"Your father knew my grandmother?"
Clara looked at Arthur, still holding the letter.
Arthur nodded slowly.
"Apparently, they knew each other better than I realized."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know."
Clara glanced at the leather-bound journal inside the drawer.
"Then perhaps we should find out what they were hiding."
Arthur picked up the journal.
Unlike the covenant documents, it wasn't secured with complicated locks. Its leather cover was worn, and the edges of its pages had turned yellow with age.
A small inscription had been carved into the front.
A Promise Kept Across Generations.
Arthur opened it.
The first few pages contained ordinary entries about business meetings and family matters. But halfway through, they found a photograph tucked between the pages.
It showed two men standing beside a black car.
One was Arthur's father, Richard Blackwood.
The other was Clara's grandmother.
Clara stared at the photograph.
"Grandmother looks so young."
