My Brother, My Wife, and Their Son novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Sea
Maisie turned six on a Saturday in October, one year and a few days after the restaurant on the lake.
She had picked the place herself.
"The beach," she said at breakfast. "The real one. With a cake."
"It'll be cold."
"I have a raincoat."
The mail came while she was still eating.
There were two envelopes on the doormat, one thick and one small and square.
The thick one was from my lawyer in Ohio.
It held the final papers, with Regina's signature on the last page and the date beside it in her small clear hand.
She had signed in black ink and not left anything blank.
Under it was a second sheet she had typed herself, with a list of the visits she had asked for and a line at the bottom.
I will keep every one of these, it said.
I put it aside.
The small envelope was addressed in crayon to Maisie Marsden, with a stamp stuck on crooked.
Maisie tore it open with her mouth full.
Inside was a card with a seal drawn on the front, barking at a wave, and under it in an uneven hand: Happy birthday to my sister. I coughed on purpose today. It was a joke. Love, Jasper.
"He's still a seal," Maisie said, delighted.
She propped it against the sugar bowl and ate her toast looking at it.
I looked at the label on the thick envelope again.
It was addressed to Cedric Doane.
I had taken Margery's envelope to the courthouse on Front Street and filed to use the name on it, in a room that smelled of old coffee.
The clerk had pushed the paper across the counter and asked, "Is this the name you go by?"
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