She Saw the Birthmark and Dropped to Her Knees

CHAPTER 1 - THE GIRL IN THE FLOWER SHOP

"Excuse me... May I see your birthmark?"

Emma Cole looked up from the bouquet in her hands. The elegant woman in pearls had gone pale. Beside her, a tall man in a dark tailored suit stared in confusion, his hand still half-raised as if to steady her.

"Of course," Emma said politely. "I've had it since I was a baby."

She tugged back her sleeve and offered her wrist.

There it was. The small heart-shaped birthmark on the inside of her wrist.

The woman touched it with trembling fingers as if it might vanish. Tears filled her eyes so fast they seemed to come from years ago, not this moment. Then her knees gave way.

"Ma'am!" Emma cried, rushing around the display of lilies.

The man bent beside the woman. "Margaret, breathe. Please."

But Margaret was already fumbling with the zipper of her black leather handbag. Her hands shook so badly she almost dropped what she took out.

A locket.

"Do you..." Margaret choked on the words. "Do you have one like this?"

Emma froze.

Her fingers moved to her own throat before she even knew what she was doing. She opened the top button of her work shirt and pulled out the locket she had worn every day since childhood.

The same shape. The same cutwork. The same worn silver edge.

The bouquet slipped from her other hand and hit the floor.

"How do you know about that?!"

Silence rushed into the flower shop.

Then the man in the dark suit looked from one locket to the other and said, in a voice gone flat with shock, "Margaret... that was buried with the baby."