When He Finally Chose Me I Was Gone novel · Chapter 25 of 32
Chapter 25: Deed of Gift
The woman in the green cardigan held the envelope out to me, and I did not take it.
"It's addressed to Astrid," I said. "It isn't mine to open."
"It was never delivered," she said. "I'd say she has had twenty-three years to come and collect it."
Soren took it from her gloved hand.
The young wife brought a butter knife from a drawer, and he slit the flap with it.
Inside was one sheet of ruled paper, folded in thirds, and a small slip clipped to the corner.
He read it to himself first.
I watched his mouth go flat.
"Read it out," I said.
He cleared his throat twice before he could.
"Astrid. You are nine years old as I write this, and asleep in the next room, and I am not proud of the day I am writing about."
Wren shifted against my chest, and I put my hand on her back.
"You stood beside the Lund boy with a dry towel, and I told his mother you had pulled him out. You had not. I let her thank you for it."
Soren stopped, then went on in a lower voice.
"I told myself it was a kindness to you. It was money. The Lunds paid for a roof and a boathouse, and you will pay for it longer than I will."
"Go on," I said.
"When you are grown, go to Soren Lund and tell him the truth. Find the Holm girl and tell her too. Do not wait for me to be dead, because I may be too much of a coward to do it myself. Your mother."
Nobody in the kitchen said anything.
Out on the lake, a motorboat started up and faded.
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