Chapter 26 - Margaret's Missing Letter
Howard Bell found the letter inside box 417.
Not the bank box Brandon had tried to open during the anniversary party.
A second box.
Margaret had used the number twice.
"The first was supposed to lead us to the ledger," Howard explained. "The second was for afterward."
Inside lay two envelopes.
One addressed to Emily.
One to Brandon.
Brandon's letter was transferred to the prison and opened under supervision.
Emily read hers at Blackthorn House.
My Emily,
If you are reading this, then secrets have again cost my family more than truth would have.
I spent my life believing I could protect people by deciding which pain they were allowed to know.
Sometimes I was right.
Too often I was merely afraid.
Brandon is your brother.
I loved him before I knew his face.
I loved you after knowing yours.
One love did not subtract from the other.
But fear made me act as if love could survive indefinitely without honesty.
That was my failure.
Do not inherit it.
Emily lowered the page.
Abraham sat across the room.
"Did you know this letter existed?"
"No."
Emily believed him.
Margaret's letter continued.
Do not forgive Brandon because he is my son.
Do not hate yourself if you cannot forgive him.
Blood creates responsibility between parent and child.
It does not create entitlement between victims and those who hurt them.
Let consequence remain consequence.
Emily cried then.
Not violently.
Not dramatically.
The tears simply came.
She had spent more than a year discovering who Margaret really was.
Brilliant.
Brave.
Manipulative.
Loving.
Wrong.
Human.
Abraham sat beside her.
"I miss her," Emily said.
"So do I."
"I was angry at her."
"So was I."
"Can both be true?"
May you like
He looked toward the winter roses.
"Most important things are."
