Page 65 of Key West Homecoming

“Yes.”

Emma waited.

“That is the question I most owe you an answer to,” he said. “Three weeks after your grandmother died, I collapsed in my daughter Rebecca’s kitchen. Congestive heart failure. It had been developing for some time, but I didn’t know it.”

Emma looked at his thin hands.

“I was in the hospital for a month and then in cardiac rehabilitation for another three. When I came home, I couldn’t walk upstairs without help. I couldn’t travel, and for a long time I couldn’t concentrate well enough to write the kind of letter I needed to write to you.”

“You don’t have to explain being sick. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you that.”

“I know, but I want you to understand. Gloria trusted me to do something, and for nearly a year I wasn’t able to do it.”

Emma thought about the letter he had sent yesterday. Even then he had apologized for the delay.

“Did Rebecca know?”

“That Gloria had left something with me for you? Yes. She knew. But Gloria had asked me to give it to you myself. Rebecca offered more than once to find you, and I kept telling her I would do it when I was well enough.”

“Why?”

Edmund considered the question.

“Because what your grandmother left isn’t something I thought should arrive in the mail from a stranger.”

Emma felt a small uneasiness return.

“What is it?”

“A letter.”

“From Gloria?”

“Yes.”

Emma sat back.

“She wrote it before she became ill. I’ve kept it all this time.”

“Have you read it?”

“No. I know some of what she wanted to tell you because we talked about it, but the letter was sealed when she gave it to me, and it’s still sealed.”

Emma looked toward the bookstore doorway.

Gloria had written her a letter.

She thought about the will Rachel had handed her the day before. Seeing Gloria’s signature had been emotional enough. This was different. A will had been written for lawyers and courts.

A letter had been written for her.

“When can I have it?”

“Tomorrow, if you’re willing.”

“Why not today?”

Edmund smiled slightly.