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Two years later, Radcliff estate, Lucy’s home
Lucy walked around the glamorous estate she had ultimately inherited a little over two years ago. As was so often the case, she felt restless,lonely, sad. Even sighting the crumpled cans scattered over the dining table—a few used cigarettes in an overfilled ashtray—didn't make her hiss in anger and think of something sharp to say. Much to her surprise, Barney’s visits and holiday stays had become the only comfort she still had.
The past two years had been horrible, a near death experience at times, and she knew why. The emptiness inside her reminded her of it every single day when the bling of a new necklace turned dull almost instantly, when her friends had gone home, and when all she could hear was silence.
Yet, too proud was her heart to beg her son for forgiveness. Or was it fear that he would reject her? As long as she was uncertain of it, at least she could pretend that someday they would be a family again.
The letter came in early that morning. Unmarked. She flipped it over in her hands and walked out into the garden, a new habit now, and sat on a bench. The trees seemed to stretch farther than she remembered, the emptiness even more noticeable.
There had once been a time when her son would be on the floor, playing and laughing with rocks, and her husband would be by her side, telling her some funny story. Those times seemed so far away now.
"What you got there?" Barney's voice startled her.
How long had he been standing there? She turned the thin envelope again, flipping from back to front. "Looks like some kind of letter."
Her brother came over and sat next to her. "Well open it then, could be from Benjamin and Ava."
She sucked in a sharp breath on hearing their names. It was one thing thinking—and wishing—he'd forgiven her, but it was a whole different thing speaking it out loud.
She tore open the letter and immediately saw the flat note inside it. Opening that, she saw a familiar handwriting and clenched her jaw. Barney saw the frown on her face and looked at the letter, and then back at her face again.
"What? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."
"Or something," she mumbled in response and stretched the white sheet of paper. "It's a letter—"
"Yeah?"
"From Elijah."
Barney looked at her, trying to comprehend it. "You mean…"
"Yes, him. It was dated two years ago, and it's addressed to me," she added and started to read:
Lucy, you don't have to be entirely shocked as I know you might be now. You aren't being haunted, although it is safe to say that we have had a different kind of haunting in our family, one which plagued me horribly before my death.
I'm sorry for everything;in truth, I really do wish I had treated you kinder and with more respect, especially after the loss of my beloved son, who I know meant the world to you as much as he did to me. Maybe things would have been different if I had been the family to you that you and Benjamin needed, not the billionaire who threw himself into his work never to be seen again. Please forgive me for that. I was hurt,and did not know how to cope.
I watched as my family crumbled right before me; wealth... so much wealth, and yet we lacked so many things, it was never enough. My grandson, Benjamin, seemed more obsessed with money than love, perhaps following in his grandfather and mother's footsteps—and this is no rebuke, my dear Lucy. I am to blame. It is a mistake I have made, and I do not wish for it to be repeated.
I hope by now you would have found your true self again and realized the value of family and love. I hope to God that my grandson did as well, found love and a purpose, is building his own empire as the man he truly is—at the side of his loving wife.
I pray to all that is holy to me that I haven’tbacked the wrong horse, that this letter finds you all in the middle of a family dinner, loud voices laughing and making jokes.
Whatever happens, hold on to family.
Take good care of yourself and our Benjamin. Goodbye.
—Elijah Radcliff
A lone teardrop rolled down her cheek and stained the edge of the paper.
"Whoa…" Barney said and looked at his sister. "Creepy. But the old man is right if you ask me. This isn't us, sis. You not talking to your son because of Ava, he not talking to you because of some old fight. He loves her, is happy. You’re miserable. It's time to set things straight, Lucy."
For the first time in years, Lucy could not agree more with what Barney had just said. She nodded enthusiastically, sniffling. "You are right. This is not us. It's time to be a family again."
“Can you believe it!” Benjamin said putting down the pink towel he'd been holding to baby Josephine’s face.
“Old Mike thought he could trick me, Benjamin Radcliff, with a fishy real estate deal. Ha!”
