Chapter 4: Easter Sunday
Aunt Carol called me back the next morning before I had finished my first cup of coffee.
"I got your message," she said.
"I've been waiting for someone to ask about that ring for two years."
I put the cup down.
"You knew?"
"I suspected.
Your grandmother told me she was leaving it to you.
Specifically you.
She made a point of it." Carol's voice was steady but tight.
"After she passed, I asked your mother once whether she had given it to you yet.
She said she was waiting for the right moment."
"The right moment never came."
"No.
It didn't." A pause.
"And then I saw it."
"On Claire."
Silence on the line.
Then: "You know."
"Renee told me yesterday."
"I saw it at Christmas," Carol said.
"The year after Dorothy passed.
Claire was wearing it at your mother's table.
I looked at Linda and she looked straight back at me and didn't say a word.
I thought about saying something right there.
I should have."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because it was Christmas.
Because I told myself I was getting old and confused.
Because your mother had a way of making you feel like you were the one causing trouble just by noticing things."
I understood that completely.
"Carol," I said.
"Is there any documentation?
Anything in writing beyond the handwritten note?"
"Your grandmother had a will.
A simple one, drawn up by a local attorney.
I was present when she signed it.
The ring was listed." She paused.
"I don't know if your mother ever filed it properly.
I assumed she had."
"I need to find out."
"I can give you the name of the attorney.
He retired, but his office was taken over by a younger woman.
She may still have the records."
I wrote down the name.
My hand was steady.
"Sarah," Carol said.
"Your grandmother loved you very much.
She talked about you constantly in her last year.
About how hard you worked.
About how you never asked anyone for anything." Her voice shifted slightly.
"She would be furious about this."
"I know," I said.
"So am I."
After the call, I sat with the attorney's name in front of me for a long time.
Then I dialed.
The receptionist was polite and efficient.
Yes, they had inherited files from the previous practice.
Yes, they could check for a will under Dorothy's name.
It would take a day or two to locate the physical records.
I gave my name and number and thanked her.
Then I called Mom.
She answered on the third ring, her voice already arranged into something careful and warm.
"Sarah.
I'm glad you called.
I was hoping we could—"
"I spoke to Carol this morning."
A beat of silence.
Very brief.
But there.
"Carol tends to remember things her own way," Mom said.
"She remembers the ring.
She remembers seeing it on Claire at Christmas.
She remembers you looking directly at her and saying nothing."
"That is completely—"
"I've also contacted Grandma Dot's attorney's office.
They're pulling the will."
The warmth left her voice entirely.
"You're involving lawyers over a piece of jewelry."
"I'm finding out what my grandmother actually wanted.
That's not involving lawyers.
That's asking a question."
"Sarah, this is exactly the kind of thing that tears families apart."
"Mom." I kept my voice level.
"You gave Claire a ring that Grandma Dot left to me.
In writing.
With a witness.
And you've had it for three years without saying a word."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Then tell me I'm wrong.
Tell me Carol is wrong.
Tell me Renee is wrong.
Tell me Claire was wearing a different ring."
Nothing.
"I'm coming to the house on Saturday," I said.
"I'd like the ring returned before I get there.
If it isn't, I'll take whatever steps I need to take."
"You're threatening your own mother."
"I'm telling you what I'm going to do.
That's not a threat.
That's a plan."
I ended the call.
My hands were still steady.
I noticed that.
I set the phone on the table and noticed that my hands were completely steady, and that felt like something important, though I couldn't have explained exactly why.
Ethan texted again an hour later.
*"Sarah what did you say to Mom she's been crying all morning."*
I typed back one sentence.
May you like
*"Ask her about the ring."*
He didn't reply.
