Beneath three rusty hand planes and a box of steel finishing nails lay a flat light blue envelope coated in fine sawdust.

I lifted it out and blew the gray powder off the front.

My fingers were stiff with cold as I drew out the folded paper inside.

The legal stamp at the top was dated October fourteenth, ten years earlier, put there by a notary at the county courthouse.

Across the second page, Vanessa had signed her full legal name in blue ballpoint, giving up every last right, title, and claim to the house and the land.

Under her name was a second signature in dark black ink, signed as the official witness.