There were two pages inside. Robert’s handwriting. Shaky by then, from the medicine and the weakness. But still his.Get Health Tips
I read it out loud, so Daniel could hear.
My dear Maggie,
If you’re reading this, then something has happened, and I’m not there to help you. I’m so sorry. That’s the thing I’m sorriest about.
I need to tell you something I should have told you twenty years ago. I didn’t, because I was a coward, and because I couldn’t stand to see you frightened. That was wrong of me. You were always braver than I was.
You remember your sister Ruth. And your mother before her. You never talked about it much. But I remember holding you on the kitchen floor the night Ruth died. You said, “It’s going to come for me too, Robert. It took Mama, it took Ruthie, and it’s going to come for me.” I said it wouldn’t. I didn’t know that. I just said it.
