**A Letter from the Past**
The summer air was thick with the scent of roses and lavender, the garden alive with color and buzzing with life. Lillian and Nicholas had just finished a busy morning tending to customers in the café, their shared dream now a thriving reality. The café’s outdoor seating was filled with locals and visitors alike, sipping tea and enjoying pastries under the dappled sunlight that filtered through the trees.
Everything seemed perfect. Peaceful. Settled.
But that sense of calm was shattered when Clara appeared at the café’s counter, her face pale and her hands clutching a yellowed envelope.
“Lillian, Nicholas,” she said, her voice trembling. “You need to see this.”
Nicholas set down the tray he was holding, concern flashing across his face. “Clara, what’s wrong?”
Clara slid the envelope across the counter, her eyes wide. “I was going through some of my mother’s old things this morning. I thought I’d found everything there was to find about her and Henry, but the
