Eli looked at Ellis.
“Our family?”
Ellis adjusted his glasses.
“My father, maybe.”
He studied the image.
Then his finger stopped.
“There.”
A young man stood third from the left.
“That is him.”
Eli had seen photographs of his great-grandfather before.
Older.
Gray.
Never this young.
The discovery made everything feel suddenly personal.
Mae opened one ledger.
“These are maintenance entries.”
Dates.
Names.
Hours worked.
Amounts paid.
Creek clearing.
Spring dredging.
Fence repair.
Stone reinforcement.
Channel maintenance.
The documents described a water system.
Eli unfolded the largest survey.
The sheet nearly covered the kitchen table.
Across it ran property boundaries, barns, roads, fields, springs, and a narrow water channel originating near the Harland property.
The channel crossed seven farms before joining the creek along the lower edge of Mercer land.
Eli recognized it immediately.
“We still use this.”
Ellis leaned closer.
The Mercer farm relied partly on the creek and connected spring flow during dry periods.