Chapter 6: Her Mother's Pearls

The Harbor Children's Fund gala filled the ballroom of the Loomis hotel with two hundred people in black tie.

Clara went in on Alexander's arm in a green silk dress that matched his mother's ring.

The room did not go quiet, but it turned.

She felt two hundred heads move at once, and she heard the same whisper pass from table to table.

Tilghman. The fourth one.

"They'll be taking bets," Alexander said, low. "Margery has twenty dollars on you staying till Christmas."

"Whose side is she on?"

"Hers."

A waiter held out champagne.

Clara took a glass, and kept her left hand where Alexander could see it, with the green stone showing.

Chase found them before they were halfway across the floor.

He wore a black tuxedo and a warm, hurt smile, and he kept his voice pitched for the people nearby.

"Clara," he said. "You look wonderful. I'm so glad you came."

"Chase."

"And Mr. Tilghman. Congratulations. I hope you know what you've got."

"I do," Alexander said.

He did not add anything, and the silence did the work for him.

Chase's smile twitched.

Then someone at the doors said, "Oh, look at her," and Daphne came in on a stranger's arm, in a cream satin gown.

The pearls lay across her collarbone in three rows.

They were the long matched pearls Clara's mother had worn at her own wedding.

They were the only thing in the house Clara's mother had left her by name.

"Excuse me," Clara said to Chase, and walked across the ballroom.

Alexander came a step behind her, quietly, the cane tapping on the parquet.

Daphne saw her coming and lifted her chin.

"Clara! I wasn't sure you'd want to see me. I'm so sorry about the other night. Everyone's been awful to you."

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