From Here to Paternity

the van, Jane had ended up farther back. Now she was in the rearmost seat by herself. As they once again headed across the high plains outside Golden, there was surprisingly little traffic, and Jane’s imagination kicked into gear.
    Looking out to the right, she could see nothing but mile after gently undulating mile of snow, ringed by rugged mountains. The setting sun caused the mountains to cast long blue shadows, and here and there were simple wooden structures, hunkering down against the wind and the drifting snow. A half-remembered scene from a movie, probably Doctor Zhivago , superimposed itself on the landscape, and Jane found herself thinking it might not be so strange after all to find an exiled Russian here.
    Had old Gregory actually been who Doris thought he was? And if so, why had he come here? How could he have known about this desolately beautiful place? And why would it have appealed to him? She smiled at the recollection of a conversation she’d overheard between two of the genealogists at a nearby table the day before. One had been talking about one of his ancestors coming from Sweden and settling in northern Minnesota. “Most of our ancestors came to this country,“ he’d said, “and wandered around until they found some place just as shitty as the place they’d left.“
    Had Gregory craved the hostile solitude of the Russian steppes? Had he somehow needed the bitter cold and blowing snow? Or had Gregory Smith just been a man named Gregory Smith and nothing else, who had meant to go to California and only got this far before giving up the trek? Maybe he’d been making his way through the mountains, stopped on a pleasant day to do a little gold panning or to explore an interesting crevasse, and found riches. That was certainly possible.
    But if that were the case, where and how had he come by the jewels he later gave his wife? Had he found enough gold to buy them? Who could say? His life before his marriage was a mystery. He might have had his eye on the pretty local girl and taken the train to Chicago or New York to buy the jewelry as a wedding gift. Jane wondered if there were actually any Holnagrad crown jewels that history had recorded. It would take a team of experts to make the connection, if so. And Doris had been just that kind of expert. Was it even remotely possible mat Doris had known about the jewels, or suspected their existence? And if she had, would she have kept quiet about it? Probably not, but Jane had to admit that she wasn’t in a good position to speculate about Doris. She had hardly known the woman. They’d had one brief conversation and then a collision in a hallway.
    All she knew about Doris was either surface impressions or from what other people said. Mainly what Lucky Lucke had said about her. Was there any reason to doubt his interpretation of her character? Jane simply couldn’t guess. She didn’t know anything more about him than she’d known about Doris.
    At the exit where they turned off I-70 for the final leg of the drive, Mel stopped for gas. They all got out to stretch their legs. Shelley approached Jane. “Are you feeling like I am? The thought of returning to the resort and having to keep an eagle eye on the kids is oppressive.“
    Jane nodded. “I didn’t quite realize what it was until you put it in words, but I’m not anxious to get back, either. Except that I have to let Willard out for a run. It’s a lovely place, but given the circumstances…“
    “Then let’s just stay long enough to tend to Willard and change our clothes, and then go out somewhere away from the resort for dinner. It’ll be my treat. Someplace elegant?“
    “I like the part about your treat, but I’ve had my quota of elegance,“ Jane said. “How about someplace really inelegant? Barbecue, maybe? Burger King would be even better.“
    Everybody else agreed, but Jane was outvoted on Willard. “Either he’s destroyed the place by now or he hasn’t. Another half hour isn’t going to matter,“ was Mel’s opinion, and the others agreed.
    “Besides,“ Shelley put in, “Linda Moose foot has been around to clean, most likely, and she probably let him out, seeing as we were all gone.“
    There was a Burger King diagonally across the interchange. They considerately let the kids go in first so they wouldn’t have to be seen traveling with adults; then Jane, Shelley, and Mel wandered in a moment later and took places at the opposite side of the room.
    “You’re very