Page 1 of Pages of My Heart

Katie

Katie enters the house carrying the old shoebox pressed tightly to her chest. She finds her daughter, Alexis, lying on her bed in her room, eyes glued to her cell phone.

“Lex, I want to show you something, or . . . maybe give you these.” She motions to the box. “I found them among Granddad’s things when he passed away, and now— Well, I’m sure he’d want you to have them.”

Alexis puts her phone down as Katie sits and places the box between them on the bed. Katie’s father passed away three years ago, and at the time she thought the box too important to throw away. Now, she’s so glad she held onto it.

Alexis stares suspiciously at the old, battered cardboard. “What’s in it?”

Katie lifts the lid, revealing a messy pile of yellowed envelopes—lots of them—some addressed in fancy cursive, and others in a sharp, slanted scrawl. Removing one from the top, Alexis carefully turns it over, pausing to read the address details. Her brows knit together in confusion.

“Whose letters are these?” she asks.

Katie just smiles and motions for her daughter to see for herself.

Alexis considers the envelope in her hands a moment longer and then pulls out the neatly folded pages from within . . .