My Husband Received a Mysterious Envelope on Every Birthday for 30 Years – I Finally Opened One, and the First Sentence Made My Knees Buckle
“What did he say?”
She handed me another letter.
“That he was sorry.”
She handed me another letter.
Then another.
“He said he thought he’d come back once he had money and a place for me. When Mom turned him away, he convinced himself I’d be better without him.”
I whispered, “Thirty years.”
“You never met?”
Claire nodded.
“One letter every birthday.”
“You never met?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She gave a helpless laugh.
“At first, I was angry. Then he was ashamed.”
I looked through the letters.
She glanced toward the living room.
“For years, I thought meeting him would mean betraying Mom. By the time I stopped believing that, Robert had convinced himself letters were safer than showing up and being rejected again.”
She looked down at the box.
“Every year, we thought maybe we’d finally meet. Then another birthday came, and another letter felt easier.”
I looked through the letters.
