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“Oh, my God,” I screeched. “It’s beautiful.” Too afraid to touch all that sparkly gold, I lifted my gaze again. “Is this really for me?”
Yeah, it wasn’t a piece of jewelry with a yellow daisy on it—which was my favorite flower—but still. A rose necklace was more than I’d ever expected from a stepdad I’d only had a few weeks.
However, if I’d known such a dainty piece of jewelry would cause the calamity it did, I would’ve spit on it that very moment and thrown it back in Barry’s face. But who could ever predict something so disastrous? Honestly.
It was lovely, though. Thick, fourteen-carat gold chain with a heart-shaped pendant and a ruby red rose in the center. I fell in love the moment I opened the box and the light reflecting off one of the red-gold petals winked up at me.
“Don’t you want to try it on?” Barry asked when I did nothing but ogle the gift without daring to touch it.
I let out an amazed breath and extracted the rose from the box with trembling fingers. I attempted to fasten the chain around my neck twice before Barry laughed and pushed from his chair. “Here, let me.” He skirted the table, moving behind me.
I lifted my hair, and he fastened the clasp. Cold gold settled against the back of my neck, the chill making goose bumps rise on my arms. I wrapped my fingers around the rose and grinned at Mom only to find a picture that confused me. She wasn’t smiling—wasn’t scowling either—but she looked very blank. I couldn’t describe her expression. I only knew it wasn’t right. Turning back to Barry, I found the excited glitter in his eyes I’d wanted to see on Mom’s face. So I continued to beam at him.
“Thank you. Oh, wow, thank you. Is it real?”
He laughed, nudging Mom in the shoulder as if sharing an inside joke with her. “Listen to this girl. Is it real? Of course it’s real. You think I’d give one of my ladies fake gold?”
I beamed. My first pure gold piece of jewelry. “Wow.”
Mom still had nothing to say. Her odd expression remained, so I cleared my throat, picked up my fork, and began to eat again as if nothing had just happened. But all the while, my free hand lingered on my new gold necklace and my face tingled with excited heat.
I didn’t realize my mother’s problem until after supper. I hurried to the bathroom to see how the necklace looked on me. After staring at my reflection in the mirror for a solid minute, turning slightly to the left then the right, I decided I looked older and much more mature with gold wrapped around my throat. Now all I needed was some fur, pearls, a couple diamonds, and I’d officially be a high roller. I grinned at my image and caressed the golden-red rose.
Dashing from the restroom, I hurried back to the kitchen to tell Mom and Barry how much I approved of my new gift when I heard their conversation as they cleared the supper table.
“…thought we discussed this, Barry. You said you wouldn’t constantly load her down with presents.”
I skidded to a halt and pressed a hand to my heart. What was this? Mom didn’t approve of my gift?
Barry managed an uneasy laugh. “Oh, come on, Kate. I hardly call one little necklace a load of presents. Besides, this is a special occasion. She starts a new school tomorrow. She’s got to be nervous and—”
“Christmas is a special occasion,” my mom cut in. “Her birthday. Graduation. Tomorrow is just any other day, and I don’t want you spoiling her even though I know you can afford it. This is my daughter, and we agreed I would raise her as I saw fit.”
From the hallway, I frowned. I wouldn’t call going without a dad for thirteen years spoiled. I wouldn’t call one little pick-me-up gift, given out of thoughtful consideration, spoiled. Mom was being completely irrational, and I had no idea why. She was supposed to be on my side here.
Betrayed and hurt, I wrapped my fingers around the necklace and listened to her continue. “I mean, come on, Barry. A fourteen-carat gold necklace for her first day of school?” Her laugh was harsh and brittle. “You didn’t even give me that for our wedding.”
I gasped and quickly slapped my hand over my mouth before anyone could hear my shock. In a blinding flash of intuition, everything became clear. Mom wasn’t worried about me turning into a pampered brat.
She was jealous.
I clutched the necklace until the imprint of a rose embedded itself in my palm.
This didn’t seem real. I’d been without a father for over eighty percent of my life. I was starting a new school tomorrow so she could live out her happily ever after. I was doing all the sacrificing here. How could she be so petty as to feel jealous and spiteful toward me? Why couldn’t she be happy, or even grateful, for everything I was about to go through for her?
As she sulked around the kitchen, slamming dirty dishes into the sink, rage seethed under my skin.
My own mother wanted me miserable.
I fled to the privacy of my new room, pushed aside an opened box I still needed to unpack, and plopped onto my bed. After reaching for the cell phone Barry had given me when Mom and I moved in, I texted a quick SOS to my three friends and then immediately booted up the laptop Barry had also provided for me to attend Southeast. Once I had Schy, Adam, and Bridget online in our favorite chat room, I told them about the necklace and my mom’s reaction.
Bridget typed in a frown face. “You gotta be kidding me. How could she do that?”
“What an insensitive thing to say,” Adam wrote. “You’re the least pampered girl I know.”
“She must be jealous of his attention to you,” Schy suggested.
I smirked. “That’s what I thought.”
