The Locket

I found something rummaging around in my mother's jewellery box. A gold locket with fancy letters engraved on it caught my eye. I'd never seen Mom wearing it. Of course, being about ten years old, I carried it to her and asked questions.
With a sigh, Mom revealed that the necklace had been a wedding gift from her mother, my Nanny. I traced the curlicue letters with one finger as she explained that that fancy writing had a name, calligraphy. Ooo, a new mouthful of a word. Studying the swirls, I could make out the letters 'CC' and I recognized her monogram, another new word. I knew my mother's name, the name other people used, Carol and my grandparents were The Cherskis, so this made sense to me. I accepted this.
A few years later, now a teenager, I reexamined that pretty necklace with a new perspective. The two scrolled letters were not both a 'C.' The second one had an added flair to it rather like a 'G.' Could this be true? Was this an error? Our surname began with a 'B.' Again, I sought my Mom and pointed out this anomaly.
This time, perhaps because she realized my 'mature' age, Mom admitted that this other letter was indeed a 'G.' She continued with a shocking revelation. She had never been a Cherski like her younger siblings. Nanny had been married to someone else before Grandpa and he'd been Mom's real father. Mom was a Gilham.
This opened the flood gates to more questions. Was her birth father alive? Had she met him? Had I ever met him? Where did he live? Could we see him? Why didn't he visit?
Mom answered that yes he was alive and no she'd never met him. He lived in the same province as we did, but it's a huge territory and the road trip involved a sixteen-hour drive. She felt it was too late to ever get to know him and she had her own family now. She also did not wish to offend her step-father.
I couldn't comprehend this. I lived with both of my parents, and I loved my father, we were close. How could she not at least be curious? If it were me, I'd waste no time tracking him down and introducing myself.
With further discussion, I learned that my grandmother had denied her first husband access to his firstborn. He'd sent letters, cards and gifts throughout my Mom's childhood and they'd been thrown away. Eventually, he'd stopped reaching out. I found this so tragic.
Mom just shrugged and continued with her everyday life until one day her mother offered to accompany her to her birthplace and introduce her to her father. This opportunity came out of the blue and Mom jumped at this chance. She actually confessed to me that she felt nervous and excited.
Anyway, Mom finally met her father and liked him. She described him as tall like her and easy to talk to. One meeting is all they had after years of separation. He died a few months later of cancer.
I suppose this had always bothered me. Mom missed out on so much. She had what-ifs and if-onlys. Fast forward to many years in the future, during which time I'd bestowed three grandchildren upon my mother and I'd developed a thirst for family history. With my computer and internet connection, I established a family tree.
My genealogy research caught the attention of a woman living across the country and she contacted me. She turned out to be my Mom's youngest paternal cousin and we kept up a correspondence. She informed me that she had four older siblings and the eldest remembered my Mom as a baby and had always wondered about her. She introduced me to them online and we wrote to each other. The eldest, Bill, would phone me and my Mom to chat. He lived across Canada on the eastern coast at a great distance from his brothers and sisters.
Due to physical limitations my Mom could not fly and long car trips were painful. I did arrange for her to meet two of her cousins who lived about a five hour drive from our home. I drove her to this reunion and she chatted for hours with her newfound family. This trip took its toll on her, but she enjoyed it fully.
Mom's health deteriorated and this trip was never repeated. The cousins were also seniors with limited funds and physical capacities. After her death, I managed to visit and meet the three remaining cousins. My search had come full circle. The beautiful letter 'G' had led me on a years' long adventure.          783 words