The little girl stood so quickly that the chair scraped across the floor.
“Mom?”
My knees gave out.
I dropped to the floor just as she ran into my arms.
For two years, I had dreamed of touching her again.
Every dream ended the same way.
I would reach for Grace, and she would disappear.
But this time she didn’t.
She was warm.
Breathing.
Crying into my shoulder.
Alive.
I held her so tightly that she finally whispered,
“Mommy… I can’t breathe.”
I laughed and sobbed at the same time.
Then Grace pulled back and looked at me urmwith an expression that shattered me all over again.
“Why didn’t you come get me?”
I froze.
“What?”
“I waited for you.”
My hands moved instinctively to her face.
“Grace, I thought you were dead.”
Her eyes widened.
“Dead?”
That was when I noticed the necklace again.
A tiny silver moon.
My mother had given it to me when I was sixteen.
I gave it to Grace on her tenth birthday.
She had worn it every day.
“Where did you get this?”
Grace touched it protectively.
“You gave it to me.”
Before I could say another word, the principal’s-office door opened.
Neil stood there.
He looked at Grace.
Then at the necklace.
His face went white.
Grace immediately moved behind me.
“No,” she whispered.
I slowly stood.
“What did you do?”
Neil glanced at Principal Harris.
“Laura, we need to talk privately.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Not here.”
I stepped closer.
“You told me she was dead.”
“Please.”
