Emily Opened an Old Storage Box Filled With Family Files — Then Grandpa Arthur Recognized Victoria’s Signature on the Document She Never Wanted Them to See
Chapter 6 — Victoria Had Never Really Stopped
Emily pulled out the smaller box.
Victoria immediately stepped forward.
“That one has nothing to do with this.”
Emily looked at her.
“Then why are you worried about it?”
Arthur answered before Victoria could.
“Open it.”
Inside were newer envelopes.
Not many.
But enough.
One from Rebecca.
One from Thomas.
Two Christmas cards.
And a photograph.
Emily picked up the photograph.
It showed Rebecca with two children.
On the back:
Grandpa Arthur — these are Noah and Grace. They know your name even if they haven’t met you yet.
Arthur stared.
“She has children?”
Emily’s heart sank.
“You didn’t know?”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
Victoria whispered:
“Arthur…”
He looked toward her.
“How old are they?”
Emily checked the date.
The picture was two years old.
Arthur looked back at Victoria.
“You let me miss this too?”
Victoria’s composure finally cracked.
“I didn’t know how to undo it.”
The room went silent.
It was the first sentence that sounded like the truth.
Arthur stared at her.
“Undo what?”
Victoria looked toward the boxes.
“The first year, I really did think I was protecting you.”
“Then too much time passed.”
“Samuel believed you were rejecting him.”
“You believed Samuel had abandoned you.”
“If I told either of you what I’d done…”
She stopped.
Emily finished:
“Then everyone would know you caused it.”
Victoria looked toward her.
Then nodded.
Arthur’s expression became colder.
“So eventually this stopped being about protecting me.”
Victoria said nothing.
Arthur looked toward the newest letters.
“It became about protecting yourself.”
Victoria’s silence answered him.
Then Emily noticed a folded sheet tucked beneath Rebecca’s photograph.
It was not a letter.
It was a written record of a phone call Victoria had made herself.
And according to the notes, she had told Samuel something Arthur had never once said.
