Mario's Secret

Somewhere in China, Mario has a child he’s never seen. A passionate love affair with Lili Cho, while on leave in Tokyo, ends in heartbreak as Lili’s parents, furious that she is pregnant, exile her to China. A distraught Mario returns to combat duty in Korea where his goal of becoming an ace conflicts with his desire to find Lili. Lili spends five years in China before returning to Tokyo to attend her mother’s funeral. Ever hopeful, she races to Johnson Air Force Base to locate Mario, only to find that he has married and is living in the United States. Her dream in ruins, Lil has no choice but to move on and begin a new life. She moves with her son, also called Mario, to southern California. Life in Santa Monica is good for Lili. Her tea import business prospers and her son adapts easily to the California life style. Those tranquil years are shattered in 1970, when her son turns twenty and is sent to Vietnam. The story returns to Mario, who, as he approaches eighty, battles Alzheimer’s and two daughters who are determined to get his money before sending him to a nursing home. In those quiet moments when he’s alone, Mario reminisces about the time spent as an aviation cadet and the rigorous training he went through to finally realize his dream—to fly the F-86 jet. Later, disgruntled with his Air Force career, Mario transfers to the Army and becomes a medevac helicopter pilot. Little does he realize that on one of his rescue missions, he will save his unknown son, thus setting in motion an unimagined chain of events that will take the reader by surprise as the novel reaches a heart-warming conclusion.