Winnie picked up her coffee mug, found it empty, and set it back down.Through the doorway, she could see the general store’s familiar aisles, the same layout Sally’s grandfather had established seventy years ago.Some things remained constant.Some traditions were worth preserving.
But not all preservation was healthy.Sometimes holding too tightly to the past meant losing the possibility of a future.
“The photograph Cassidy found,” Winnie said slowly.“My grandfather is standing with three men in suits.There’s radio equipment in the background that definitely wasn’t standard lighthouse gear.”
“What do you think it was for?”
“I don’t know.”Winnie’s shoulders felt heavy.“Communications, maybe.Monitoring.My father always said the lighthouse’s history was complicated and the official records didn’t tell the whole story.”
“And you never pushed him for details.”
“He was my father.”Her voice held a lifetime of loyalty.“If he said something was better left alone, I trusted his judgment.”
Sally nodded slowly.“But now Cassidy is asking questions.And Emily found that journal in Starfish Cottage.There are a lot of questions.”
“Yes, there are,” Winnie agreed.
Winnie knew Sally was right.She’d known it from the moment Cassidy had shown her that photograph.Sam might be the key to understanding her family’s legacy, to finally knowing the full truth about the lighthouse she’d devoted her life to protecting.
But she wasn’t ready to reach out to him, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to learn the truth.
