Adrianne opened the door. Carrington and Aunt Gretchen entered the room.
Aunt Gretchen, Dad’s older and only sister, was definitely my favorite relative. Gretchen was not as elegant as her mother. Strong, born in the countryside, and one of the first women to cross the Red River at the Cherokee crossing. At the time, women in Texas had to be strong because men would be absent on a regular basis which means they could never rely on them. Even the current women were the same - still persistent despite layers of make up.
Considering everything she had been through, Aunt Gretchen should have been miserable. She got engaged three times and lost all three fiancés. One died in the Korean War, another in a car accident, and a third from a congenital heart defect. Every time she would have to fac
