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In Elijah’s long absence, I fell in love His nah I’d nearly forgotten how, you see When I aht so, but he saved ave ave hter, though he has yet to accuse

Today the war is over It should be a ti for us at the barn at the top of the hill, waiting for us to arrive, and then we are all going to be together We are going to leave Jewell Cove and go far away to beco family I alanted and that I know you wanted for —for love and happiness and contentment

I don’t have much time, but I hid a keepsake box in the nursery under the floor There you will find the letters Kristian wrote to ave to me before he left last time Perhaps you can find it and keep it for ain

Tomorroe’ll be on a ship to a new life When that happens, remember, Mother—and Daddy—how much I love you I will think of you both often, and write when I can and share stories of Marian and Iris’s escapades And arden again

Your loving daughter,

Edith

By the tiant, curved writing was filled with love and affection for the two girls—and for her parents Kristian had been waiting in the barn, then Her vision made sense now—the suitcase with the clothes scattered about, Marian in her little jacket hiding in Edith’s skirts Edith had died on the stairs And Iris had been sent away to live with Edith’s parents, never knowing the truth

Leaving Marian behind To live with a ry and unpredictable and unkind Maybe, despite the obvious wealth, Iris had been the lucky one after all

Finding out the truth—solving the mystery—should havebecause having the answers changed nothing In fact, she felt like she was soain, in addition to losing a family she hadn’t even known

Abby put on her running shoes and her blue sweat jacket and made the trek back up the mountain to the summit It was her favorite spot on the property, wild and free She breathed deeply as she gazed at the view It was easy here Her chest felt like it was expanding and she felt taller Here, she realized, she was in absolute control because it was the one place she felt safe to be herself She was going to miss it

The barn stood behind her, dark and dilapidated She exa about Edith and Kristian and all she’d learned How horrible it must have been to find hi to think of hi to whisk her away to a new life She wondered if the barn held other memories, too Of secret trysts and whispered promises

Kristian had been Edith’s happiness Her home here he was, because Edith had been prepared to uproot her entire existence to be with hi to leave her family behind What did that sort of devotion feel like?

A chilly breeze blew at Abby’s back and she turned, startled to see black thunderclouds closing in rapidly When she’d left the house, fat, puffy clouds had been floating carelessly on a pale sea of blue She’d known shoere forecast for the afternoon but she hadn’t expected them to blow in this soon

If she ran now, shesoaked, but she doubted it Already a gray sheet of rain was trailing behind the clouds, obscuring the view beyond Lightning forked, a searing, jagged jolt touching the ground Only a few seconds elapsed before it was followed by an earthshaking gru up the coast fast There was no way she’ddre

nched