With a quick nod, Jack left. I was alone in the quiet kitchen with a secret. I knelt on the floor and pushed on the old wooden planks. One of them moved.
My heart started racing. I used a knife to lift the board and found a metal box wrapped in cloth. I carried it to the table and opened it. Inside were photos, maps, and a letter with my name on it in my father’s handwriting.
I sat down and broke the seal. The first line made my eyes tear up:
If you are reading this at Rose’s table, then you came here exactly the way I hoped you would.
I looked at the room again—the warm lights and the polished wood. Then I looked at the paper hidden beneath the letter. It was a land survey map, and my father had circled one specific section over and over again until the ink nearly bled through.
That was the moment everything changed. And that was before I read the next sentence…
The rest of the story is in the comments! Check below to see what Hannah found…
