His father had been dead for nearly six years.
Emily continued.
“It was unopened.”
Mark stared at her.
“I’ve never seen a letter from him.”
“I know.”
“Where did it come from?”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you.”
Mark looked down at Faith sleeping against his chest.
And suddenly the blue folder, the apartment, Madison, and even the wreckage of his marriage seemed connected to something he had not thought about in years.
His father’s final months.
The fights.
The silence.
The last conversation Mark had refused to finish.
Emily watched realization move across his face.
“What did he want to tell you, Mark?”
Mark lifted his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
And for once, Emily believed him.
-END OF PART 2, –PRESS NEX PART IN BOTTOM OF PAGE TO READ NEXT PART
PART 3
Emily placed the envelope on Claire’s kitchen table.
Mark recognized his father’s handwriting immediately.
For Mark — when he’s ready.
The words appeared faint and uneven across the front.
His father, Thomas Carter, had written them during the final year of his life, when illness had weakened his hands.
Mark did not touch the envelope.
“How did this get in the folder?”
“I don’t know,” Emily said.
Claire stood near the sink, giving them space while remaining close enough to help with the babies.
Grace and Lily slept in bassinets beside the window.
Faith remained against Mark’s chest.
Emily watched him carefully.
“You don’t have to open it now.”
Mark gave a humorless smile.
“I’ve apparently spent years not opening things I should have.”
Emily said nothing.
He picked up the envelope.
The seal broke easily.
Inside were three handwritten pages.
Mark began reading silently.
His expression changed before he reached the end of the first paragraph.
Emily noticed his shoulders tighten.
Then fall.
“What does it say?”
Mark stared at the page.
“He apologized.”
“For what?”
Mark looked toward the window.
“My father left my mother once.”
Emily knew Thomas and Margaret had experienced difficult years early in their marriage.
She had never known details.
“When?”
