The house went quiet again. Brian looked at the box on the table, then at the letters tied with faded blue ribbon. He sat down, pulled the nearest one free as carefully as he could, and eased the paper out. The handwriting was neat, slanted slightly to the right.
The first few lines were too smudged to read, but farther down the ink had held. …Jamie keeps asking when we’re going back to the big house. Brian sat up a little straighter. He read on. The letter was not formal.