She took one look at Claire and smiled.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
Then she looked at Ruby.
“And you have her curiosity.”
Ruby liked her instantly.
They sat around Miriam’s kitchen table drinking lemonade.
Nathaniel did not come.
He had deliberately stayed away.
“This belongs to the Bennetts first,” he had told Sofia. “If they want me involved afterward, I’ll come.”
Claire noticed the gesture.
So did Sofia.
Miriam brought out an old document box.
“I wondered whether anyone would ever ask about this.”
Claire touched the lid.
“You kept it all these years?”
“I was a lawyer. Keeping paper is one of our less charming instincts.”
Inside were copies of everything Eleanor had collected.
The cooperative agreement.
Nathaniel’s signed authorization.
The routing sheet.
Loan documents involving Northbridge.
Letters.
Meeting notes.
And one final affidavit signed by Eleanor.
Sofia spent nearly an hour reviewing the contents.
