“Why do you have that?” Her voice is sharp, with an undercurrent of something else. A tremor? Her eyes narrow for the first time in all my months of knowing her, and she folds her arms. She looks hard, almost mean. And only in a matter of seconds, too. “Have you been snooping through my stuff? I thought I could trust you.” And she’s shaking her head like my grandmother, and I have to bite my cheek several times to choke out what I say next.

“I found it. In an old board game box. I saw my mother’s name and I took it. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” As I hang my head, I’m not sure why I’m apologizing, how so suddenly this conversation turned into me repenting for a crime I didn’t even realize I’d committed.

I feel her hand on my neck. “It’s okay. It’s yours. You’re right. And I can explain why I have it.” She cups the hand holding the bracelet that’s fallen into my lap. Her tight grasp makes the charms dig deep into my skin, a pain I almost welcome.

“Remember, I was so young when I worked for your parents. I was stupid, didn’t have the foresight I have now. I noticed it with your mother’s jewelry. I’d seen her twist the combination on the safe and learned the code. The bracelet seemed like one of the less precious pieces, one she wouldn’t notice missing. So I took it, with the intention to pawn it or sell it or something. You know, my dad wasn’t very mobile, and I was the only one working. We always needed some extra money. But then I felt too guilty to try anything with it, so it’s just sat in that old Candy Land box for the last couple of decades. I realize now how foolish it was. You can have it back, if you like.”

Her voice is so steady, so soothing in my ear, that I deflate, tension evaporating from my body, my jaw untightening, my shoulders slumping. Because of course that makes sense. If I’d been in her shoes, I might have done exactly the same thing.

“I’m sorry I confronted you about it like this. I should have just left it there and brought it up yesterday.” A shiver of shame from being so wrong creeps up on me again, from putting my new family at risk over a quick rush to judgment and suspicion, and I feel my cheeks redden, a blush sneaking across my neck.