Chapter 14 - The Diamonds
The day Celeste was formally charged, I visited the mansion.
It no longer felt haunted.
Just empty.
On the dining table sat an evidence bag.
Inside was my mother's diamond necklace.
Celeste had worn it to Dad's funeral as a trophy.
Henry had recovered documentation proving it had always belonged to me.
I opened the bag.
For a while, I simply held the necklace.
Then Daniel entered.
“You okay?”
“No.”
It was the first honest answer I had given anyone in weeks.
He sat across from me.
“I lost my father.”
“Yes.”
“My husband never existed.”
Daniel said nothing.
“My stepmother helped destroy both.”
Still nothing.
“And somehow everyone expects me to feel victorious.”
“You don't have to.”
I looked at him.
Daniel had lost two years of his life living as a dead man.
He understood something most people didn't.
Survival wasn't victory.
It was merely permission to keep going.
“What happens now?”
“We rebuild.”
“We?”
He looked embarrassed.
“I meant generally.”
I smiled.
It was the first genuine smile I'd had since Dad died.
May you like
“Sure you did, Colonel.”
---
