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Chapter 3: The Secret in the Ink
The house was exactly as we had left it. Harold’s favorite cardigan was still draped over the back of the recliner. His reading glasses sat on the end table next to a book he would never finish. These mundane objects, once symbols of comfort, now felt like accusations.
My love, the letter began.
If you’re reading this, then I’m gone… and I’m sorry for what I’m about to ask of you. There’s something I should have told you a long time ago. Sixty-five years ago, before I met you, I made a choice that I’ve carried with me my entire life. This key opens a garage. The address is below. Inside… is the truth. Please forgive me. —Harold
My mind raced through the most terrible possibilities. Was he a criminal? Had he hurt someone? The Harold I knew wouldn’t hurt a fly, but the letter spoke of a “truth” that required forgiveness. I felt a sudden, irrational anger. How dare he leave this for me now? How dare he wait until he was beyond the reach of my questions to drop this bomb into my lap?
But beneath the anger was a desperate, aching curiosity. I couldn’t stay in the house. I grabbed my coat and called a taxi. As we drove toward the edge of the city, through neighborhoods I hadn’t visited in years, I kept the brass key clutched in my palm, the metal growing warm against my skin.
I almost turned back. I almost told the taxi driver to take me home so I could burn the key and the letter and pretend this had never happened. But the ghost of the man I loved was standing right there with me, pleading for me to look.
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