M. P. Reardon

Unexpected Returns M. P. Reardon

On an early, rainy morning during the early 1960s, Kate Moran Mack receives a telephone caller with an English accent, asking if he has reached the correct Mack home. Charles Jeffers, a close friend of her deceased husband, with whom they had lost contact prior to WWII, is in the States on business. After much ado about hearing a voice from the past, Kate, with tears rolling down her face, arranges to meet with him. She steeps another pot of tea, and reminisces, traveling back to the 1920s, her husband, Tom, her only child, Peggy, and her beloved father, Joe Moran. Nostalgia envelopes Kate remembering the devastating Depression, the downfall of her husband, his humiliating death, and their tremendous losses. She wipes her tears and wonders if she made the right choice, meeting Charles and bringing back all those memories. During the 1940s, the war years, Kate succumbed to the pleas of her WWII sweetheart, Red Clancy, and joined him for a weekend before he's shipped overseas. Toward the end of the war, Kate's daughter, Peg, presents her with an unexpected granddaughter, Kitty. Kate's thoughts wander through the 1950s and the turbulent 1960s. Dancing around in her head were the wonderful Melios, Bridie, her close friend, Maureen, the daughter who leaves the convent after many years, the young priest who comes home with her and of course, Paddy Ryan. At a 1970 New Year's Eve party, Kate and her deceased mother's best friend, Meg, toast each other, remembering all the unexpected returns of friends and lovers in all of their lives. Danny Melio walks toward her with his arms open, ready to wish her a Happy New Year. This is a tale about the way we lived!!