Page 37 of Harmony

“Telegram for you, Miss Daphne.” Belinda strode in and handed Daphne a yellow envelope.

“A telegram?” Mazie, Brad’s mother, shook her head. “Do people still send telegrams?”

“My parents got one when I was a kid,” Lucy said. “That’s the last I remember.”

Daphne held the yellow envelope from Western Union. “It’s already open.”

“I thought they stopped sending these a few years ago,” Belinda said.

“Who delivered it?” Daphne asked.

“Just a kid. I didn’t recognize him.”

“Was he wearing anything that said Western Union on it?” Mazie asked.

“No. He looked about sixteen or so.”

Daphne pulled out a folded piece of paper. It was plain white.

“It should be yellow,” Lucy said, “to match the envelope.”

“You’re right, Lucy,” Mazie agreed. “I don’t think that’s a telegram at all. It’s a message using an old Western Union envelope.”

Daphne unfolded the paper.

Her face went pale, and her lips trembled. My heart nearly stopped. What did that paper say?

“Daphne, you’re white as a sheet,” Lucy said. “What is it?”

Her hands shook.

“Daphne?” Lucy said again.

“What is it, dear?” Mazie that time.

Finally, Patty grabbed the paper from her hand. She glanced at it, and her mouth dropped open. “Who sent this?” she finally said.

Daphne didn’t answer.

“What’s it say?” I asked, my skin going cold.

Patty handed it to me, and my flesh went colder.

Keep that baby close. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.

BRIANNA

I gulp. “Uncle Joe?”

Ennis nods. “That should have been my first clue to keep my eye on Patty and Daphne. Obviously your uncle was never harmed, but he was just an infant. Anyone who would threaten an infant…”

I feel sick. How much more has my family kept from all of us? Or do they even know this story?

“We were supposed to go back to Brad and Daphne’s place for dinner the next night,” Ennis goes on, “but that never happened.”

ENNIS

I wasn’t sure I should bother Daphne after the frightening message she received the previous evening, but I was getting worried. We were supposed to go back to Brad and Daphne’s for dinner, but Patty had gone out shopping, and she hadn’t returned yet. The last thing I wanted to do was worry Daphne further, but she was expecting us.