You wouldnt believe what happened at the posh offices of the Lancaster Business Centre todaydrama you usually only see in films. Henry, the sort of chap whose mere name makes his rivals uneasy, was standing in his office, his face red with fury.
He slammed a delicate silver crescent moon pendant onto his heavy oak desk. His assistant, Alice, jumped out of her skin.
Care to explain, he growled, his voice ice cold, why my late mothers pendant just happened to be at the bottom of your handbag?
Alice shrank back, tears immediately brimming in her eyes. With trembling hands, she reached to her blouse collar and pulled out a thin silver chain. Hanging from it was an identical crescent.
I didnt take anything! she sobbed, clutching the pendant tightly. The head of the orphanage gave this to me its the only thing I have from my real parents!
Just then, the office doors were flung open and in walked Mary, Henrys wife, clutching a stack of financial reports. She stopped dead when she saw the pendant in Alices shaking hand. The colour completely drained from her face.
Where did you get that?… Mary gasped, voice trembling.
The papers slipped from her hand, scattering across the floor like autumn leaves. Mary stared at Alicehalf hope, half terror in her eyes.
And then, silence. The sort that makes your skin prickle. Henrys gaze flicked between his pale wife and his sobbing assistant.
Mary? Whats going on? he asked, his anger rapidly being replaced by a deep unease.
Mary shuffled towards the desk, her knees weak. She couldnt take her eyes off the two pendants now lying on the tabletwo halves of a whole, fitting together perfectly.
Henry her voice quivered, do you remember that winter, twenty-five years ago? Oxford the hospital? They told you our daughter didnt make it.
Henrys face darkenedpain and old wounds mixed on his features. Why bring that up? That was the worst thing that ever happened to us.
It wasnt true! Mary cried, covering her face with her hands. My father he said your business was on the line, that a child from the wrong marriage would ruin everything. He made me sign the papers when I was barely conscious. He told me she was placed in a good home. But II managed to tuck the other half of your mothers pendant into her blanket. I always hoped, one day
Alice froze, her tears finally subsiding as she gazed at the woman shed always seen as cold and remotea broken mother before her.
You mean Im not just some foundling from the streets? Alices voice was barely a whisper.
Mary stepped forward, her fingers brushing Alices cheek, trembling. There should be an engraving inside your pendant the letter H. For your father.
Alice turned the crescent over. On the tarnished silver, a delicate letter ‘H’ gleamed.
Henry sank heavily into his leather chair. All his status, all his millions, suddenly meant nothing compared to the truth that had just come out. Hed accused the only daughter he thought lost forever of theft.
He stood, moved to Alice, and pulled her into a hughesitant at first, then fiercely, as though afraid to let go again.
Im so sorry, he whispered, forgive your daft old dad.
That evening, the lights went out in Lancaster Business Centre, but for one family, after twenty-five years of darkness, the sun finally rose. A theft that never was revealed a secret, bringing their lives back together at last.
