The Envelope Opens
Chapter 04 - The Envelope Opens
Thomas fell asleep shortly after midnight.
Eleanor sat beside him.
The hospital was quiet except for the soft rhythm of machines.
She took the envelope from her purse.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
A photograph.
And a copy of an old legal document.
The photograph showed Eleanor at twenty-three.
She was standing outside the library.
On the back, Thomas had written:
The day I decided I wanted to marry you.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Then she unfolded the letter.
Thomas had written it two months earlier.
Eleanor,
There is something I should have told you many years ago.
I did not leave because I stopped loving you.
My father was dying.
The company was collapsing.
Margaret's father offered to save both the business and our family home if I married his daughter.
I was twenty-eight and afraid.
I told myself I was making a sacrifice for my family.
The truth is, I was also a coward.
Eleanor stopped reading.
Tears blurred the words.
She continued.
Margaret eventually learned the truth.
She knew I had loved someone before her.
She also knew who you were.
She never hated you.
In fact, years before she died, she made me promise that if life ever gave us another chance, I would not waste it.
Eleanor stared at the paper.
Then she looked at the legal document.
It was not a will.
It was the deed to a small lake house in Vermont.
The property was in Eleanor's name.
Transferred two years earlier.
A gift.
No conditions.
At the bottom of the letter, Thomas had written:
The lake house was the place I once planned to take you after our wedding.
I bought it back when I found it for sale.
Whatever happens to me, I wanted one promise from our youth to finally become true.
Eleanor began to cry.
Then the hospital room door opened.
Richard was standing there.
His eyes went directly to the papers.
“You opened it.”
It was not a question.
Eleanor folded the letter.
“Yes.”
Richard stared at the deed.
“That house belongs to our family.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“No.”
Her voice was quiet.
May you like
“It belongs to me.”
And for the first time, Richard's anger turned into panic.
