Page 162 of The Promise Of Rain

I’m more grateful than I can ever express for the role you allowed me to play in your life.

I just know the rest of it is going to be epic.

Don’t be afraid of the rain, Jenny.

I love you.

Ansel.

I folded it carefully, slipped it back into its envelope, and held it to my heart.

Tears streamed down my cheeks in a steady rivulet, and I let them.

These didn’t hurt.

These honoured.

The truth I’d blocked out for so long became clear.I’d had a family.I’d had a family all along, but I couldn’t see past my disbelief.

Now there was another who loved me, who, perhaps, had always loved me just as I had loved him.

Bringing Ansel’s letter with me into my bedroom, I opened my closet and dug through to the back where my box of letters lived.

Taking it out, I brought the whole thing to the kitchen and set it down on the table.

My heart pounded as I lifted the lid.

On the very top, there was writing paper, envelopes, and pens.

Only with Deacon had I ever been able to share my deepest hopes.

And greatest fears.

Even after he left, I never stopped talking to him.My heart, my pain, and my worries flowed through the ink onto the paper.When I was empty, I folded them up and sealed them away to live between the six walls of this box.

But there was joy here, too, like the key Ansel gave me for the bakery.I’d had a copy made and tucked the original away for safekeeping.

I’d also kept every card he ever gave me.

But there were also the unsent letters, sealed in envelopes, and bound with ribbon.

I lifted them out and set them aside.Underneath lay the cards from Deacon, two Christmas, two Valentine’s, and one birthday card.

There were the flowers he picked from the church garden when he was late picking me up, pressed flat and encased in wax paper.

The ticket stubs for every movie and the play we saw in Mistlevale.

There was a small photo album full of pictures I never looked at, but I looked at them now and laughed.

I cried a little, too.

We were so young, and he was so slender.

No wonder I barely recognized him when he came back to me.

Last, a red velvet box sitting on the bottom contained the heart linked tennis bracelet he gave me when he first told me he loved me.I opened the box, clasped the bracelet around my wrist, and held it up to the light coming from the window.

Flashing and sparkling in the light, it was back where it belonged.