Cautiously, I place my hand under it, resting the locket lightly against my palm. It’s beautiful, intricately engraved soft gold glimmering in the lamplight. I turn it over and my breath catches as I read the inscription engraved on the back of it:I love you because you’re worth loving. X
With trembling fingers, I prise the locket carefully open. Inside it is a photograph of Natalia. She’s laughing, her charcoal-grey eyes peering mischievously through her wild tangle of raven hair. On the opposite side, there’s a photo of Evie. She’s aged about eight, and with the same intense gaze, she’s so like her mother as tobeher. The inscription is Jack’s. It has to be. Clearly he’d given this to Natalia, but how had it come to be here?
The loud creak of a floorboard directly behind me causes my heart to lurch violently, and I whirl around.
‘Why have you stolen Natalia’s locket?’ Lina demands, her eyes drilling accusingly into mine.
TWENTY-EIGHT
‘It’s notyours.’ Lina moves with an agility I hadn’t thought her capable of and attempts to yank the locket from the beam.
‘Lina, wait.’ I catch hold of her hand to stop her. ‘You’ll break the chain.’
‘It still has my daughter’s photo in it.’ She glares at me. ‘You were trying to remove it, weren’t you? Did you think you could replace her that easily? Youcan’t. You need to give it back.’ She fights me as I attempt to unhook it.
‘Nan!’ Evie shouts from the landing, causing her to start. ‘What are youdoing?’
‘Taking back what’s mine,’ Lina responds determinedly.
As Evie flies down the stairs and skids across the lounge, I take advantage of the distraction and manage to free the chain. ‘Take it,’ I say, glancing reproachfully at Lina as I drop the locket into her outstretched hand. ‘I really don’t want it.’
‘What are you doing, Nan?’ Evie asks again, bewildered.
‘She had your mum’s locket,’ Lina replies tremulously. Tears are welling in her eyes, I notice, as she glances between us. ‘It doesn’t belong to her, Evie. She can’t keep it.’
Evie looks at me, her gaze filled with confusion.
‘It was clasped around the beam.’ I sigh despairingly. ‘And no, I have no idea why, or how it got there.’
Obviously noting my annoyance, Evie looks worriedly back to Lina. ‘Why was it there, Nan?’ she asks softly.
Lina frowns in puzzlement. ‘Well I don’t know, do I? I certainly didn’t…’ She stops, her gaze anxious as she notices Jack striding towards us.
‘What in God’s name is going onnow?’ he asks, his tone one of complete exasperation.
‘Yourgirlfriendhad my daughter’s locket.’ Lina’s eyes harden to steel as she looks him over. ‘Didyougive it to her?’
‘What?’ Jack glances from her to me, baffled.
‘She can’t have it,’ Lina goes on. ‘It was Natalia’s.Iboughtit for her. You can’t just give it away. She was wearing it when she died. If anyone should have it, Evie should. It’s the last precious memory the girl has of her.’
‘Christ Almighty, did you ever hear anything so fucking ridiculous?’ Jack mutters.
Pressing a thumb against his forehead, he breathes in hard. ‘But she couldn’t have been wearing it, could she, Lina?’ he says, looking her over in utter despair. ‘Think about it. Natalia jumped into the sea. This was upstairs in my bedside drawer. It’s been there since we moved in. And you didn’t buy it for her,’ he adds, clearly agitated. ‘I did. I had it engraved for her birthday years back.’
His bedside drawer?I squint at him in confusion. Why there? It obviously is a keepsake. In which case, surely he would have wanted Evie to have it?
‘Rubbish,’ Lina snaps. ‘You’re lying.’ She looks back to me. ‘I’m sorry to upset you, my dear, but if he’s given it to you, then it obviously wasn’t the heartfelt gesture you imagined it to be. That locket was my daughter’s. It was bought by me. I have the receipt somewhere. As such, it belongs to me. And I believeherdaughter should have it. There you are.’ She holds out her hand, offering it to Evie, who looks down at it as if it might bite her.
‘Take it, Evie,’ Jack urges her. ‘I was keeping it to give to you one day anyway.’ He wipes a hand wearily over his face. ‘You’ve clearly been snooping around, Lina.’ He eyes her coldly. ‘Might be an idea not to in future, since this is Kara’s house and you’re here by her good grace only.’
‘A house you’ve made sure you have a stake in, I’ve no doubt,’ Lina throws after him as he turns towards the kitchen.
His step falters. ‘I’ve had just about enough of this,’ he grates.
My heart stalls as I imagine a showdown with Evie in the middle of it. Relief crashes through me as he mutters as if to himself, ‘She’s provoking you. Ignore it,’ and carries on.
‘Come on, Nan,’ Evie says, ‘let’s get you back in bed where it’s nice and warm. I’ll stay with you,’ she adds, as Lina glances nervously after Jack.
