Half a sun.

The opposite half of mine.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Eleanor held it toward me.

“Would you take yours off?”

I didn’t move.

My hand had started shaking.

“Why?”

Richard pulled out a chair from the nearest table.

“Please sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down.”

My voice sounded sharper than I intended.

Richard nodded.

“All right.”

Eleanor kept her palm open.

“Just let me see whether they fit.”

I unclasped my necklace.

For thirty years, that chain had been the only physical thing connecting me to whatever came before Rosa.

I placed the pendant in Eleanor’s hand.

She brought the two pieces together.

There was a tiny click.

The edges aligned perfectly.

A complete silver sun rested in her palm.

Eleanor covered her mouth.

Richard gripped the back of the chair.

Julian stared at the pendant.

Then at Richard.

Then at me.

“What does this mean?” I asked.

Richard didn’t answer immediately.

He looked at the scar visible just above my dress.

His eyes filled.

“Do you know how you got that scar?”

I shook my head.

Eleanor whispered something.

“Richard.”

He nodded once.

Then he looked directly at me.

“Thirty years ago, my daughter disappeared after a car accident.”

The ballroom noise seemed to move farther away.

“Her name was Elizabeth.”

I stared at him.

“My name is Elena.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

Richard’s hand tightened around the chair.

“Because Elizabeth had that necklace.”

He pointed toward Eleanor’s palm.

“And she had a scar in exactly that place.”

Julian stepped beside me so quickly his shoulder touched mine.

For the first time all evening, he didn’t seem concerned about who might see us together.

“Elena,” he whispered.

I moved away from him.

Richard asked for my age.

I told him.

Then my approximate birthday.

Then what little Rosa had known about the accident.

With each answer, Eleanor became quieter.

Finally Richard took out his phone.

“There are photographs I need to show you.”

Julian suddenly placed his hand against my back.

“Whatever this is, we’ll figure it out together.”

I turned and looked at him.

Less than an hour earlier, that same hand had pointed me toward the kitchen.

Now Richard Kensington was watching us.

So were half a dozen executives.

Julian smiled at me with an expression I hadn’t seen in years.

Proud.

Possessive.

Almost tender.

I stepped away from his hand.

“Don’t.”

His smile disappeared.

Richard looked between us but said nothing.

I picked up my half of the silver sun from Eleanor’s palm and fastened it around my neck again.

Then I looked at Richard.

“Show me the photographs.”

And for once, Julian wasn’t the person deciding where I stood.

The Little Girl in Richard’s Photograph

Richard led me into a small private lounge off the ballroom.

Julian followed.

Richard stopped at the door.

“I’d like to speak with Elena privately.”

Julian blinked.

“I’m her husband.”

I looked at him.

“Five minutes ago, you didn’t want anyone here to know that.”

He went quiet.

I closed the door.

Richard sat beside Eleanor and opened an old photograph on his phone.

A little girl stood between them, maybe four years old, wearing denim overalls.

Around her neck was my half-sun pendant.

I enlarged the picture.

There was a small mark near her left collarbone.

My hand went automatically to my scar.

“Where was this taken?”

“At our family home outside Dallas,” Richard said.

He swiped to another photograph.

The same child sat on his shoulders.

Another showed her asleep against Eleanor.

Then came a family picture.

Richard looked thirty years younger.

The little girl was holding the silver necklace.

“Elizabeth was my only child,” he said. “Her mother died when she was very young.”

He explained the accident carefully.

Elizabeth had been traveling with a family employee when their vehicle crashed and caught fire. The employee died. Investigators believed Elizabeth had died too, although no remains were conclusively identified as hers.

Richard never accepted it.

He searched hospitals.

He hired investigators.

He followed reports of unidentified children.

Nothing led to her.

“Why didn’t anyone find me?”

Richard lowered his eyes.

“I don’t know.”

That answer made me trust him more than a polished explanation would have.

Eleanor touched the two necklace pieces.

“We need a DNA test.”

“Yes.”

Richard nodded immediately.

“Nothing changes until you have proof.”

I looked at him.

He wasn’t calling me Elizabeth.

He wasn’t asking me to call him Dad.

He wasn’t promising me money.

He was giving me room.

The door opened.

Julian stepped inside without knocking.

“I’m sorry, but people are asking questions.”

His hand settled gently on my shoulder.

“We should probably leave, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart.

I couldn’t remember the last time he’d called me that.

I removed his hand.

“I’m staying.”

Julian Suddenly Remembered I Was His Wife

When we returned to the ballroom, the story had already traveled.

People stared at my necklace.

Julian stayed close enough that his sleeve kept brushing mine.