“I didn’t take anything. You want to search my things, Ryan? Go ahead.” She gestures wildly to her side of the room. “Check my bags, my drawers. Maybe I stuffed it in my pillowcase like some fucking criminal.”
“Oh my God! I’m not accusing you!” My voice cracks, and I can feel my eyes welling up.
Before I can say anything else, my aunt rushes into the room, eyes darting between us. “Girls! What on earth is going on in here?”
“Ryan thinks I took her necklace,” Jasmine says bitterly.
“I never said that!”The words come out louder than I intended.
“Yes you did!”
Maggie gives us both a stern look. “All right, that’s enough. Ryan, what necklace?”
I swallow hard. “My diamond locket. The one my grandmother gave me.”
“And you believe Jazzy took it?”
“No. I didn’t say she stole it,” I mumble, my face burning. “I only asked if she’d seen it.”
Jasmine huffs, throwing her hands up. “Maybe you lost it—ever think ofthat? The clasp was loose, remember? Itoldyou to get it fixed.”
Maggie’s gaze shifts back to me. “Are you sure you didn’t lose it?”
“I—” I falter. “Yes. I’m sure.”
“It probably fell off when you were walking in the woods,” Jasmine says. “You’re always out there.”
She’s right. I walk every single morning, and sometimes in the evenings too. But to lose my necklace, the only thing I haveleft of my mother…literally…the thought makes me want to throw up.
Blinking back tears, I rush out of the room, my feet carrying me outside before I even realize where I’m going. The woods surround me, and I break into a run, not caring where I end up. When I can’t hold it in any longer, I collapse against a tree trunk, wrap my arms around myself, and sob.
My locket is gone.
A piece of my mother isgone.
How could I be so careless? How could I let it fall off?
I hear the crunch of leaves and twigs. Then my aunt’s voice, soft and gentle.
“Ryan?” She’s closer, crouching beside me. “Darlin’, talk to me. Are you all right?”
I try to tamp down my tears, but they keep coming, the heavy weight of loss building in my chest. “It was a cremation diamond,” I choke out.
Maggie sucks in a breath. “What?”
“Gran had it made from Mom’s ashes.”
“Oh Jesus.” Maggie curls an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. “Oh, darlin’. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I moan. “I know she’s dead, but she wasn’t really gone, not as long as I had that necklace. All those other families, they don’t even know where their moms’ remains are, but I had mine around my neck. It sounds horrible and morbid, but it felt comforting. Like she was still with me. And now I…” Another sob racks my body.
Maggie strokes my hair, holding me as I cry. “We’ll find it,” she assures me. “We’ll look for it tomorrow morning when it’slight out. Search every inch of these woods if we have to. Wewillfind it.”
“What if we don’t?” I whisper.
She hugs me tighter. “That won’t happen. But if we don’t find it, you’ll be okay, darlin’. Your mother’s with the angels now, which means she’s always watching over you. She’s still with you, even when it doesn’t feel like it.”
Her words sting in the way that only the truth can. I know she’s right, but right now it feels like I’ve lost my mother all over again.
