1While cleaning the attic, Nora discovered a box beneath the floorboards.
2Inside lay a letter addressed to someone who had never lived there.
3The envelope was yellowed, but the handwriting remained perfectly clear.
4It had been written by a soldier during the last winter of the war.
5He described the house and the apple tree in the garden.
6The letter was meant for his sister, who lived across the country.
7For some reason, it had never been sent or delivered.
8Nora felt she could not simply put it back and forget it.
9She spent the next few weeks searching through public records.
10Eventually, she traced the soldier's family to a coastal town.
11His sister had passed away, but her granddaughter still lived there.
12Nora wrote to her and enclosed a copy of the letter.
13The granddaughter replied within days, asking to meet in person.
14They met in Nora's garden, beside the old apple tree.
15The woman read the letter aloud, her voice breaking several times.
16She said her grandmother had waited for news until the very end.
17Together they planted a new tree in memory of the soldier.
18The original letter now hangs in a frame by the door.
19Visitors often ask about it, and Nora tells the whole story.
20She believes some messages simply take longer to reach their destination.