, he knows he cannot blame them. What happened, happened; just like all the other bad things that have happened in Ike's short life.

Ike leans his head back against the tree and closes his eyes. Suddenly, he is transported back to another starry night, just like this one, before his world was ripped apart.

And so Ike had always assumed that when he watched his family die on that awful day, he had lost everyone. And now he doesn't know what to think.