Mia’s smile lit her entire face at the mention of the other boxes. ‘Yes, the other six boxes were surprisingly easy to return. My aunt’s lawyer invited the descendants of the six women to his offices, and we were able to reunite each box with the named recipient’s family.’ Mia’s eyes met hers. ‘I don’t know if it was just by chance or if it was fate, but it’s no exaggeration to say that those boxes changed the lives of the women who received them.’
Charlotte wasn’t the type of person to believe in fate—she believed in hard work, sacrifice and determination—but she was still curious about the boxes. ‘When you say their little boxes changed their lives…’
‘I think you’ll want to see what’s inside, if the other boxes are anything to go by,’ Mia said. ‘You might be surprised what family secrets are waiting to be discovered.’
‘Well, thank you for coming here today,’ Charlotte said. ‘I know my grandmother appreciated the personal delivery, as do I.’
‘Please, take my phone number, just in case you want to talk about whatever you find inside,’ Mia said. ‘I’ve come to learnmore about my aunt and the work she did over the past few years, since we first discovered these boxes, so please feel free to reach out.’
Charlotte took the card Mia held out with her number written on it and slipped it into her pocket.
‘Thank you for brunch, it was delicious.’
Charlotte said goodbye and watched Mia go, the box still on the table where she’d left it. She glanced at the clock as she gathered up the two plates and turned back towards the kitchen, realising how much time had passed. Calling her grandma and finding out what was in that box would have to wait—she had lunch service ahead of her, and she wouldn’t give up her last hours at Velluto for anything.
3
When Charlotte arrived home, she kicked off her shoes and placed her bag on the sofa, immediately rifling through it until she found the little box Mia had given her. She took it out and turned it over and around, unable to tear her eyes from it, before taking out her phone and calling her grandmother. It only rang twice before she answered.
‘Curiosity is killing this old cat,’ her grandmother said with a throaty laugh. ‘Tell me what she gave you. Was it anything interesting? The deeds to a mansion, perhaps?’
Charlotte laughed, too, because she’d never been so curious as she was right now. She’d found it almost impossible not to think about the box through her shift, and even harder not to just go over and open it to see what was inside.
‘I still don’t know what it is, because I felt like it was yours to open,’ she said. ‘Grandma, I don’t know how much you were told over the phone, but it appears that a little wooden box was left for you many years ago, decades ago, in fact. Mia told me that the other boxes she found were left by…’
Charlotte hesitated, but her grandmother was quick to urge her on. ‘Left by who?’
She waited another beat, before finally saying, ‘By their biological mothers. It seems that the house where the boxes were found was a home for unmarried mothers to have their babies. They were placed for adoption there, too, from what I can understand.’
‘Adoption?’ Her grandmother went quiet for a moment.
Charlotte grimaced, before repeating: ‘Yes, that’s what she said. For adoption. Although she was very quick to say that there were no adoption papers they could find in this case.’
‘This house, it was in London?’ her grandmother asked.
‘Yes. She called it Hope’s House.’
‘Well, that’s strange, because my mother always told me that she never went to London until she was much older, when they had to travel there for business.’ She hesitated for a long while. ‘I’m not sure what to make of it all.’
Charlotte didn’t like that she was unsettling her grandmother, but she pressed on. They both had questions now, and she only hoped the tiny box provided some answers.
‘Would you like me to open it? With you on the phone?’
Her grandmother didn’t hesitate, and Charlotte could hear the eagerness in her tone and wished she’d been able to take it to her in person. ‘Yes. Open it and tell me what’s inside.’
Charlotte balanced her phone between her ear and shoulder, gently tugging at the old string. It sent fibres into the air as she used her nails to work on the tight knot. It was like being a child on Christmas Day.
‘Grandma, whatever’s in here, if there’s anything at all, it doesn’t mean that?—’
‘I’m not scared of what’s inside, or of being adopted, if that’s what this is all about. Whatever I find out about my past doesn’t change anything about the life I’ve lived. But I just can’t make sense of how this box has been hidden for so long, or why it’s come to light now.’
Charlotte lifted the lid off the box and stared at the contents inside. She had no idea what she’d been expecting—perhaps a letter or a carefully folded birth certificate, but instead there was a very modest diamond ring twinkling back at her. She sat down and put the box beside her, taking out the ring with as much care as she would have lifted a tiny creature.
‘Charlotte?’
Her grandmother’s voice reminded her that she was waiting to find out what she was looking at.
‘Grandma, there’s a ring inside, perhaps an engagement ring by the looks of it,’ Charlotte said, turning it to the light before trying to slip it on her finger. It was tiny, far too small for her ring finger, but she was able to slide it onto her little finger. She studied it, feeling as if she’d suddenly been given more questions than answers.
