Chapter 12 - Letters from the East
In late June, a thick manila envelope arrived in our rural mailbox with a North Carolina postmark.
I recognized the return address immediately: the Buncombe County Detention Center.
We sat at the wooden kitchen table, the morning coffee steaming between us, as I used a pocketknife to slice open the top of the envelope. Inside were two items: a brief, formal letter from the public defender’s office, and a handwritten note on lined institutional paper.
The trial had reached its conclusion two weeks prior. Facing overwhelming evidence of felony extortion, forgery, and conspiracy, Margaret and Brittany had accepted a plea bargain to avoid a maximum prison sentence. Margaret had been sentenced to four years in a medium-security correctional facility in western North Carolina; Brittany had received a three-year sentence with mandatory community service and restitution requirements.
I unfolded the handwritten note. Margaret’s cursive was spidery, sharp, and dripping with bitterness.
Ethan, I hope you're happy out there in the cold wilderness, abandoning your own family for a woman who brought nothing but shame to our door. They won't let me have visitors, and your sister is crying herself to sleep every night in a cell block. This is all your fault. When you finally wake up and realize what she’s cost you, remember who tried to save you.
I read the note twice, felt absolutely nothing—no anger, no guilt, no sorrow—and folded it back up.
I picked up my lighter, held the corner of Margaret’s letter over the kitchen sink, and watched the flame consume it down to a tiny wisp of gray smoke that washed down the drain with a stream of running water.
Claire watched the entire process without saying a word. When the sink was clean, she reached across the table, placed her hand over mine, and smiled.
May you like
"Is it over?" she asked softly.
"It’s been over for a long time," I answered, turning my hand over to interlace my fingers with hers. "Let's go for a hike up the ridge. The wild berries are finally ripe."
