The legal document remained open beside it.
I read the cottage address twice.
Then I unfolded the first letter Douglas had written after leaving for college.
The envelope was still sealed.
My name was written across the front in the handwriting I remembered better than my own.
Hannah,
I arrived safely. I already miss you.
I pressed my hand over the paper.
For forty years, those words had waited in the dark.
Just before midnight, my phone rang.
I nearly dropped the envelope.
It was Lucas.
“Did you get home safely?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
His voice had changed. It sounded strained.
“What is it?”
“I went back into Dad’s room after you left. The wooden box was still on the chair.”
“And?”
“There was a note underneath it.”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t know how to explain this.”
“Lucas.”
