," Chloe murmured, her voice trembli

sorrow. "I don't want to be the cause of

n's focus snapp

eplaced by that familiar, fierce protective

oice softening as he pulled her back do

ok that clearly

n, if it had even been real,

I said, my voice devoid of th

me. It was a family heirloom,

p of the simple gold chain I

e you. Thi

severing the last symbolic tie, about reclaiming

ed, a harsh

more about trinkets

out the locket. It was beautiful, an

my neck herself, her eyes warm

dangled it

e your dam

him my mother's necklace. He p

f yours that's still at my place. Or rather,

deliberate, m

as already numb to his pa

d metal a contrast to the

rove straight to the family home

pack, to cre

rayal waited

r's study, the room she'd de

Jenkins and her mother,

ntique mahogany desk

od ran

startled, a flush

e just discussing som

ly from hushed family stories and one faded

ress, looked down,

o let Mom and me use the Cape Cod house for a while. And he was th

r house, her legacy, to the daughter of

ath hi

I whispered, loo

and Brenda have nowhere else to go. It

the numbness finally

rs, snatching them up

documents in half, then in quarters, the pi

with a fury I hadn't felt in

looked at me, hi

t's just a house. Mom always sa

r generous spirit, into a jus

in need, Michael, not with

"She's kind, she's compassionate. Maybe if you tried bein

ter disloyalty, stole

ith them, against me, ag