Emma Was Blamed for a Missing Heirloom — Then Sarah Saw Its Tracker Inside Aunt Nicole’s Handbag
Chapter 9 — Emma Gets an Apology
Sarah did not allow the family revelation to erase what happened to Emma.
The next afternoon, Nicole returned.
Emma was sitting at the kitchen table coloring.
Nicole pulled out a chair.
“Can I talk to you?”
Emma looked toward Sarah first.
Sarah nodded.
Nicole sat down.
“You didn’t take Grandma Helen’s necklace.”
Emma shook her head.
“I told you.”
“You did.”
“It was in your bag.”
Nicole nodded.
“Because I put it there.”
Emma frowned.
“Why did you say it was missing?”
Nicole struggled with the answer.
“Because I was scared I would get caught doing something I shouldn’t have been doing.”
“Looking in the box?”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at her seriously.
“Then you should’ve just said sorry.”
Sarah almost smiled.
Nicole did not.
She nodded.
“You’re right.”
Then she said:
“I’m sorry, Emma.”
Emma looked at her mother.
“Do I have to forgive her?”
Sarah answered:
“You don’t have to do anything right away.”
Nicole accepted that.
Later, Sarah placed the emerald pendant inside a secure box.
Not because of its financial value.
Because the tiny photograph inside had become one of the few images she possessed of Rebecca holding her as a baby.
Sarah made a copy for Eleanor.
Then another for herself.
The old name no longer frightened her.
Lucy.
It was part of her beginning.
Not a replacement for who she had become.
