"September 8, 1948.

Dear Sir,

I thank you for your letter. It was a shock to read such bitter allegations about Captain Jeremiah Braddock and his sons, and at first I thought them wholly unfounded—so much so that I must confess to having thrown your original letter away in disgust.

But I came across an entry in the captain’s journal that hinted at the animosity of which you wrote, and although I do believe that Captain Jeremiah meant well, his sons may have resented what he meant as kindness to your great-great grandfather.

Whatever occurred in the past, the fact remains that you are indeed a rightful member of the Braddock family, and as such, know that you are always welcome at the Harborside. I invite you to come and get to know your long-estranged family.

With utmost sincerity,

Irene Braddock”

The three sat in stunned silence, the clock seeming to tick louder than ever. Captain Braddock’s face wrinkled into a frown as he voiced the question Katherine had been wanting to ask.

“Allegations? What allegations?”

Serena shook her head. “I don’t know…Granny Braddock never mentioned anything like that to me.” She sighed. “I wish I could ask her.”

“She mentioned the captain’s journal. Do you know where that is?”

Captain Braddock and Serena looked at each other. “I’ve never come across it. Have you?” the captain asked.

“No. And until tonight, I had no idea such a treasure existed.”

Katherine’s heart leapt. She couldn’t help but grin as she said, “Well, now we have two things to search for!”

Captain Braddock chuckled. “You’d better hand Serena a stack of papers, then.” He turned to Serena, “Mind you don’t lose that letter—or its envelope.”

* * * *

Katherine woke the next morning wondering if she would ever feel rested again. It had been a late night, since she and the Braddocks were determined to sort through the whole box of papers she brought. The stack of recipes had doubled, and they found some old newspaper clippings which they set aside for the Harborhaven Historical Society, but they still hadn’t found anything about the trust.

Serena had told her that Mr. Welch called again, saying he would only give them till the end of the week to come up with what they needed. Then, the property would be officially put up for sale. Unless they found out where the trust was and how to access it before Friday, the building could be sold to someone else and there would be nothing they could do about it.

If only we could find that information. Katherine thought with a sigh. She dragged herself out of bed and curled up in the window seat with a blanket and her Bible. Opening to the book of Proverbs, she read,

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Her heart squeezed with conviction. Lord, I want so much for the Harborside to be restored, it feels hard to trust You. Help me to trust, help me to remember that You have a good plan, and help me to hold loosely to how I want this all to end.

Closing her Bible, she hugged it to her chest and gazed out into the inky blue of the early morning. After a few minutes, she let out a deep sigh, bowed her head and prayed, Thy will be done.

* * * *

"What?" Dishes rattled as Katherine rolled the tea cart over the kitchen threshold. “You mean there’s some sort of long-lost relative somewhere, and their Gran never told them?”

“That’s right.” Katherine helped Sally wheel the cart to the first table and started setting out plates and silverware.

“But why did he never come visit like she said for him to?”

“He never opened the letter.” Katherine glanced over at Sally, noticing that she now laid the silverware down with a quick, decided precision. I wonder when that happened? She suddenly felt she had missed something important in all the hectic struggle of the past week.

“Oh.” Sally shrugged then looked up to meet Katherine’s gaze with inquisitive eyes. “Well, what are they going to do about it?”

“Do?”

“Yes, I mean, are they going to write again? Or track down this long-lost relative somehow?”

Katherine frowned. “I don’t know. We were all just so excited at the thought of Captain Jeremiah’s journal, we didn’t talk about much else for a while.”

“But don’t you think they will want to meet this man?”

“I’m sure they will.” The old fear began quietly tugging at Katherine’s heart. Taking a stack of plates off the cart, she moved to a different table and began setting them out, trying to silence the nagging whispers of “What if?”

* * **

Katherine was well-ensconced in what the captain called “the land of arithmetic” balancing the ledger later that afternoon when the shop bell and a blast of cold air made her look up.

“What are you doing here?” Beaming, she jumped up and went to meet her visitors as Serena wheeled the captain in a wheelchair through the front door.

“He had an appointment today, and since we were already out of the house, we decided to stop by for a bit and say hello.”

Captain Braddock raised his bushy eyebrows. “Oh, is that the way it happened?”

Serena laughed. “I was trying to be generous, Jeremiah, and not let on how grumpy you got at the idea of going straight home.”