* * * *
“What are you doing there?” Captain Braddock asked, limping up to the counter where Katherine had been poring over the ledger in which they recorded each sale.
“Just looking over our sales. That white tea really did bring in more than the others, just like you said it would.”
“Yes,” said the captain thoughtfully. “It’s too bad it’s nearly gone. But the rarity of it is what makes it so profitable for us.”
He shrugged, then plunked a handful of envelopes onto the counter. “I’m off to run some errands. Would you mind handing me a rubber band? I don’t want any of these getting lost before I get there, and I’ve a couple stops on the way.
“Of course.” Katherine said, reaching over and tugging at one of the drawers. “It’s stuck.” She said, giving the drawer another sharp tug.
“Perhaps something fell out of another drawer and got jammed. I remember that happening once in a while when I was young.” Captain Braddock said, coming around the counter to see for himself.
Katherine, without a thought of “snooping” this time, opened the drawer above—the very drawer she had been so curious about. She drew it out now and set it on the floor without even noticing its contents. She peered into the dark hole left where the drawer had been. “I think I see something.”
“What is it?”
“Something white.” Katherine reached back and tried to find an edge of the object that had jammed the drawer below. “It’s an envelope,” she said, as she tugged at it.
“Can you get it out?”
“Maybe… Yes! There it is.” She brought the envelope out, turned it over, and froze, stunned into silence.
“What is it, Katherine?”
“It’s…it’s just… look at who it’s addressed to.” She held the sealed envelope up for the captain to see.
“Well, I’ll be. Where did that come from, I wonder?”
Katherine gazed at the envelope, full of questions. Across the front, in beautiful flowing script, were written two words:
Miss Harriet.
35 Serena
Captain Braddock’s face grew somber as he held the rumpled envelope in his hands.
“What are you going to do with it?” Katherine asked, trying not to sound as anxious as she felt.
“Deliver it, of course. It’s long overdue.”
Katherine let out a sigh of relief. “Would you like me to take it for you?” she asked.
The captain shook his head. “No. I reckon this is somethin’ I have to do myself.”
Katherine nodded. She pulled out the drawer that had been stuck. “Here’s the rubber band you wanted.”
The old man took it absent-mindedly. “Thanks. I suppose I’ll be off, then.”
“All right. See you later.”
Katherine watched the captain limp out the front door. He looked older, somehow, than he had a few minutes before.
I wonder if that letter is from Serena, Katherine wondered silently.
She knelt on the floor and peered into the empty space where the drawer had been. It looked clear now, so she reached for the drawer, meaning to put it back. Just as she fit it back onto the narrow runners, she noticed something sparkle under a crumpled bit of tissue paper. Lifting the paper, she saw a beautiful cut glass candy jar, just like Miss Harriet had described when she told her about Serena giving candy to the children.
Katherine pieced it all together in her mind like a jigsaw puzzle. The captain must have put away everything Serena had on the counter, and the letter must have gotten mixed in. It got shoved to the back of the drawer, and something must have shifted it—perhaps one of them had closed a drawer too hard, making the envelope fall back behind to jam the next drawer down. If only we had found it sooner.
* * * *
