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“No one knows what it looks like for sure. There are no pictures, but in the imperial archive, it’s described as a gold hen holding a sapphire pendant loosely in its beak. The hen is taking the sapphire out of a nest in a gold basket. The hen and the nest are studded with dozens of rose-cut diamonds.”
He let out a low whistle. “It sounds incredibly valuable.”
She nodded. “And put back where it belongs, the fully reunited piece would bring an unbelievable price. I can’t even estimate how much. But really, the first order of business should be to authenticate it. I have someone I’m going to contact.”
Saying it all out loud made her all the more determined to find the surprise—not for the money but to see such an incredible piece whole and in its glory. But how would she do that?
***
“What if you wait to tell the family for a couple of weeks while you and I look for the surprise?” Lucas was as shocked to hear the words out of his mouth as Carly.
Her jaw dropped, and her mouth formed an O. “Why would you do that?”
He didn’t know the answer, not really. The breeze blew in across the salty bay and stirred the moss on the angel trees in the yard. Mary Tucker had always been a special woman to him and Ryan. She’d made their childhood bearable. If he could do something to help her and her family, he’d do it in a heartbeat. But was this only about Mary? Staring into Carly’s face, he wasn’t so sure.
She wasn’t about to get past his defenses.
He cleared his throat. “I care about your grandmother. And honestly, the egg is intriguing. Who wouldn’t want to reunite the egg with the surprise and give the world back a treasure like that? I think we all have a little of Indiana Jones in us. At least I do.”
“So do I. The unknown treasure is out there waiting for us.” The light of her smile chased away the shadows in her eyes. “I’ll take you up on your offer. For now, I won’t tell the family. I’ll be praying the news doesn’t get out, and we can wait until I find Gram’s sister and the surprise.”
Noises came from inside the house, and she looked that way. “Sounds like my dad and everyone else are up. I’d better go fix breakfast.”
“They’re all adults. Can’t they fix their own? You’re not their servant, Carly.”
A tiny frown furled her brow. “I know, but they all expect it. It’s what I’ve always done.”
He nodded at Noah on her lap. The baby was putting his fists in his mouth, and he thought he was probably hungry.“You’ve got a perfectly good reason to let that job fall to someone else.”
“But if I don’t do it, Gram will. And that’s a lot of people to feed.”
He glanced at the time on his phone. “The bakery is open. I’ll go get some muffins. That’s good enough.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she protested.
“I know I don’t, but you need to use your brainpower on the puzzle we have to solve.”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure I’m up to the challenge, but I really want to try. I’ve always been fascinated by history. I taught history in high school for a few years before I got into flea markets.”
He rose. “It’s amazing how you recognize valuable collectibles. I wouldn’t know a Fabergé egg from a toy Cinderella carriage. How’d you get into that business anyway?”
“When I met Eric, his grandmother had an antique store, and I helped out by going to flea markets. I found I had a natural aptitude for finding treasures for the store in the most unlikely places. The search for valuables hooked me. When she died, I decided to take a booth on the road to flea markets myself and was making a nice living at it. It supplemented our income enough we could afford a bigger house and I could eventually quit teaching.” She shrugged and shifted Noah to her shoulder. “Eric was happy at first, but his mother thought I was gone too much. Among her many other complaints.”
“You were gone a lot?”
“About five months of the year I was gone on the weekends, but Eric came with me when he wasn’t working. Thatinterfered with his mom’s desire to have us come to Sunday dinners, though. Just before he died, I started thinking about writing a historical novel. He wasn’t any fonder of that idea. He thought a nine-to-five job would suit our lifestyle better.”
The screen door opened, and Emily poked out her head. “Are you going to fix breakfast? Everyone is up.”
Lucas answered before Carly could. “I’m heading to get some muffins right now. Your sister didn’t get much sleep after your dad and sister arrived in the night. There’s probably cereal in the kitchen if you don’t want to wait.”
Emily’s eyes went wide, and she retreated into the house. Lucas headed for the steps again. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can. Take a nap with the baby, and we’ll explore the attic again when I get back.”
Her family would drive anyone crazy. It might be better for Carly if they didn’t come around much.
Eleven
The silence was deafening.
