Chapter 5 - THE FORTY-SEVENTH PEARL
Camille sat down.
For once, she didn’t look elegant.
She looked tired.
“I was afraid.”
Vincent stared at her.
“Of me?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised everyone.
Including him.
Camille looked at Sofia.
“Your mother asked me not to tell him where you were.”
“She did.”
“And my mother spent years protecting that promise.”
“Yes.”
Camille turned back to Vincent.
“When I found the necklace in Mom’s coat, I understood everything at once.”
“What did you understand?”
“That Sofia never stole it.”
“I know that now.”
“That my mother knew.”
Vincent said nothing.
“That my father helped Sofia leave.”
Nothing.
“And that I had been standing beside you for four years while you talked about your sister like she had betrayed you.”
Vincent’s mouth tightened.
Camille continued.
“If I gave you the necklace, I would have to tell you where it came from.”
“And?”
“And I thought you would hate my parents.”
“Your parents lied to me.”
“They helped a pregnant woman escape a life she didn’t want.”
Vincent flinched.
Camille saw it.
“So yes. They lied to you.”
She wiped beneath one eye.
“But I loved them for it too.”
That silenced him.
Camille looked toward Ben.
He was sitting on the floor feeding imaginary cereal to his stuffed dog.
“When we got engaged, I kept thinking I could fix everything.”
Sofia’s voice sharpened.
“You mean control everything.”
Camille nodded slowly.
“Maybe.”
That admission took some of the anger out of Sofia.
“I thought if I could return the necklace publicly, I could erase the accusation.”
Vincent stared at her.
“So that’s what tonight was.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted everyone to believe an estate broker had the necklace for six years.”
“Yes.”
“Then nobody would believe Sofia stole it.”
“Yes.”
“And afterward?”
“I was going to bring you here.”
Sofia looked disgusted.
“No, you were going to bring him after the wedding.”
Camille closed her eyes.
Vincent noticed.
“After our wedding?”
“Yes.”
His voice dropped.
“You wanted to marry me first.”
“I wanted one thing in my life to be settled before I blew up everything else.”
Vincent looked away.
I understood Camille more than I wanted to.
She had done something deeply dishonest.
She had also done it because every road toward the truth seemed to cost somebody she loved.
That didn’t excuse the way she had treated me.
It didn’t excuse the fake necklace.
But fear rarely arrived looking noble.
Sometimes it arrived wearing a gold dress and insulting the housekeeper because the housekeeper had just put a hand on the one secret holding everything together.
Sofia sat across from her.
“You didn’t protect me.”
Camille looked at her.
“You protected your plan.”
“I know.”
That seemed to cost Camille more than denial would have.
Ben came over.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Is Uncle Vin mad at you?”
Vincent looked at the boy.
Sofia answered, “A little.”
Ben looked at Vincent.
“Are you?”
Vincent crouched.
“I’m mad at some things that happened.”
“At Mom?”
Vincent shook his head.
“No.”
“Cam?”
“A little.”
Camille almost laughed.
Ben considered this.
“Don’t yell.”
“I won’t.”
“Mom hates yelling.”
Vincent glanced at Sofia.
“So did ours.”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
Ben wandered away again.
Vincent looked at the bracelet.
“Can I see it?”
Ben returned reluctantly.
Vincent held the small wrist gently.
The pearl was imperfect.
A tiny mark curved across one side.
I recognized it.
The crescent mark I had first noticed on the fake necklace.
Except now I understood.
The fake pearl had been intentionally scratched to imitate this one.
I turned toward Camille.
“You copied Ben’s pearl.”
Everyone looked at me.
“The mark on the reproduction. One pearl had a crescent scratch.”
Camille nodded.
“I gave the jeweler photographs.”
“You were trying to make the copy match Teresa’s strand.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why one pearl looked different.”
“I thought it would make it convincing.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You studied my mother’s necklace closely enough to reproduce damage.”
Camille lowered her eyes.
“I wanted the lie to survive.”
Sofia shook her head.
“Camille.”
“I know.”
I turned Ben’s bracelet over.
The little star mark was clear.
Grandpa.
Then I noticed the shape of the silver work around the pearl.
A memory came back.
Grandpa had a habit when making sentimental pieces.
If he removed a piece from one heirloom to create another, he often repaired a second item from the same family during the same job.
He called it balancing the box.
One thing going out.
One thing coming home.
I looked at Dad’s old Polaroid in my hand.
Teresa.
Sofia.
Elena.
The necklace.
And something else on the counter.
Small.
Silver.
Partly hidden beneath Teresa’s hand.
I brought the photograph closer to the lamp.
“What is that?”
Sofia leaned over.
Her expression changed.
“Oh.”
Vincent looked.
“What?”
She pointed.
“Your watch.”
He frowned.
“What watch?”
“The silver one you bought Mom.”
His face went blank.
“I was fourteen.”
“She kept it.”
Vincent took the photograph.
A small silver pocket watch lay beside the pearls.
“I bought it at a flea market.”
Sofia smiled faintly.
“You saved for months.”
“I thought she lost it.”
“She never lost it.”
Sofia looked at me.
“Your grandfather repaired that too.”
“How do you know?”
“Mom told me.”
Vincent’s eyes stayed on the photograph.
“What happened to it?”
Sofia looked at Camille.
“Elena was supposed to keep it with the necklace.”
Camille frowned.
“There was no watch in the coat.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You searched everything?”
“Twice.”
Sofia sat back.
“Then it went somewhere else.”
I barely heard them.
Because suddenly I could see my grandfather’s red tool chest.
Not as it looked now.
As it had looked when I was ten.
There had always been a small silver watch in the back corner.
Broken crystal.
No chain.
I used to open it when Grandpa wasn’t looking.
He always took it away from me.
“Not ours, Hannah.”
That was what he said.
Not ours.
Vincent noticed my expression.
“What?”
I stood.
“I think I’ve seen it.”
Sofia stared at me.
“Where?”
I looked at Vincent.
May you like
“In my grandfather’s tool chest.”
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