She beamed, touching them delicately as if they were the most priceless things in the world. They were. “Oh, thank you, Rachel!
They’re a gift from someone special, you know.”
A gift. From someone special. Someone married?
The world tilted slightly. I swallowed the burning rage rising in my throat. Mel looked at me for a moment, and I wondered if the guilt was eating at her.
She didn’t act like it, but something had dimmed her shine in that moment. “Oh, they’re simply beautiful,” I said, smiling through my gritted teeth. “But didn’t it come with a pendant and a bracelet?
What a stunning set that would be…”
She blinked at me, confusion all over her face. “I definitely would if I had those pieces. But I don’t.
It’s just the earrings. But maybe my special someone can gift me the whole set.”
The ground steadied beneath me. There it was.
Derek hadn’t just pawned my mother’s jewelry. He had gifted part of it to his mistress. It was a selfish, well-thought-out plan.
Except he hadn’t planned on one thing. Me. Then
I had been vacuuming under the bed, lost in the monotony of housework and a nagging nursery rhyme that was stuck in my head, when I spotted the box.
Something made me pause. Maybe it was instinct. Or maybe grief had sharpened my senses.
I bent down, picked it up, and opened the lid. Empty. The box with my most prized possessions was empty.
The air left my lungs. The annoying nursery rhyme flew out of my head. And just like that, the shock hit me across my face.
My hands trembled as I stood up, my knees weak. I scanned my bedroom like the earrings, pendant, and bracelet might miraculously reappear before my eyes. But they didn’t.
Of course, they didn’t. Wishful thinking didn’t work like that. There was only one person who I had shown the box and the priceless things inside.
But would Derek… Was he actually capable of taking my things? Maybe he had put them away, knowing the importance that they held. Maybe he had put them into our safe deposit box at the bank.
But even if he did, why on earth wouldn’t he tell me? “Derek!” I stormed into the living room, where he was lounging with his laptop. He barely glanced up.
“What, Rachel? It’s too early for this noise.”
“My mother’s jewelry. Did you take it?”
His brow furrowed like he was truly thinking.
“No, maybe the kids took it. You know they’re into dressing up now.”
My stomach twisted again. Why would my children take something from my room?
They probably didn’t even know about the box. And I was planning on passing down the jewelry to the girls anyway. But still, kids have keen eyes.
Maybe one of them saw something. I turned and marched straight to the playroom, where my three kids were sprawled on the floor, lost in their toys. “Nora, Eli, Ava,” I said, almost breathless.
“Did any of you take the box from under my bed?”
Three pairs of wide, innocent eyes blinked up at me. “No, Mommy.”
But Nora hesitated. My eight-year-old, my oldest baby.
The most sensitive and honest of the three, and the one most likely to give you a snuggle when you needed it. She would tell me what she knew. “I saw Daddy with it,” she said.
“He said it was a secret. And that he would buy me a new dollhouse if I didn’t say anything.”
A sharp rage sliced through me. Someone had stolen from me.
And that someone was my husband. I spent a long time with the kids, trying to figure out my thoughts and feelings while they played. Eventually, I had no choice but to confront him.
“Derek, I know you took it. Where is it?” I asked. He let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples like I was the problem here.
“Fine, Rachel. I took them.”
I blinked slowly. “Why?” I asked simply.
His voice took on that tone of his that I absolutely hated. The slow, condescending tone that had always made my skin crawl. “You were so sad after your mom died.
I thought that a vacation would cheer you up, Rachel.” He picked up his beer can and took a long gulp. “So, I pawned them and bought us a trip.”
My fists curled. My vision blurred.
I was…
beyond shocked. “You pawned my mother’s jewelry?! My dead mother’s things!”
“Rachel, we’re struggling!
How can you not see it? Or do you choose to ignore it? The mortgage, the bills…
I wanted to do something nice for you and the kids.”
White-hot rage filled me.
I was ready to burst. “Where. Are.
They?” I spat out. “You had no right to do that without asking me, Derek! Return them.
Now!”
He sighed dramatically. “Okay, I’ll return the tickets. I’ll fix it if you want everyone to be as miserable as you are.
Seriously, Rachel, the kids see it. It sucks.”
I turned away before I did something I’d regret. Miserable?
Of course, I was miserable. I was in pain. I was hurting.
My heart felt shattered and stamped upon, and my mind was a cemetery of memories. My mother had died. And with that, my best friend, my biggest supporter, and the person who had loved me most in this world.
It had only been two months without her. And this man was putting a timeline to my grief? What the hell?
Who had I married? I missed her so much. Which was why Derek’s actions had hurt me so deeply.
My mother’s jewelry was like a lifeline she had left behind for me. It was something physical, something that I could hold or put on when I needed her touch…
I remembered how she didn’t want me to become a stay-at-home mom. “Darling,” she had said, buttering a slice of homemade bread.
“You have so much potential. As rewarding as being a stay-at-home mom is, are you sure it’s for you?”
“I don’t know, Mom,” I confessed. “But Derek said that we can’t afford a nanny, so it was either I become the nanny or I pay for one.”
“Promise me one thing, Rachel,” she said.
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