The names are a silly tribute to the McNallys :) And you might want to get a tissue if you are as tender hearted as I am.

Order

"Oh! Look at this!" The man passed a worn leather covered book to his wife. "There's loads of stuff in here." The trunk was pushed into a back corner of the shed that was located behind the recently purchased two-story cottage on Brouncker Road. The couple knew the house had once been a small hotel run by a man and his wife from the mid-twenties until the early forties, and that in 1948 it had been converted into a home for handicapped adults called Rebecca's House which remained in operation until 2010. It had sat empty until 2015, when the couple, Kevin and Jane Gibbs, bought it with grand plans of gutting it and renovating it into their dream home.

Nothing was left in the house itself, but Kevin happened upon the trunk as he was examining the shed to determine the most effective way to demolish it. Now, their Iphone flashlight apps engaged, Kevin and Jane began to forge into the long forgotten contents within the battered box.

"I think it is a ledger. Very detailed. Whoever kept this was all about order." Jane gently turned the pages, examining the precise handwriting in which dates, names, addresses, and payment amounts were recorded.

"Probably from when it was a hotel," Kevin guessed, picking up two books from the trunk's top tray. Flipping open the cover of the first one he read, "Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling, publish date 1888. This might be a first edition. Check into that. And Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, publish date 1900. Who knows? We may have uncovered some treasure."

"Don't get your hopes up," his pragmatic wife warned as she picked up a small picture frame that had laid under the books. "And who are you?" She flipped the frame over in her hand, "The frame might be usable if I clean it up." She gently removed the velvet backing, holding the back of the portrait up to the light, "Alice, 1878.' Maybe Alice was the wife?"

"Maybe. Check this out." Kevin grunted as he pulled a large wooden box from inside the base of the trunk. "Let's see…" He opened the lid to find a giant collection of yellowed envelopes neatly stacked and bundled inside. "There must be at least five thousand letters in here."

"Let's take them back to the hotel. It's getting cold. We can come back and look some more in the morning." Jane returned the ledger, books and frame to the trunk, gently shutting the lid before she and Kevin left for the night.

Showered and clad in clean pajamas, the couple climbed onto their king size bed and opened the box.

"Let's just open one bundle at a time. There appears to be some sort of order." Jane handed Kevin the top stack.

"This first one is dated April 9, 1926. 'My dearest Elsie, It is finally here. Our wedding day…' so the lady in the photo wasn't the wife. Elsie is the wife."

"Super. Elsie. Go on."

"My dearest Elsie, It is finally here. Our wedding day. Although I was sixty-three on my last birthday, I suddenly feel like a lad of sixteen. It is as if my life is finally beginning. I know our time together as man and wife will not be terribly long, perhaps fifteen years, twenty if we are lucky, but I do feel blessed to know that my happiest days are ahead of me, for nothing could make me happier than to have you by my side. I meant it when I said I wouldn't marry anyone else. You are the only one for me, my Elsie. Your Charles."

"Well, I'm in love. How wonderful is that? At sixty-three to write a love letter?" As Jane gushed about Charles, Kevin began to look into the other envelopes in the stack.

"Janie, there is one for everyday." He glanced at the deep box.. "I think he wrote her every single day they were married."

"No way!"

"Look at the box. There are definitely more than five thousand letters here."

"They married in 1926 and Rebecca's House opened in 1948. They could have been married for close to twenty years if they both lived long lives. They would have been safe here during the war, so yeah- What? Six thousand or so letters? That is amazing."

Kevin began to pull bundles from the box.

"Stop!" Jane put her hand on his, "Keep them in order. Elsie did. We should, too."

Kevin carefully replaced the bundles, returning to his original stack.

For the next six hours, Kevin and Jane drank coffee and read bits and pieces of Charles' love letters aloud.

"…who would have thought our first day of business would be marked with cows invading the front garden…"

"…I am still delighting at the memory of you climbing into the bathtub with me, even if I had made a fool of myself…"

"…you will be the most wonderful godmother to your namesake, the lovely Elisabeth Bates…"

"…you were such a comfort to me today as we watched the end of an era as they laid the Dowager to rest…"

"…I know you are still angry that I lost my temper with Peter. I hope you will accept my apology, or at least unlock the door so I can apologize in person…"

"…it was such a privilege to watch you with Becky today. You are so wonderful with her. Anyone can see she worships you…"

"…I promise to apologize to Mrs. Mason. I honestly thought she had the hat on backwards…"

"…you are right, I am quite smitten with that Gloria Swanson, but I think it is because her eyes remind me of yours'…."

"…I am doing my best to forget about the dent in the fender. I should have known better than to let a twelve year old drive the car, but you know I have a soft spot for George Crawley…"

"…I was so happy to look up and see your smiling face as I stood at the cricket pitch for the last time. We might not have won, but I had the loveliest girl in the crowd cheering me on…"

The sun was coming up and they were only in the early 1930s. "We have to get some sleep, Janie."

"All right, but can we just look at the last one? I have to know what it says."

Kevin yawned, "Fine. But then we will get some sleep, agreed?"

"Agreed. "

He carefully removed the remaining stacks, maintaining their exact order. "I think that one must be the last." Jane carefully slipped an envelope from the bottom of the stack. Pulling the letter from the envelope, she glanced at the date, but read no further. "No. This can't be right. It is in a different hand."

Kevin took the letter, silently reading it in its entirety. "No, darling, It is the last. Read it."

"April 9, 1946, My dearest Charles, We made it. You once said we would be lucky if we made it to twenty years, and we have. You were already asleep, but I rolled over and gave you a kiss as the clock struck twelve. I do indeed consider myself lucky. Lucky to love you and lucky to be loved by you. Not a day has passed in the last twenty years that I haven't opened my eyes and smiled, knowing that you were by my side. The letters you have written me everyday of our married life are my most prized possessions. Individually they represent days, but collectively they represent our wonderful life and love.

And now it is my turn to write you a letter.

When I opened my eyes this morning, I knew something wasn't right. It was as if part of me didn't wake up. I turned over to look at you and I knew you were gone. You were so pale and your cheek was so cold against my hand. I got out of bed and fetched another quilt. I wanted to keep you as warm as I could. I called Dr. Adams, then John and Anna, and Lady Mary. And then I climbed back into bed and I wrapped my arms around you one last time.

I don't know if you could hear me, but I sang our song to you. Dashing away with the smoothing iron, she stole my heart away. I hope you could hear me.

You once told me you wanted to be stuck with me. Well you are, my darling. It won't be long before we will be together again. I love you. Your Elsie."

Jane was openly weeping by the time she reached the end of the letter. Giving her a kiss on the forehead, Kevin reached over and gently took the letter from her, returning it to its place in the order.