But he was gone, and the silence that answered was all that remained. When her sobs finally subsided, she noticed another envelope tucked beneath the journal, set apart from the rest. Her name was written on it in his unmistakable handwriting. Her name was written on the envelope in his unmistakable hand. Miriam stared at it for a long moment, her breath uneven.
After pages of bitterness and resentment, she half-feared what he might say to her directly. Still, she slid her finger under the flap and unfolded the paper inside, careful not to tear the fragile sheet. Miriam, it began, the strokes of his pen unsteady, each word pressed into the page as though it had taken effort to summon.