James reached into the folder one last time.
He pulled out an envelope. Heavy cream-colored paper. My name on the front in Randall’s handwriting.
“He left this with me,” James said. “His final message to you.”
My hands were shaking as I opened it.
My beloved Henrietta,
If you are reading this in James’s office, then you have passed a test I never wanted you to have to take.
I know you, my darling. I knew that if Andre threw you out, you would go to that cabin. And I knew that somehow, some way, you would find someone who needed help more than you did. And you would give them whatever you had left.
That is the woman I fell in love with forty years ago at the church picnic in Glastonbury. And she is the woman who deserves to control everything we built together.
Andre will never understand what he lost by choosing greed over love. He thinks money is power. You’ve always understood that real power comes from knowing who you are, and living by it.
I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you from this pain while I was alive. I was too sick and too weak to confront them myself. But I could make sure their true nature came out. And that justice would come.
Use it wisely, my love. Not just the money. The knowledge of who truly deserves your love and your trust.
You have suffered enough. Now it is time to live freely.
All my love, forever,
Randall.
I folded that letter very carefully.
And I felt something settle into place in my chest.
Not peace. That would come later.
Certainty. Absolute certainty about what I needed to do next.
“When do we start?” I asked James.
He smiled. The first genuine smile I’d seen on a lawyer’s face in months.
“We already have,” he said. “I filed papers this morning to freeze every asset Andre received through that old will. And I’ve sent copies of the recordings to the State’s Attorney’s office. By the time Andre finds out, there won’t be anything left for him to hide.”
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