Findings (2)

"Why is Minnie in this portrait with this person? She must've been friends with this person but it could not have ended well if the portrait was torn."

"But why not just throw it away at the same time? Why hold unto it unless you didn't mean to ruin it. Let's assume the person next to Minnie is a relative of my mother, shouldn't anyone who lives around here know who this family was? It's not like everyone would have forgotten them ever existing," said Aurora. Nothing she found was ever answered. She was left continuously with more questions that needed answers.

"I don't know about you Aurora but I cannot handle all of these new secrets. I just can't. Every family has secrets but this is too much. We need to find the other half of the portrait to see what the woman looks like. You continue to search the left and I will search the right," Regina said moving to her side. She covered her nose with her hand to stop herself from breathing in the dust. "I know they are hiding secrets up here but they could've at least had someone clean it up regularly."

"I think I found my grandfather's old jacket or maybe one of his ancestors. Why does it look like this?" Questioned Aurora. The design was something no one in this day and age would wear. "I remember him being such an odd man. This jacket fits his personality."

"I should've bought gloves that I no longer care for. I don't want to touch any more of these old family clothes. I found a portrait of Minnie's wedding to grandfather. The rumors about her being extremely beautiful are true. Minnie was the prettiest bride I have ever seen. Grandfather has the biggest smile on his face," Regina pushed aside the large portrait and looked at the one behind it with Minnie's friends. "No one with white hair in any of these. Maybe they stopped being friends around her wedding."

"There's a lot of torn portraits over here. Someone had fun ripping them up. It's a shame, Minnie looked so happy in all of them. I'm really curious to know what happened with their friendship," Aurora said. The happiness that the painter captured of Minnie on this day with her friend, what made it change? "Did someone burn the other half of the portrait? Why not just burn the entire thing to get rid of the memories?"

"I am confused as to why we don't have more of these portraits of grandfather hanging around the house. We only have the big one in the tea room and the one in Minnie's bedroom. These should not be rotting away in an attic."

"There are a lot of books over here that belong to grandfather. Hopefully one of them is his diary. Do you remember the one he used to always have in his hands? I think it was covered with brown leather. Here it is. It's too heavy," Aurora groaned, pulling the book from under several other heavy ones. She flew backward when she finally got it out and almost hit a bunch of old clothes. "That was close," she muttered.

She flipped open the pages of the dusty book and started to read. From the date, it looked like their grandfather had started writing in this diary after he got married to Minnie. Aurora read the words out loud so Regina could also hear. "My wife has been acting weird one week since the wedding. She's avoiding me and taking her anger out on the workers without explaining the reason. Is she upset with me? Why won't she just tell me? The only reason I could think she was upset with me was because of that girl."

"This is a later date after the wedding," Aurora said, moving to the next page. "We have a son together. Nathaniel Hamilton. Just like me, he took his mother's last name because she wants the Hamilton name to continue on for generations. I had no problem with it as her family had more wealth than I did. But now I regret not bringing her to a home my family owned rather than staying on the Hamilton property."

"She's acting strange again because her friend is gone. If you loved her so much why did you do it? Why do you take your anger out on me for the things that you have done Minnie? It's nearing time for our son to get married and I notice the way Minnie is looking at me. She doesn't love me anymore and I wonder if she ever did. I don't want to confirm the reason I started to write down these notes. Regardless of how she looks and thinks of me, I still love my wife."

"My first grandchild had his second birthday today and Minnie brought in a young girl much to my daughter in laws surprise. I told her not to bring that girl here. She was not our family. Having her around made Minnie change. The little girl needed to stay where she came from. Rachel was not pleased learning she had to take care of this little girl and I did not blame her. Why would you do this Minnie? Why are you getting attached to her when you said we were not supposed to?"

"I am going to die-"

"What!" Regina exclaimed, interrupting Aurora. Why on earth did their grandfather write such a thing? "Sorry. It's just-continue."

"I am going to die. I see the way Minnie looks at me and I know she no longer needs me. It's only a matter of time before she gets rid of me. She only cares about her family name and making sure it keeps its reputation. I hope this finds someone else well and know that I, Herbert Hamilton, regretted marrying my wife. I write to tell you that she is a wolf good at pretending to be a sheep."

"Dear Aurora, I am sorry for the things I have done to you. I hope that if we ever meet again in another life, you can forgive this foolish old man. And if you have truly found this book, get out of that house right now."

"There are no more entries after that," Aurora whispered.