Chapter 3 - THE PROMISE RICHARD BROKE
Richard sat down.
Vanessa remained standing.
Noah read the next lines silently.
He did not trust his voice.
Emily had written:
You’ll probably be taller by now.
You may hate mushrooms less.
You may still pretend you’re not scared of thunderstorms.
And if Dad followed my instructions, this should have reached you on your tenth birthday.
Noah’s birthday was March 18.
He had turned ten two weeks earlier.
The letter had not been delivered.
He found it by accident.
Richard covered his face.
Vanessa looked from him to Noah.
“She wrote it before she died.”
Richard nodded.
There it was.
The impossible date was not impossible at all.
Emily had written future-dated letters.
No ghost.
No resurrection.
Something more human.
More painful.
She had known she would miss birthdays.
Milestones.
Questions.
So she wrote ahead.
Noah looked at Richard.
“How many?”
Richard did not answer.
“How many letters?”
“Several.”
“How many?”
Richard swallowed.
“Twenty-four.”
Noah stopped breathing.
Twenty-four letters.
Only one had reached him.
By accident.
“When was the first one supposed to come?”
Richard looked at the floor.
“Christmas.”
“The Christmas after she died?”
“Yes.”
“That was two years ago.”
“I know.”
Noah stood.
“What happened to it?”
Richard’s silence answered.
“You hid them.”
“Noah—”
“You hid all of them.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
The sentence sounded familiar.
Noah laughed once.
It came out broken.
“From Mom?”
“From living according to letters written before any of us knew what life would look like.”
Noah stared.
“She knew she was dying.”
“I know.”
“She wrote them for me.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t I get them?”
Richard stood.
“Because you were barely functioning after she died.”
“So were you.”
Richard looked away.
That landed.
Vanessa asked:
“Where are the others?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“That’s private.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
“They’re mine.”
“Legally, that’s more complicated.”
The words were a mistake.
Richard knew it immediately.
Noah looked at him as though he had become a stranger.
“You made Mom’s letters into a legal thing?”
Richard stepped forward.
“No.”
“Then give them to me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Because Richard had not simply failed to deliver them.
He had done something else.
Something even Vanessa did not know.
Emily had entrusted the letters to three people.
Richard.
Her attorney.
And her sister Claire.
Within months of Emily’s death, Richard convinced the other two to let him take temporary control of the entire collection.
Temporary had become permanent.
Noah stared at him.
Then said:
“Call Aunt Claire.”
Richard’s face changed.
Vanessa noticed.
“You told me Claire was unstable.”
Richard said nothing.
Noah whispered:
“She has the letters too, doesn’t she?”
Richard finally answered.
“She knows about them.”
“Then call her.”
“No.”
Noah folded the letter carefully.
For the first time, his anger disappeared.
In its place was something Richard feared more.
May you like
Decision.
“Then I will.”
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