Chapter 1
My 12-year-old daughter walked into dinner, saw my new wife wearing her late mother’s necklace, and went completely still. Then she screamed, “Take that off—you had no right to touch Mom’s things!”
We were celebrating my mother’s birthday at our home outside Seattle.
My wife, Lauren, had spent all afternoon getting ready.
I noticed the necklace when she came downstairs.
A small diamond pendant on a thin gold chain.
It had belonged to my first wife, Rachel.
Rachel died four years earlier.
Before I could ask Lauren where she got it, my daughter Sophie walked into the dining room.
Her face changed instantly.
“Why are you wearing that?”
Lauren touched the pendant.
“Oh, this?”
Sophie rushed toward her.
“That was Mom’s!”
Everyone around the table went silent.
Lauren frowned.
“Your father said everything in this house belongs to both of us now.”
I stood up.
“I never said you could wear Rachel’s jewelry.”
Lauren rolled her eyes.
“It was sitting in a box for years.”
Sophie’s hands started shaking.
“Mom said that necklace would be mine when I turned sixteen.”
Lauren laughed softly.
“You’re twelve. You don’t need diamonds.”
Sophie reached for the necklace.
“Give it back!”
Lauren grabbed her wrist.
“Do not touch me.”
“Lauren, let her go.”
Instead, Lauren pulled Sophie closer.
“You need to learn that your mother isn’t coming back.”
Sophie burst into tears.
I ripped Lauren’s hand away from my daughter.
“That’s enough.”
Lauren stared at me.
“You’re seriously taking her side over your wife?”
“It was her mother’s necklace.”
Sophie suddenly looked toward the pendant again.
Then her expression changed.
“Dad…”
She wiped her face and stepped closer.
“That isn’t Mom’s necklace.”
I froze.
“What?”
Sophie pointed at the back of the pendant.
“Mom’s had my initials engraved there.”
Lauren immediately covered it with her hand.
I looked at her.
“Take it off.”
“No.”
“Lauren.”
She backed away.
That was when Sophie ran upstairs and returned carrying the empty jewelry box.
Inside was a folded receipt none of us had ever seen.
I opened it.
May you like
Rachel’s necklace had been sold three weeks earlier.
And the seller’s signature at the bottom belonged to my new wife.
