Chapter 2 — The Watch Buried With the Truth
No one in the funeral chapel dared to speak.
The older woman's trembling fingers tightened around the folded funeral program as though it might disappear if she let go.
Six words.
That was all it took to shatter thirty-two years of carefully buried lies.
"Give him the watch she hid."
Her name was Margaret Ashford.
To everyone else, she was the dignified widow's sister—the woman who had managed the Ashford family's affairs for decades.
But to the man lying peacefully inside the casket...
She had once been his greatest accomplice.
And his greatest coward.
Margaret slowly looked toward the polished mahogany coffin.
Her brother, Henry Ashford, had carried one regret longer than anyone knew.
The little boy watched her silently.
"I don't have anywhere else to go," he whispered.
Those words pierced deeper than any accusation.
Margaret knelt before him despite the expensive black suit she wore.
"What is your name?"
The child hesitated.
"My dad called me Oliver."
"Your mother?"
"Emma."
Margaret's heart nearly stopped.
Emma Collins.
She remembered the young woman immediately.
A waitress.
Kind.
Pregnant.
Standing outside the Ashford estate on a rainy afternoon thirty-two years ago, begging to see Henry.
Margaret had turned her away.
She had lied.
She told Emma that Henry had abandoned her.
She never delivered the letter.
Never mentioned the pregnancy.
She had protected the Ashford family name...
By destroying three lives.
Tears blurred Margaret's vision.
"He never knew," she whispered.
Oliver looked confused.
"He knew before he died," the boy answered softly.
"He found us three months ago."
The chapel fell silent once again.
"He said he couldn't give me his name anymore."
"But he promised he'd make everything right."
Then Oliver reached into his hoodie one more time.
This time, he pulled out a worn velvet pouch.
May you like
Inside lay an old gold pocket watch.
The very watch Margaret believed she had hidden forever.
