. CHAPTER 3 — The Question That Broke the Wedding
For a moment, no one moved.
Clara stood in the center of her own wedding with the locket open in her palm. The orchestra had stopped. Even the cameras near the back lowered, as if the photographers understood that something more dangerous than scandal had entered the room.
Nora stared at the locket. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
Clara crouched in front of her, ignoring the shocked gasps as her white gown touched the wet stain on the floor. “Please,” she said softly. “Tell me where you got this.”
Nora swallowed. “My sister gave it to me.”
The words hit Clara so hard she almost dropped the locket.
“When?” Clara asked.
Nora blinked through tears. “When I was little. I don’t remember much. Just a big house, music, a woman who smelled like roses, and a girl who told me not to be afraid. She put this around my neck and said, ‘If we ever get lost, this brings us back.’”
Clara covered her mouth.
Behind her, Preston whispered, “Clara, stand up.”
She ignored him. “What was your sister’s name?”
Nora’s eyes twisted with pain. “I was told I made her up. The foster homes said children invent family when they’re lonely.”
“What name did you remember?”
Nora pressed her shaking hands together. “Clara.”
A sound moved through the ballroom, not quite a gasp, not quite a scream.
Clara leaned closer. “And your name?”
“Nora Reed.”
“No,” Clara said, voice breaking. “Before that.”
Nora shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know. I was too young.”
Clara reached into the neckline of her wedding dress and pulled out her own locket. It had been hidden under pearls, pressed against her heart all morning. She opened it and placed it beside Nora’s.
The two photographs matched. The two dents matched. The two halves of the inscription matched.
CLARA AND LILY — NEVER LOST.
Nora stared at the words as if they were rising from the grave.
Vivian suddenly stepped forward. “This is absurd. Some servant found a trinket and now she’s pretending to be family.”
Clara turned slowly.
Vivian’s voice had cracked on the word found.
May you like
And Clara heard it.
Guilt.
