Chapter 233
I stared at it. "What's that?"
He pressed it into my hands. "Open it."
My fingers trembled as I lifted the lid. Inside was a small gold pin, a tiny bird in flight, its wings outstretched. It was old, the gold slightly worn, but it was beautiful. Delicate. Like something that had been treasured for a very long time.
"This was your grandmother's," my father said quietly. "She wore it on her wedding day. She gave it to your mother when she married me. And now..." He looked at me. "Now it's yours."
I held the pin in my palm, feeling the weight of it. Three generations. Three women. Three weddings.
"I want you to wear it on your wedding day," he continued. "So she can be with you. So you know that you're not alone. You never were."
My mother was crying again, but she was smiling. "Your father has been holding onto that for weeks. Waiting for the right moment."
I looked at him. "You've had this since before the engagement ?"
