Chapter 6 - The Envelope
The Thanksgiving invitation arrived two weeks later.
Marjorie wrote that the family wanted to put the past behind them.
Clara almost laughed.
There was no past.
There was an unfinished investigation.
She accepted the invitation.
She spent the following days preparing.
Not emotionally.
Financially.
She copied everything.
She contacted the people who needed to know.
She secured the original documents.
And she prepared one envelope.
She did not know exactly what would happen at dinner.
But she knew one thing.
The truth could no longer remain hidden.
On Thanksgiving morning, Clara put on her uniform.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
For years, the uniform had been the thing her family mocked.
Too formal.
Too severe.
Too masculine.
Too distant.
Tonight, she wore it anyway.
May you like
Not to impress them.
To remind herself who she had become without them.
