Chapter 4
I had seen Mom’s wedding ring only a few times.
After she died, Dad kept it in a small case in his bedroom. Sometimes, on her birthday, he would let me hold it. The band had a tiny dent from when she caught her hand in the garden gate.
I knew that dent better than I knew some faces.
“Vanessa took it from your room?” I asked.
Dad nodded.
“Did you get it back?”
“Mr. Bell didn’t have it. He sent it to an auction company yesterday. He’s calling them now.”
I leaned against the car. “Why would she take Mom’s ring?”
“I’m going to ask her.”
Dad handed me the envelope with my bracelet. The blue stone was cold against my palm.
I wanted to put it on, but I was afraid the clasp might break. I tucked it back into the envelope and held it all the way home.
Vanessa was in the driveway when we arrived.
Leo and Maya were still at school. Dad had arranged for a neighbor to bring them home later. I was glad they weren’t there when Vanessa saw the envelope in my hand.
“You went to Bell’s,” she said.
Dad shut the car door. “I did.”
“I was going to buy those pieces back.”
“With Nia’s account?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Dad held out the receipt. “Why did you take Amara’s ring?”
“You kept it locked away. You never even wore your own wedding band after we married.”
“That ring was never yours to sell.”
“I’ve lived in the same house as her memory for four years,” Vanessa said. “Her photograph is still in the hallway. Nia talks about her at dinner. You expect me to smile while I’m compared to a woman who isn’t here?”
I stepped back.
Dad’s voice sharpened. “No one asked you to replace Amara.”
“You did, every time you left me to raise her.”
He looked at me. I looked down.
Some nights he had worked late. Vanessa made dinner, checked homework, and drove us to school. I remembered those things. I also remembered how kindness seemed to disappear whenever Dad left the room.
“Where are the letters?” he asked.
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
“Vanessa.”
“I threw out some papers. I don’t know which ones.”
For a moment, I could not hear the traffic on our street.
Mom’s voice lived in those envelopes. She had written words for the person I might become.
“You threw them away?” I asked.
“They were old papers.”
Dad reached for my hand. I pulled away from both of them and went inside.
I sat on my bedroom floor until Aunt Ruth arrived. Dad had called her that morning. She was Mom’s older sister, and she lived two hours away. I saw her most holidays, but I hadn’t told her about any of this.
She knocked, then waited for me to invite her in.
I showed her the empty shelf.
“Oh, Nia.”
I had been holding myself together since the store. When she said my name, I broke.
She sat on the floor and wrapped her arms around me. I told her about the letters, the scarf, the ring, and how I had been afraid Dad didn’t want to hear about Mom.
“He does,” Aunt Ruth said. “He should have told you that himself. You deserved to hear it every day.”
“I didn’t tell you either.”
“You can tell me anything now.”
When I could breathe again, she pulled back and wiped her face.
“Your mom let me read a few of those letters before she sealed them,” she said. “She laughed because she’d written so much that the envelopes barely closed.”
“Do you remember what she said?”
“Some of it. But first, let’s find them.”
We searched the bins behind our house with Dad. The trash had been collected that morning. Dad called the collection company and found out where the truck had unloaded, but the driver told him a search there would be difficult and dangerous. He asked for the route details anyway.
Inside, Vanessa sat in the living room. She had stopped saying she didn’t remember.
Aunt Ruth stood across from her.
“I need you to think carefully,” she said. “Did you throw the whole box into a bin?”
Vanessa looked at Dad. “You called her?”
“She’s Nia’s aunt.”
“The whole family is going to come and accuse me now?”
Aunt Ruth waited.
Finally, Vanessa said, “I left the box in my car for a while. I put the bracelet and ring in my purse. The rest went to a secondhand shop.”
Dad took out a pen. “Which shop?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You drove there,” Aunt Ruth said. “You paid or received money. There will be a record.”
Vanessa’s gaze flickered.
Dad saw it too.
“Your phone may show where you went. Start with the date.”
Vanessa stood. “I’m calling someone before I answer anything else.”
Dad let her go upstairs. He was already saving the conversation in notes, along with what Bell & Sons had told him.
That night, Aunt Ruth stayed with me. Dad slept downstairs. Vanessa remained in the guest room with the door closed.
Just after ten, my phone buzzed with a message from Leo. He was in his bedroom across the hall.
I FOUND SOMETHING IN MOM’S CAR.
May you like
A second message appeared before I could answer.
SHE’S OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW.
