I Was Done Begging novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Twin Medals

Celia's POV

My mother came to my old bedroom at seven in the morning with a small velvet box.

I was lying under the yellow blanket, which still smelled faintly of lemon soap.

She had washed it every spring for twenty-five years.

She sat on the edge of the bed, put the box on her knee and did not open it.

"I'm not going to cry," she said.

"Mama, you've been crying since the hearing."

"That was different. That was happy crying. This is the other kind."

She lifted the lid.

Inside, on cream silk, lay a tiny silver guardian angel on a thin chain.

The back was engraved with two letters and a date.

C.E. 6-14.

"I bought two," my mother said. "One for you and one for me, the week before your third birthday. I wanted us to match."

"I wore mine to the church fair, and you wore yours, and you wanted to hold the balloon."

"I don't remember."

"I know. You were so small."

She took the medal from the box, and I opened my collar and let her lay it against the old one.

They were exactly the same.

Mine was black with tarnish, and hers was bright, and when the chains settled they lay side by side with the wings touching.

My mother touched them with one finger.

"I wore it every day," she said. "I stopped taking it off in the shower. Your father says I sleep in it."

"Do you?"

"Of course I do."

I put my arms around her.

She was so small and so strong.

She held me with her whole body and would not let go.

"This house is yours," she said into my shoulder. "Your father signed it over last night."

"It's in your name. He wanted to do it the day you walked in."

"Mama, I don't need..."

"I know you don't. That's why he wants you to have it."

I laughed and wiped my face on her sleeve.

"Now get dressed," she said. "Hattie is already at the gate, and she says she's brought a present."

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