Baptism and confirmation cards for all three of her children. Sonogram images which, given the date, were of Olivia.
Every item had been placed in the box with tremendous care. Heirlooms that her mother would no doubt want her and Jake and Liv to pass along to their children.
The second box was papers, much like her father’s filing cabinet drawers.
Many of the letters appeared to be from her mother’s teen years, referencing camps her mother had obviously attended.
At the bottom of the large box was a smaller, brown one. It was unadorned; no writing marred the surface or hinted at what was inside.
Emerson opened it carefully, and inside was a pile of letters. She pulled the first one out of the box.
Dear Rebecca,
You know I’m not a particularly dramatic man, nor am I a natural romantic. But I can’t imagine my world without you in it. I’m begging you to reconsider your decision. I love you with all my heart. Please, call me so we can talk.
D
There was no date on the letter. Just words scribbled in ink. Curious, she opened the next letter.
Dear Rebecca,
I’m sorry I’ve not been around the distillery much the last few days. I need to talk to you, alone.
D
Emerson looked at the envelopes…there was no address on them. Just her mother’s name. Whoever had sent them had either handed them to her or popped them in her mailbox. Perhaps they were from a first love.
How she wished her mom was with her now, so she could ask her how to handle her heart, which felt as though it had been macerated.
She pulled another envelope. When she opened the letter inside, small pieces of paper fluttered to the ground like confetti from within.
Rebecca,
I need to go away. I can’t imagine being here every day and seeing you as I have for the past few months. I can’t sit here and watch you and Paul go on about your lives as if I meant nothing to you. And I hate that you thought so little of me that you felt the need to share this with Paul.
If you had given me time, if you had given me the opportunity, I would have willingly shown you how good we could have been together. The kind of life we could have had. I would have given you the world, because I love you.
How can you say we wouldn’t have been good together? You never gave us a chance. If we had met before you saw Paul, who is to say what might have happened? And how can you be so sure of a man you have known mere months?
I have torn up the check you sent me. Do you really think this was about the money? I invested that money in the distillery for us. For you and me. Do you think I want it back if I can’t have you? You insult both of us by returning it. Keep it, burn it, pay for your goddamn wedding with it. I don’t want it back.
Paul will never be the man for you. He lacks ambition. He lacks the drive to turn the business into anything other than a petty enterprise. So, keep the money. It will not do anything for Paul, just like he won’t do anything for you.
It was never about the money. It was always about you.
D
So, there had been another investor.
Emerson began to gather the torn pieces of paper together on the desk. Like a good jigsaw puzzle, she looked for the corners, for the straight edges. She gathered anything with writing on it…the bank logo, the lines of the check, her mother’s handwriting.
The light was fading outside the window, and Emerson clicked on the desk lamp. The amount came together quickly: ten thousand dollars. The date came next, mere days before the official opening of the distillery.
Days.
She put her mother’s signature together and the amount written in words.
And finally, the name.
Donovan Finch.
Emerson reached blindly behind her for her father’s chair and slumped into it. For whatever reason, Donovan Finch had been there at the beginning. She had no idea how her father and Donovan knew each other, but they had. And from the check, they had all gone into the distillery together.
She wondered if it were possible to go back to the very first bank records for the business. Ten thousand dollars, while a lot of money, was not enough to renovate an entire building. Even allowing for inflation, it would only be worth a little