The Necklace in My Purse

Lily's POV

Ethan lifted the glass toward his mouth, and my body moved before my mind did.

I turned to him fast, like I wanted to kiss his cheek, and my elbow hit the glass. It flew out of his hand and broke on the marble floor. White wine splashed across Margaret's blue dress and all over the rug.

Everyone in the room jumped.

"Oh my God," I said, and I put both hands over my mouth. "Ethan, I'm so sorry. I'm so clumsy tonight."

"It's fine," Ethan said. He looked at the broken glass, then at me, and I saw in his eyes that he understood. "It's only wine."

Margaret's smile looked like it was made of glass too. "Of course, darling. Accidents happen." But her hands were shaking as she wiped her dress, and she wouldn't look at me.

A maid ran in with towels. Before she could touch anything, Marcus stepped in from the hallway, where he had been waiting all night.

"Let me help," Marcus said, and he knelt down and picked up the biggest piece of glass with a napkin. Then he folded the wet napkin and put it in his pocket. Nobody noticed except me and Ethan.

Margaret poured Ethan a new glass from the bottle. This time, she handed it to him without blocking anyone's view. Ethan held it for the toast, but he never once put it to his lips.

I excused myself a few minutes later and went to the bathroom down the hall. I locked the door and stood at the sink with my hands on the cold edge.

My heart wouldn't slow down. Margaret Sinclair had tried to poison Ethan in her own living room, in front of his grandmother. She had smiled while she did it. And on Monday, she would still be the one paying for my brother's care.

I washed my hands and dried them and told myself to go back out there and smile.

When I opened the door, Vanessa was standing in the hallway.

She was leaning against the wall in our matching green dress, holding a glass of champagne. She looked at me the way a cat looks at a mouse.

"Nice trick with the wine," she said.

"I don't know what you mean," I said.

"Sure you don't." She pushed off the wall and came closer. "You think you're so clever, Lily. You think learning the name of my horse makes you me."

"I don't want to be you," I told her. "I just want my brother to live."

She laughed and hugged me. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to step back. Her arms went around me, and my purse got squeezed between us. She smelled like the same perfume her mother wore.

"Then enjoy your last night," she whispered in my ear. "Because after tonight, you're going to be very, very sorry you ever said yes."

She let me go and walked back to the living room, laughing like we had shared a sweet secret.

I stood there for a long moment, feeling strange. Vanessa had never touched me before. She thought I was dirt. Why would she hug me?

I didn't understand it until twenty minutes later.

We were all standing in the front hall, getting our coats, when Vanessa screamed.

"My necklace!" She had both hands at her bare throat. "Aunt Margaret, my diamond necklace is gone! Grandma Rose's necklace!"

Margaret gasped. Mr. Sinclair turned around fast. Even Richard stopped smiling.

"Are you sure you were wearing it?" Mr. Sinclair asked.

"Of course I'm sure, Uncle," Vanessa said, and her eyes filled with tears. "I had it on at dinner. Everyone saw it. And then I took it off in the upstairs bathroom because the clasp was hurting me, and now it's gone." She turned slowly and looked straight at me. "And she was upstairs too. I saw her."

Every head in the hall turned toward me.

"I wasn't upstairs," I said. "I used the bathroom down here."

"Then you won't mind if we look in your purse," Vanessa said.

The hall went silent. I felt Ethan move closer to my side.

"That's enough," he said coldly. "My wife isn't a thief."

"Then she has nothing to hide," Margaret said. Her voice was sweet, but her eyes were hard. "I'm sure it's a mistake. Let's just look, so we can all go home."

I knew what was in my purse. My phone, my lipstick, a bus ticket I should have thrown away, and the little picture of Noah I carried everywhere. Nothing else. So I held it out with my chin up.

"Go ahead," I said.

Eleanor took it before anyone else could. She opened it slowly with her thin, old fingers. She took out my phone. Then my lipstick.

Then she pulled out a long, shining chain, and three big diamonds caught the light from the hall lamp.

Vanessa let out a sob. Margaret pressed a hand to her chest like she might faint.

And I finally understood why Vanessa had hugged me.

"That's not mine," I said. My voice cracked. "I didn't take it. She put it there. She hugged me in the hallway, and she must have..."

"I hugged you because I felt sorry for you," Vanessa cried. "And this is how you pay me back?"

Richard shook his head slowly, like a man watching a sad movie. "Vanessa, how could you steal from your own cousin?"

I looked at Ethan. His face had gone very still, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I looked at Mr. Sinclair. He was staring at the floor.

Then I looked at Eleanor.

She was holding the necklace up in front of her face, turning it slowly in the light. She didn't look angry. She didn't look surprised either. She looked like she was thinking very hard.

"Grandma Rose's necklace," Eleanor said quietly. "Is that what you called it, Vivian?"

"Yes," Vanessa said, wiping her eyes. "It was my grandmother's."

Eleanor lowered the necklace and looked straight at her.

"How strange," she said. "Because I was at your grandmother's funeral, my dear. And she was buried wearing this necklace."