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Her phone rang when she went into the kitchen to make tea, and she checked the screen. Her pulse jumped when the name Willard Auction House came up. She’d sent an email after dinner with her number, but she hadn’t expected to hear anything for a few days.
She answered the call. “This is Carly Harris.”
“Ms.Harris, sorry to call you so late. This is William Taylor with Willard Auction House. I just opened your email and examined the pictures you attached. Is the egg in a safe place?”
“Yes, it’s secure.” Though she had asked for the expert to call her, now that she was about to reveal everything, it felt wrong. Once her egg was shown to the world, it wouldn’t be hers any longer. It had to be authenticated, though, and she didn’t want to waste Lucas’s time if it was found to be a fake.
“That’s wonderful news. Can I see it tomorrow? I can get a flight to Savannah first thing in the morning and be there by eleven.”
“I could meet you in Savannah if you like.”
“I’d rather keep the egg secured and let me see it there. I don’t want to take any chances with it.”
“You think it’s real, don’t you?”
“There’s no way of telling until I examine it, but the pictures are very compelling.” The man’s voice vibrated with anticipation. “This will be an exciting discovery if it proves to be the Hen with Sapphire Pendant. Where shall we meet?”
“I’ll send you the address of its location.”
“A bank vault, I hope?”
“Yes, that seemed the safest. And the police have put extra security on it.”
“Wise. Very well, I’ll see you at eleven. Thank you for contacting us.”
Carly ended the call and exhaled. Tomorrow she would know if the egg was real or some elaborate fake. No part of her believed it was a copy, though. She recognized real gold when she saw it. And the markings matched those of other Fabergé pieces.
Still smiling, she went to the music room. Amelia and Emily were on either side of Isabelle. Her sisters were all in exercise clothes, and their faces were red like they’d just done a routine or yoga. Isabelle’s face was pink and blotchy and her eyes were wet. There was no sign of Lucas or Ryan, and she couldn’t blame them for wanting to disappear from the drama that surrounded her family.
This was her problem to fix. Carly took a step closer to her youngest sister. “What’s wrong, honey?”
Isabelle bunched her hands at her sides. “I called Mom and she kept trying to get me off the phone. Some guy in the background told her to hang up. Why wouldn’t talking to me be more important than listening to him?” Her voice trembled. “Doesn’t she even care about me? She didn’t want to hear about school or what Dad was doing. She kept saying she’d call me later, but she always says that and then never does.”
Carly remembered how things were when Dad left after Mom’s death. “I know how you feel. It’s hard, but grown-ups don’t always act right.”
“At least you’re here with us,” Emily said. “When Dad left, we had Gram and Carly. Imagine how you’d feel if you were stuck at home without anyone now that Dad has run off again. He’s good at avoidance.”
Fresh tears ran down Isabelle’s cheeks. “He doesn’t really care about me either, does he? How will I even figure out life with no one who loves me?”
Carly narrowed her eyes in a warning glance at Emily and Amelia. “It’s just his job. He loves you, Isabelle. He loves all of us.” The words felt hollow as they rolled off her tongue.
“That’s what you always said to us too,” Amelia said. “At some point you have to realize people are who they are. You can’t change your parents, Isabelle, and it’s not your fault. You can’t take on blame for something beyond your control.”
“And how you react is the only thing in your control,” Emily said. “People are going to disappoint you all the time. You have to take charge of your own life and go after what youwant. Your future belongs to you. Look at where Amelia and I have gotten, and we had a mother die and a father desert us. You can overcome all that.”
Carly stopped and stared at her sisters. Her mouth went dry, and she thought back over all the assumptions she’d made about the relationship between her sisters and her. She’d blamed herself and had reacted instead of seeing the situation clearly. Why had she done that? Emily was right—her future was in her own hands, not her sisters’.
Amelia frowned and studied Carly’s expression. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve blamed myself for years over how you girls have treated me. Like I deserved it because I didn’t do enough after Mom died. And then when Eric used the money without my consent, you blamed me for that. And again, I took the blame because I thought it was my fault. I just found out Eric was having an affair and has another child—one with his partner. I had already begun thinking through whether I’d caused that. I thought maybe it was my fault he’d strayed.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to do that anymore.”
Amelia’s brown eyes widened. “Wait, back up.Ericspent the money? And without your permission?”
Carly nodded. “I’d already written out checks to you girls before I left for the flea market. But he’d planned all along to use it for our new house—he did it without permission.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Emily demanded.
“I didn’t want you to be mad at Eric.”
