Chapter 14 - The Unmarked Stone
That Sunday, Julian drove Clara and Samuel out to a small cemetery overlooking the salt marshes. There were no granite mausoleums here, no bronze angels like the ones in the Vance family plot across town. They walked down a gravel path to a simple slate marker bearing only two words: Martha Holloway.
Samuel knelt slowly, the damp grass soaking through his trousers, but he waved Julian away when he reached out to help. The old man placed a small sprig of wild heather against the stone.
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"I promised her I wouldn't leave a legacy of greed," Samuel whispered to the wind. "It took thirty years, Martha. But the debt is paid."
Julian watched from ten paces back, the morning sun warming the back of his neck. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel the phantom weight of his father's guilt resting on his shoulders. The legacy had not been salvaged by winning a battle; it had been salvaged by giving the spoils back to the hands that had forged them.
