Chapter 6 - The bracelet
The bracelet was old.
Sterling silver.
Handmade clasp.
Three charms.
Moon.
Horse.
C.
Inside the horse charm was a tiny maker’s stamp.
CBF.
Carter Brothers Foundry.
My grandfather’s company had produced custom equestrian silver items for employees and riders during the 1980s.
My father recognized it immediately.
“My mother ordered these.”
His mother.
My grandmother Eleanor Carter.
“She gave one to girls who worked the junior barn program.”
“How many?”
“Maybe thirty.”
“Why remember Claire’s?”
“The C charm.”
He looked at me.
“Most girls had initials added later. Claire couldn’t afford one. My mother gave her the C.”
“What about the moon?”
“Claire added that herself.”
“How do you know?”
Roland stared toward the window.
“Because she told Marianne.”
Marianne was my mother.
She died seven years earlier.
“What did Mom know?”
“A lot more than I did.”
That sentence hurt.
My father continued:
“Claire worked at the stable for three summers. She was quiet. Good with frightened horses. Your mother liked her.”
“How old?”
“Fourteen the first year. Sixteen the last.”
Michael was thirty-nine.
The timeline was becoming obvious.
Still:
No guessing.
May you like
We waited.
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