Chapter 15 - The Letter Thomas Left
Madison held up a folded document.
It was a copy of a personal letter Thomas had written during the early years of his illness.
I recognized the paper immediately.
She began to read a sentence about my exhaustion and the stress of managing the lodge.
Then she stopped, allowing the words to hang in the room like an accusation.
"He was concerned she couldn't keep doing this," Madison declared.
I walked toward her without raising my voice.
"Read the next sentence."
Madison looked down.
"It's private."
"You decided to make it public. Read it correctly."
Her eyes darted across the page.
She didn't speak.
I took out the original letter Rebecca had brought from the certified estate archive.
"Thomas wrote that I was exhausted because I had spent twenty years carrying the finances while he handled construction," I said.
I read the following lines aloud.
He had urged me to delegate more, take time to travel, and remember that my happiness mattered more than any building.
He had not questioned my judgment.
He had tried to protect my health.
For a moment I could almost hear him saying the words himself.
"You took a husband's concern for his wife," I told Madison, "and tried to turn it into evidence that she was incapable."
Madison's face changed.
The performance she'd prepared could not survive the full letter.
Daniel approached the stage.
"That's enough," he said.
His wife stared at him.
"You're choosing her?"
"I'm choosing to stop lying," he answered.
Rebecca asked everyone to return to their rooms while the ownership and fraud questions were handled privately.
Marcus escorted the investors out with professional courtesy.
When the ballroom was nearly empty, Madison handed me the copy of Thomas's letter.
Her fingers were shaking.
"Adrian has the original red folder," she said.
"Where is it?"
"In the old east-wing safe. He gave me the combination."
She looked at the ballroom doors.
May you like
"If he gets there before you, he'll destroy the page that proves what he really did."
