The Gold Digger's Ledger novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Last Thing

Tristan's POV

My mother stood on the front step in a plain grey coat with one suitcase at her feet.

I had never seen her without pearls.

She looked ten years older, and also, strangely, easier to talk to.

"The Calloway Club has asked me to settle my account," she said. "My sister says her guest room is being painted."

"Mother."

"I am not asking for a room." Her chin came up. "I came to give you something."

She opened her handbag with fingers that would not quite work the clasp.

Inside, wrapped in a handkerchief, was a gold pocket watch on a plain chain.

It was my father's, the one he never wore out of the house.

I had last seen it on the hall table the week he died.

I had believed for six years that she had sold it.

"I could have sold it a hundred times," Honor said. "I couldn't."

"It's worth more than everything else we've lost."

"Yes. I know exactly what it's worth. That is why I couldn't."

I took it.

It was cold and heavier than I remembered, and it was ticking.

Behind me, Miranda had come down the stairs in my shirt.

She stood at the bottom with her arms folded and looked at my mother's suitcase.

"There's a cracker tin in the kitchen," she said to Honor.

"And a room on the fourth floor with no furniture, but it has a lock on the inside."

Honor looked at her for a long time.

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