Inside were four handwritten pages and a second, smaller envelope.
Grace read the first few lines silently.
Then she stopped.
Her eyes moved toward Arthur.
“What?” he asked.
Grace looked at the first page again.
“It says she met my mother.”
Arthur’s face emptied of expression.
“When?”
Grace continued reading.
“Several times.”
Arthur stared at the cedar box.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Grace said quietly. “Apparently it isn’t.”
She read further.
Then her hand tightened around the page.
I could barely stand the silence.
“What else does it say?”
Grace lifted her eyes.
“Mrs. Whitmore says Mom came to see her after Dad lost his job.”
Arthur stood very still.
“She says they stayed in contact.”
“For how long?” I asked.
Grace turned to the final page.
Her expression changed again.
“Until the week before Mom and Dad died.”
Arthur sat back down.
The afternoon light fell across Eleanor’s old handwriting.
