The Workshop Emma Remembered
Chapter 12 - The Workshop Emma Remembered
Richard drove Ethan to an abandoned brick building on the edge of town.
The sign had faded years earlier.
COLE CUSTOM WOODWORKING.
Ethan stared at it.
"My father's shop."
"I know."
After Ethan's father died, the workshop had been lost to unpaid taxes.
Richard had quietly purchased the building years earlier through a company subsidiary.
Ethan's face hardened.
"You bought this?"
"Seventeen years ago."
"Why?"
Richard looked through the dusty window.
"Emma asked me to."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
"She sent one letter after she left."
Richard had never answered it.
But he had obeyed one request.
Don't let Ethan's father's shop disappear.
Richard handed him the original deed.
Not a gift.
A debt repaid.
The building legally belonged to Ethan's father's estate because Richard had purchased the tax lien rather than taking ownership.
Ethan could reclaim it for the original amount owed.
It was less than Ethan's monthly rent.
Within weeks, Ethan reopened the shop.
His first major customer was Hale & Whitmore.
Richard commissioned handcrafted wooden jewelry cases for every flagship store.
Ethan nearly refused.
Then he examined the contract.
Market rate.
No charity.
No favors.
Just work.
He signed.
For the first time since Emma became ill, Ethan felt like himself again.
But success brought attention.
A local reporter began investigating the extraordinary story of Richard Hale's lost granddaughter.
And when the first article appeared online, it contained one photograph Ethan never expected to see.
Emma.
May you like
Standing beside Charles Whitmore.
Taken only three months before her death.
