present. “It’s okay, Dad.” Coralyn’s chest was on fire. The ring
she wore on the simple gold chain around her neck, her
mother’s engagement ring, seemed to pulse against her skin,
but it was probably just her heartbeat thrumming at the hollow
of her throat.
“It’s not okay. I’d really give anything for you to have that
back.”
Coralyn raised her dad’s hand and kissed the back of it.
“Mom would understand. We did what we had to do. She
loved you and she would have wanted you to have the best
care possible. Selling it made this a reality. It gave us another
year together. You can’t put a price on that.”
Her dad acted like he hadn’t heard her. He stared up at her
face, his eyes huge and welling with tears that broke her heart.
“It was your mother’s favorite thing. She treasured it above
everything else. If there was one thing she would have wanted
you to pass down, it would have been that. And now it’s
gone.”
That necklace had been crafted and designed from passion
and intimacy and the kind of love that few people ever found.
And now it was sitting in some stranger’s house. A woman
who looked at it and could never appreciate it past its real
value and beauty. She probably knew the story behind it, but
that didn’t mean she’d really be able to understand what it
meant. Did she ever wear it? The thought of it adorning
another person’s neck made Coralyn feel ill. She hadn’t
thought about it before. She’d only thought about the necessity
of having to sell it, and then she’d made herself not think
about it again.
“I’ll always have the memories of you and Mom.” She
