‘Are you sure it’s not for my mom? Everything else has been for her.’
‘No, it’s definitely for you. Has your name on it. It doesn’t say Eileen O’Neill. It says Holly O’Neill.’
Holly followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the polished Formica table in the breakfast nook. ‘Right there.’ Sarah pointed to a small package next to a bowl of fruit. ‘Came about an hour ago.’
Holly reached forward and took the small package in her hands, turning it over and over.
‘Well? Aren’t you going to open it?’
Holly shrugged a non-verbal answer like any sullen teenager, even though on the inside she was brewing with curiosity, as well as some relief at being offered a temporary distraction from her otherwise terrible day.
What could it be? Who was it from?she wondered, hoping that her anticipation wouldn’t show on her face. It felt wrong somehow.
As the plain brown packaging paper was peeled away, a beautiful velvet lilac coloured box adorned with a white satin ribbon revealed itself.
‘Oh, looks nice. What is it?’ asked Sarah, moving closer to the table with a plate of sandwiches she had prepared for Holly. She placed the plate on the table and pushed it towards her, but Holly ignored it.
With trembling fingers, she untied the ribbon and lifted off the top of the box, wondering what it contained. And what’s more, who was it from?
Then she sucked in her breath and gasped. ‘Oh my goodness. How pretty.’
Inside the box was a silver bracelet made of delicate loops that sparkled beneath the kitchen lights. Holly lifted up the chain and examined it more closely. A single item dangled from the centre of the bracelet. A charm. It was a charm bracelet.
‘Well, isn’t that lovely?’ Sarah said moving closer. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, pointing to the charm.
‘It looks like … an hourglass,’ Holly replied finally. The tiny hourglass charm was made of silver and glass, with sand particles inside the glass.
She turned her attention from the bracelet back to the box that had been discarded on the table. Looking inside the lid, she felt around under the cushion that the bracelet had rested upon but found no note, no receipt or explanation. Just … nothing.
Right then her mother appeared in the kitchen doorway. ‘I think we need more iced tea outside,’ she said. ‘Patsy Collins said that the jug is empty … what are you two doing?’ She turned her attention to Holly and Sarah, who were both still studying the bracelet. ‘What’s that?’
Holly looked up at her mother, her eyes wide with fascination.
‘It’s a bracelet. A charm bracelet. It’s just arrived out of nowhere addressed to me,’ she said, holding up the piece of jewellery for Eileen to see.
Forgetting about the iced tea, Eileen crossed the room to get a better look. ‘Isn’t that gorgeous! An hourglass … beautiful. Who is it from?’
Holly shook her head. ‘I have no idea.’
Her mother let out a chuckle. ‘Looks like someone has a secret admirer … ’
Colour flooded Holly’s cheeks as she considered the thought. Everyone knew that her father had passed away recently, and her classmates were well aware that she hadn’t been in school for the past week or so. However, when she thought about who might possibly have sent her the bracelet, it seemed unlikely that it could be anyone from there. Most of the boys she knew were as subtle as a battering ram, and what’s more she couldn’t imagine any of them picking out such a pretty piece of jewellery, let alone taking the time to select a charm like an hourglass.
Even Corey Mason, who had been following her around lately (and whodefinitelyliked her) was the type of guy who was more interested in showing off his biceps than taking the time to figure out a thoughtful gift.
Holly shrugged, awkward about the idea of discussing boys on the day of her father’s funeral. ‘Don’t be stupid,’ she said defensively, while inside her head her thoughts were racing.
‘You know, the hourglass … that’s a symbol of passing time,’ said Sarah after a beat. Her voice was gentle. ‘Maybe … maybe somebody wanted to help you realise that today is also about celebrating your father’s life, about realising that things are always moving forward, and life is for living.’
‘Sarah’s right,’ Eileen agreed, her voice cracking a little. ‘Your dad would have wanted you to be happy, to be whole. He loved you so much and cherished every second he spent with you. You know that, don’t you?’
A lump in her throat, Holly stared at the hourglass, beginning to understand the significance. Days of sadness and uncombed hair, of her and her mom bumping into each other in the night because neither of them could sleep. Of mumbling in the morning as they avoided Dad’s favourite chair in the kitchen, eating separately in their own rooms. She and her mother would pass each other in the living room, again avoiding his chair, but mostly avoiding each other.
. A surge of optimism pulsed through her veins. . Holly would miss her dad desperately. Forever. And Seamus would have known this, known how lonely and adrift she’d feel without him.
Which was why she knew in her heart that the bracelet must have been arranged by her father, arranged before … everything, so that it would arrive at a time just when she needed it.
She slipped the bracelet on; the weight felt good and solid, as if someone was firmly touching – holding even – her hand.
