“For Lily, from the grandmother she never got to know.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Mommy?”S, Lily asked. “Who is it?”
I couldn’t answer.
Because there was something in the box that I recognized immediately.
My mother’s necklace.
A thin silver necklace with a small shell-shaped pendant.
My mother had worn it almost every day throughout my childhood.
She died eight years before Lily was born.
Or at least, that’s what I thought had happened to the necklace after her death.
“Where did you get this?” I asked.
The manager clasped his hands together.
“Your father came here about three weeks ago.”
I suddenly looked up.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
“It can’t be.”
Just a few days earlier, Robert had told me that his back hurt too badly for him to travel with us.
The manager continued:
“He personally booked the room and left us the box. He asked us to give it to you on the first evening, after the little girl had seen the sea.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Why?”
“I think the letter explains.”
Under the card was an envelope.
My father’s handwriting was on it.
“Rachel.”
I opened the envelope.
“My dear,
If you’re reading this, Lily has seen the sea.
That’s all that matters.
I lied to you when I told you the money was from old savings.”
I stopped.
Lily had climbed up beside me on the bed.
“Read it, Mommy.”
I continued.
