I am illegitimate. But this was never a problem for me–it was just me and my mother against the world. Mother never told me much about her past, and after a couple of unanswered questions in childhood, I stopped asking. Now, Mother is sick, and she's decided to revisit the past–literally–by taking an unexpected trip to the mountains where she was born.

I was worried; I was scared. I followed her. And my mother's journey became my journey, too. I discovered that I have a father–and my parents are still in love. Their life together just took a detour that lasted over forty years.

Their relationship was like a blackberry winter…the colder the weather, the sweeter the berries in spring. And now that I've found the truth, will I have the strength to make it through my own blackberry winter?