“She never sent it.”
Nathaniel turned the envelope over.
The seal remained intact.
“Would you like to open it?” Claire asked.
He looked toward Ruby.
Ruby had brought a coloring book but had mostly been listening.
“I think all of us should hear it.”
Nathaniel carefully opened the envelope.
Eleanor’s letter was three pages long.
He began reading silently.
Halfway down the first page, he stopped.
Then he returned to the beginning.
“What?” Claire asked.
Nathaniel raised his eyes.
“Your mother believed someone inside my company was trying to keep me from seeing her correspondence.”
Claire folded her hands.
“Was she right?”
“I don’t know.”
He read further.
Near the end, Eleanor had written about a meeting.
Nathaniel read the paragraph aloud.
“‘You told us at the community hall that you wanted families to have the first chance to own the place they had spent years making into a home. I believed you. I still believe you meant it. That is why I cannot understand why Mr. Voss now says you never approved the cooperative sale.’”
