“Oh sweetheart, yes, call me mom. But you don’t have to. I don’t ever want to replace your mother. She must’ve been one special woman to raise a beautiful daughter like you. Everything’s so perfect. We feel like the luckiest people in the world.”

A sudden thought entered Nem’s mind.

“Peg? I mean Mom …?” She paused, uncertain whether to ask the question on her lips.

“You ask what you like about the adoption, honey, or anything. I don’t want you worrying your lovely head.”

“Nothing like that. I’m happy too. Thank you so much.” She paused, uncertain if she should ask what she was thinking, but she had to know.

“The ticket. When did you buy it?”

“Like I said, two months ago? Just before your summer vacation started. Maybe the week before, I think. What difference does that make? Please don’t be mad at us for keeping it from you for so long.”

“And the time.”

“Ooh, oh, okay. Let’s see.”

Peg removed her hands from Nem’s arms and rubbed at her chin, clearly casting her mind back.

“I can pretty much remember everything on that day. Don’t think I’ll ever forget it because I’ll be telling this story for the rest of my life.”

She chuckled, and Ray joined in.

“You sure will, lucky woman, and I’ll never tire of hearing it,” he said.

“Right, so, I’d just finished the groceries and was walking to the car. Suddenly this, this, compulsion came over me. An alarm went off in my head. Ping, ping, ping. Get back inside and buy a lottery ticket Peg Walters. So back I went as if an invisible hand pushed me along. Such a strange feeling that...” She paused. “You know what? I do know the time because they give you a copy of the ticket, and I’m sure there’s a date and time stamp on there.”

Peg rose, went to the counter and opened a drawer. She rifled inside for a moment before drawing out an envelope and from that taking out a slip of paper.

“I put it here so it’d be handy because I knew you’d want to see it.”

She walked back, sat down next to Nem and stared at the copy of the ticket.

“Let me check. Ah, here it is. Time stamp is 1:23 pm, the fourteenth. A Wednesday. That I knew for sure. And look at this.” She shook her head. “I’m a fortune teller too. I wrote, Here’s the winning ticket down the side. I thought I was being funny. Can you believe that?”

“No,” said Nem, although she could.

Peg continued, obviously thrilled to finally be able to share her wonderful news. “It’s just like Lady Luck took my hand. When luck smiles on you, boy, nothing can go wrong.”

A smile crept across Nem’s face, not because she was happy, although she was thrilled. Or because Peg looked so gleeful at discovering the exact time she’d bought the winning ticket. No, Nem smiled because everything now made perfect sense. She’d already presumed the time was the exact same moment Lacy and she argued, and she had been correct.