A second-hand bookstore owner found a very heart-wrenching goodbye letter from a mother to her young daughter in one of their books as he was sorting through them. The letter was accompanied in the book with a picture of the mother and daughter.
52-year-old Gordon Draper, the owner of Bondgate Books in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, figures the book was brought into his store about 15 years ago, and apparently the young girl never looked through it before it was brought in. He even remembers the mother in the photo. She used to come into his shop, he said, about 15 years ago, and she would buy a lot of children’s books.
Says Gordon: “She really spoiled her with all the Beatrix Potter set and Paddington Bear books and could not have emphasized more that books meant a lot and she wanted to leave her something – this little girl might still have them.”
But he’s aware that that little girl is little no more, and he and his friend, Albert Mark, are making an attempt to track down the young woman. Gordon was very upset after reading the letter and wants to do what he can to get the items back to the girl, named Bethany.
Said Gordon: ‘I would like to reunite the letter with Bethany, that would be my wish because it is just so sad.’
The first portion of the letter reads: “Bethany (my little treasure), If your dad is reading this to you, it is because I have died and gone to heaven to live with the angels. My chest was very poorly and I had an operation to make it better, but it didn’t work. I will always be in the sky making sure you are all right and watching over you. So when you see a bright star like in the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, that’s me. Be a good girl and live a long happy life. Your dad and grandpa will look after you and take you to school. I will always love you.”
