“Mom? Can we meet for coffee?
There’s something important I need to give you.”
“What is it, sweetie?” Her voice dripped with honey-sweet concern.
“Are you okay? You sound tired.”
“I’m fine.
It’s about Grandma. She left a package for you.
Said I should give it to you ‘when the time was right.’”
“Oh!” The eagerness in her voice made me wince.
“Of course, darling. Where should we meet?”
“The coffee shop on Mill Street? The quiet one?”
“Perfect.
You’re such a thoughtful daughter, Emerald.
So different from how I was with my mother.”
The irony of her words was a dagger to my heart. “See you at two, Mom.” I then hung up.
The bell above the door chimed as my mother entered the coffee shop that afternoon, her eyes immediately finding my purse on the table.
She was wearing her favorite red blazer — the one she always wore to important meetings.
She sat down, reaching for my hand across the worn wooden surface. “You look exhausted, sweetheart.
This has all been so hard on you, hasn’t it?
You and your grandmother were so close.”
I just nodded and placed a wrapped bundle on the table. Inside were blank pages with just two letters on top — Grandma’s “I know what you did” one, and one I’d written myself.
“What’s this?” she asked, her perfectly manicured nails breaking the seal on the first envelope. I watched as the color completely drained from her face when she opened the second one, her fingers gripping the paper so tightly that it crumpled at the edges.
My letter was simple:
“Mom,
I have the rest of the letters.
If you ever try to manipulate me or come after what Grandma left me, everyone will know the truth.
