Both of my parents have blue eyes, and so it follows that my brother and I have inherited the trait. My maternal grandfather, Malcolm (yes, the same Malcolm who appears in the books), and my maternal grandmother, Eileen (you guessed it, same Eileen), also had beautiful blue eyes.
Going back further, so did my great-grandfather Charlie and my great-grandmother Hazel. If the names sound familiar, it’s because we first met them in Becoming Hazel and continued to follow their courageous and sometimes heartbreaking story in Saints & Deceivers.
When I married my husband, Tom, we weren’t sure what color our children’s eyes might be since his are a warm hazel, but I suppose that blue genes are strong because all three of our children have blue eyes. Then our children married people with blue eyes, so the grandchildren’s eyes are a lovely ocean of blue as well.
But we recently returned from a family trip to Italy, and we visited La Spezia on the northwestern coast, the birthplace of my paternal grandfather. He also had bright blue eyes, fair skin and red hair in his youth, though I remember him only with a full head of beautiful, thick white hair.
It suddenly dawned on me as I was writing this that my grandmother, who was from Sicily, had dark eyes. She also had beautiful olive skin and curly dark hair. My father had the same dark hair and olive skin, but with piercing blue eyes. My grandparents had four children: Pietro, Giuseppe, Francesco Junior, and Santa Lucia – called Pete, Joe, Frank (or Junior or June), and Sadie Lou – because they were proud to be Americans. I remember my aunt had dark eyes and I don’t remember what color Pete or Joe’s were. But somehow my father managed to pass the blue gene down to us.
(Spoiler Alert) In Saints & Deceivers there’s a scene in which Hazel and Charlie are agonizing over a photograph they’ve received from the people who have taken their child. Because she was an infant when she was taken, they wonder whether her eyes are still blue like her twin brother’s or whether they have changed over time. The people who have taken her are playing a terrible game of cat and mouse with only sporadic letters and black and white photographs and no return addresses. Their daughter’s eyes are haunting them so Hazel and Charlie will stop at nothing to get her back.
Saints & Deceivers is inspired by real events and the photographs are part of my Inherited Treasures. I cannot imagine the agony that Hazel and Charlie must have gone through. But fear not! I guarantee you a happy ending eventually. Keep reading Hoofers & Hooch and Gangsters & Reels.
