Seven. Seven for a secret, never to be told. Well, the secret part may be right, but the rest is wide of the mark. I’ll have to tell, soon enough. There’ll be no choice.
-- Narrator (Epigraph)

Importance: Maggie sees seven magpies in the yard and remembers that according to superstition, this number of magpies indicates a secret that will never be told. Maggie knows that her secret, her pregnancy, will soon be known. She does not know the secrets her child, Hal, will have to work through to determine her true lineage.

Because it didn’t make sense. Not one bit. Hal’s grandparents had been dead for more than twenty years.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1)

Importance: When Hal gets a letter from a lawyer telling her that she had been listed as a beneficiary in her grandmother’s will, Hal knew right away that there was some sort of mistake. Hal, however, did not know...