I looked at the key.
“What does this open?”
The lawyer shook his head.
“That’s for you to discover.”
I looked at the letter again.
There were several more pages.
Mrs. Rhode explained that she had intentionally left most of her estate to charity.
She knew people would question the decision.
She knew I might feel betrayed.
But she had never wanted to make me dependent on an inheritance.
She wanted me to have something different.
Something nobody could take away.
Then she wrote:
“You told me once that you never had a place that was truly yours.”
I swallowed hard.
She was right.
Part 10 — The Hidden Door
The lawyer drove me to an old property outside town.
I had passed it many times but never paid attention.
It was a small workshop surrounded by trees.
The building looked abandoned.
The lawyer handed me the key.
“Try it.”
I inserted the key into the front door.
It opened.
Inside was a completely equipped woodworking shop.
Tools lined the walls.
There were workbenches.
Shelves.
Lumber.
And boxes filled with equipment.
I stood there speechless.
Then I noticed something hanging on the wall.
A photograph of me.
I was standing beside Mrs. Rhode in her garden.
Underneath it was a handwritten note:
“James, you are better with your hands than you realize.”
Part 11 — The Real Inheritance
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