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He sighed heavily “All right then Let aze ran down the loose htshirt, which she suddenly realized was quite thin “Get dressed”

He disappeared out the door and down the stairs Hurriedly she dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and pull a hair band into her hair By the ti perfectly tidy The way she should have looked when he’d first arrived

She waited while Tom used a s it a bit at a ti the old wood I to peer into the gap Finally Too with a squeak “All in one piece,” he said, relief in his voice “And you were right” He looked up, a in there”

It was too crazy Abby knelt beside Tom and watched as he set the plank to one side A sap Carefully Abby reached in and re how hard the wood felt on her kneecaps

She lifted the lid on the box

“Oh, Tom” The first item was a smaller version of the picture that was downstairs on the mantel Edith and a baby She turned it over and could still ed ink on the back “Edith and Iris Torandmother” She touched the picture reverently “She’s beautiful, isn’t she? And look at all that blond hair”

Tom knelt beside her “What else is in there?”

Abby reached in and took out a lock of fine, pale hair, tied with a thread at each end “Do you suppose it’s Iris’s?”

“It could be” He lifted a watch out of the box “This is very nice”

“It’s a man’s watch Elijah’s, do you think?” Tos on it

He shrugged “It must be But ould this stuff all be under the floor?”

Because Edith had wanted to keep it hidden Abby knew that, but she didn’t knohy

At the bottoile paper, Abby unfolded the first one cautiously “This one is dated 1943 That hen Elijah was in the Navy” Exciteh her words Had she just found love letters from Elijah to his wife at home? “Listen to this”

She read the letter aloud

My dearest Edith,