The Box Caleb Left Behind
Chapter 07 - The Box Caleb Left Behind
Caleb had died from cancer.
The woman on the phone was his business partner, Rachel Dunn.
She agreed to meet them.
Jax, Luke and Nora flew to Oregon.
Rachel took them to a small workshop near the coast.
Caleb’s tools still hung on the wall.
His jacket remained behind the office door.
Jax touched it.
For seventeen years, he had imagined his brother angry.
Lost.
Maybe dead.
He had never imagined him building a quiet life near the ocean.
Rachel handed Jax a wooden box.
“He told me someone named Jackson might come one day.”
Jax sat down.
Inside were photographs.
Emily.
Caleb.
And a newborn baby.
Luke.
Jax looked at the boy.
The truth was undeniable.
Caleb Mercer was Luke’s father.
Luke stared at the photograph.
“He held me.”
Rachel nodded.
“For three days.”
Then Victor found them.
Caleb believed staying would endanger Emily and the baby.
He disappeared again.
Emily raised Luke alone.
Caleb secretly sent money.
Birthday cards.
Letters she never gave Luke because she feared revealing his location.
Jax opened Caleb’s final letter.
Brother,
You probably hate me.
I don’t blame you.
I thought staying away would keep you safe.
I was wrong about a lot of things.
The worst was believing silence could protect a family.
Jax stopped reading.
It sounded exactly like Emily.
Different people.
Same mistake.
At the bottom, Caleb wrote:
If Luke ever finds you, don’t let him grow up thinking the men in his family always leave.
Jax looked at the boy.
Luke looked back.
May you like
Neither spoke.
Then Jax said, “You’re coming home with me.”
