Mr. Bennett suddenly became serious.
“There is one more thing.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Thomas changed his will three months before he died.”
I wiped my eyes.
“I don’t want his money.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because the inheritance comes with a condition.”
My stomach tightened.
“What condition?”
Mr. Bennett slid a document toward me.
Thomas had left me his house.
His investments.
His business shares.
And almost everything he owned.
But there was one unusual clause.
I could only inherit everything if I accepted responsibility for a charitable foundation he had secretly created.
A foundation for elderly people living alone.
I stared at the page.
“He knew I wouldn’t want his money.”
Mr. Bennett smiled.
“He knew exactly who you were.”
Then he handed me one final letter.
My love,
I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life mourning me.
I want you to take what I built and use it to make sure other people don’t grow old feeling forgotten.
That is the only inheritance I want you to keep.
And if you ever wondered whether marrying you was a trap…
It was.
I trapped you into discovering that you were never alone.
I laughed through my tears.
For the first time since his death, I smiled.
PART 6 — THE PHONE CALL
That evening, I called my younger sister.
She answered immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I found out the truth about Thomas.”
There was a long silence.
Then she said something that made my blood run cold.
“What truth?”
I told her everything.
When I mentioned our father’s involvement, she stopped speaking.
“Are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“There’s something I’ve never told you.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
“I found one of Dad’s old boxes after he died.”
“What was inside?”
“Letters.”
“From Thomas?”
“Yes.”
I sat down.
“How many?”
“Dozens.”
My sister’s voice began trembling.
“And there was one letter addressed to you.”
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“Because Dad told me never to.”
I closed my eyes.
“What did it say?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then where is it?”
My sister hesitated.
“I still have it.”
PART 7 — THE LETTER
The next morning, my sister came to my house.
She brought the letter.
It was yellowed with age.
The envelope had never been opened.
My name was written across it.
I broke the seal.
Thomas’s handwriting appeared again.
I don’t know if you’ll ever read this.
Your father has told me to stay away from you.
He says you’re going to college and deserve a different life.
He says if I love you, I’ll let you go.
I don’t believe him.
But I’m afraid.
So I’m going to do what he asks.
I will disappear.
But if you’re still single when you’re sixty, find me.
I’ll be waiting.
I couldn’t speak.
My sister began crying.
“I didn’t know.”
I folded the letter against my chest.
For decades, I had thought I had been the only one who waited.
I hadn’t.
Thomas had waited too.
PART 8 — HIS FINAL MESSAGE
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