Margaret's Last Letter
Chapter 17 - Margaret's Last Letter
Rose unfolded the fragile page with hands that shook for reasons other than age.
“My dearest Rose,” she began, her voice barely steady. “If this reaches you, I hope you've forgiven me for leaving without saying goodbye.”
Evelyn listened as the letter described a young mother trying to protect her children from people who believed money gave them the right to claim lives. Margaret had asked Laura to take the baby girl somewhere safe. She had pursued the boy, believing she might retrieve him quickly.
Then came the sentence that made Samuel close his eyes.
“If I cannot bring both children home, please tell them they were wanted. Every day, from the moment I knew they existed, they were wanted.”
Rose stopped reading.
Samuel covered his face. Evelyn moved beside him and held his hand.
There were no perfect words. Their mother hadn't lived to see the adults they became. Laura hadn't lived to tell Evelyn the full story. Years had been lost. But the letter answered one question Samuel had carried since childhood.
He had not been unwanted.
***
After dinner, Dante walked Evelyn to the front steps.
“You gave my mother something I couldn't buy,” he said. “The courage to speak where people would listen.”
“She already had the courage. I just happened to be standing there.”
He smiled. “You always refuse compliments?”
“Only expensive ones.”
They laughed, then grew quiet. There was warmth between them, complicated by the gulf in their lives and the fact that she'd met him in the middle of family crisis.
Dante said, “I'm not asking you to change your life for mine.”
“Good,” Evelyn answered. “Because I rather like the one I'm rebuilding.”
He nodded. “Would you have coffee sometime? As two people, not as an employer and an employee.”
Evelyn considered him. “After the hearings. After everybody has room to breathe.”
May you like
“Fair.”
She walked down the steps feeling something she hadn't expected: hope without urgency.
