Page 11 of Letter for Two
“To pick out a new phone,” he said. “You probably know all the new stuff.”
“Because I’m a computer geek?” She wiped ketchup from her mouth with a paper napkin.
“There’s nothing better than a computer geek helping out a wannabe technology geek, especially if that wannabe doesn’t want to end up stuck with a horrible phone for another two years.”
Going shopping together. She liked the idea. “Does this mean you only like me for my brain?”Please don’t let that sound weird.
“Among other things.” He made the comment off hand, but it struck Sophia with tremendous force.
“Among other things.” What other things?But she didn’t ask. Sophia, when it came down to it, was a chicken.
They followed the phone’s directions all the way to a home, modest by Paradise Valley standards. Sophia checked her teeth in the visor mirror. When she looked back toward Ethan, he was watching her with a completely unreadable look on his face. “What?”
He just shook his head and shrugged, the same half-smile, halfsomethingon his face. “Shall we go meet Eleanor?”
Sophia grabbed her purse— the letter was inside— and got out of the car. Ethan came around and met her there.
“I don’t know why I’m nervous about delivering this letter,” she said.
Then Ethan did something she wasn’t expecting. He held his hand out to her. She tentatively put hers in it, half convinced he’d pull away. Instead, he wrapped his fingers around hers and walked with her up the concrete walkway toward the front door.
“Don’t sweat it,” he said. “The worst they can do is slam the door in our faces. Or let their mastiff attack us on the doorstep.”
“Nice.” But she appreciated the teasing and the hand to hold.
Ethan rang the bell, and they waited. He didn’t let go of her hand but stood there as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
A woman answered the door, probably about the same age as Sophia’s mom.
“Hello. I’m Ethan Williams.”
“Yes.” The woman’s face lit up. “You’ve come with the letter. Come in. Come in.”
They stepped inside. Ethan squeezed her fingers for a moment, not letting her go. Sophia didn’t know which made her stomach flutter more: her nervousness over the letter or the feel of Ethan’s hand around hers.
“I’m Georgia,” the woman said.
“Sophia.”
“My mother is in the living room, but, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see the letter before we show it to her.” Georgia’s eyes moved from Ethan to Sophia and back again. “I haven’t told Mother about it. Her health is fragile, and since my father died, she’s so easily disappointed. If it’s not a letter to her, or nothing more than an old bill or something like that, I’d rather not get her hopes up.”
“Of course.” Sophia pulled the letter out of her purse and handed it to Georgia. She watched the woman’s face for some sign of recognition. Georgia turned the letter over in her hand a couple of times.
“I can see why you were stumped,” Georgia said. “I can’t make out a last name or a return address or anything. But my mother was living at that address for most of 1966, so I’d guess this letter was for her.”
A bubble of excitement began expanding in Sophia’s chest. They’d found Eleanor. She looked up at Ethan and saw the same eagerness in his face.
Georgia broke the seal on the envelope and carefully pulled out the paper. Sophia held more tightly to Ethan’s hand. She’d wondered again and again what was in that letter. They would soon know.
“Oh, good heavens.” Georgia gasped, pressing a hand to her lips. “This is a letter from my father.” She glanced at the two of them before returning her gaze to the letter. “He wrote it just before he left for Vietnam.”
Thiswasthe right Eleanor! Sophia grasped Ethan’s arm with her free hand, hardly able to contain her excitement.
“I know,” he whispered, not needing her to explain her enthusiasm.
“Mother will be beside herself.” Georgia’s grin spread ever wider. “Do you mind staying a few minutes? I’d love for her to meet the couple who found this letter.”
Ethan agreed without even a word of correction on their couple status. Sophia wasn’t about to make any objections.
