Chapter 6 - The House With No Lights.
Savannah took the children to a small rental house near the cemetery that Arthur had quietly maintained for family visits.
She expected the kids to ask questions.
Instead, they moved through the rooms in silence.
Ethan chose the couch near the front window.
Savannah noticed and said nothing.
Old habits survived longer than people expected.
Rose found a photograph on the mantel.
It showed Arthur holding Ethan as a baby.
“Was Grandpa nice then?”
Savannah knelt beside her.
“He loved all of you.”
“Even when he didn't visit?”
The question hurt because it was fair.
“He believed something that wasn't true for a long time.”
Rose considered that.
“Like Grant?”
Savannah looked at her niece.
The children had always called him Grant.
She had never forced the word Dad into a home where his absence already occupied too much space.
Before Savannah could answer, someone knocked.
Ethan stood immediately.
“I'll get it.”
“No.”
Savannah crossed the room first.
Grant stood on the porch holding a cardboard box.
His gray suit jacket was gone.
His tie hung loose.
He looked less like a wealthy executive than a man who had spent the afternoon discovering he did not know his own life.
“I found something.”
Savannah did not invite him inside.
“What?”
Grant opened the box.
Inside were dozens of unopened envelopes.
Savannah recognized her handwriting.
Her breath caught.
“Where?”
“In Vanessa's storage room.”
Ethan appeared behind Savannah.
Grant saw him and stopped speaking.
The boy stared at the box.
“Those are Mom's letters.”
“Yes.”
“You had them?”
“No.”
Ethan's face hardened.
“You always say that.”
Grant accepted the sentence without defending himself.
“I deserve that.”
Savannah looked at him sharply.
Grant lowered his eyes.
“I found forty-three letters.”
“I sent fifty-two.”
“Then nine are still missing.”
Savannah's heart began pounding.
The final nine had been different.
Those were the letters written after Caleb's birth.
They contained copies of his birth certificate, medical records, and one desperate request for Grant to meet his son.
“Were any opened?”
“Three.”
“By whom?”
“Vanessa.”
Grant held up one envelope.
The seal had been carefully cut and later glued shut.
Inside, Savannah had written about Ethan waiting at the window.
Grant's eyes were wet now.
“I didn't know.”
Savannah's voice remained controlled.
“You didn't ask.”
He nodded.
“No.”
The admission unsettled her more than another excuse would have.
Grant looked past her at the children.
“I can't fix seven years.”
“No.”
“I know.”
“Then don't come here promising to.”
“I came because of this.”
He reached into the box and removed a small brass key taped beneath one envelope.
A tag was attached.
ARTHUR'S SAFE - STUDY FLOOR.
Savannah stared at it.
Grant turned the tag over.
There was another line in Arthur's handwriting.
THE ENVELOPE IS ONLY HALF THE TRUTH.
Savannah's fingers tightened around the manila envelope.
Grant looked at her.
“What is the other half?”
She had no answer.
May you like
From behind them, Caleb spoke quietly.
“Maybe Grandpa wanted us to find it together.”
