Charmaine was
fascinated with the necklace given to her by Grandpa Stanley. Somehow it seemed
very familiar to her. During her birthday party she could not stop touching it.
Her friends loved it and all of them said they wished they had a necklace just
like it. As soon as she reached her room Charmaine began to write about the events
of the night in the diary given to her by Florence. She took off the necklace
and decided to do a sketch of it in the diary. She was running her fingers over
the etchings on the locket when it opened and something
fell out. It was a wad
of what seemed to be human hair that came apart in bits. Inside the locket was a
picture of a woman who looked just like her! She tried to take the photo out
but she realized that it was stuck to another picture that was underneath it.
She gently pried them apart. When Charmaine took out the other picture it was of
a gentleman with a broad smile on his face. On the back of the picture, tinily
written, were the words, ‘To my darling Charlotte. Love always, Charles.’
Charmaine almost fell off her bed. She hugged herself in glee, she finally had pictures
of her mother and father! Oh how she had longed to know what her mother looked like even though Florence kept telling her that she looked just like her. She
looked at the picture of her father and the memories came back of the last time
she saw him. She remembered him putting the necklace around her neck. No wonder
it looked so familiar to her! She also remembered how she cried and begged him not
to leave her with Ben and Florence and how he said he would come back for her
but he didn’t. Tears filled her eyes but she quickly dried them. She wondered
if Grandpa Stanley knew that the locket also held a picture of her father,
because if he did and, based on all the stories she had heard from Ben and
Florence when she was younger, he would have used it to try and find him. Charmaine decided not to let him know about
it because he would just restart the search for her father and probably kill him as he had threatened to do so many years ago. She replaced the pictures inside the locket but this time she placed her father
on one side of the locket and her mother on the other side. She scooped up the
bits of hair that she assumed were her parents’ hair and put them back in the
locket and closed it. She placed the necklace around her neck and vowed that
she would never take it off again. She was about to say her prayers when there
was a knocking on her door. It was Miss Markhums, asking if she could enter.
Charmaine rolled her eyes. Miss Markhums had left the estate about three months
ago, telling Stanley Wharbucks that she had some urgent business to take care
of in Kingston. Charmaine had forgotten all about her. “Come in!” said
Charmaine. Miss Markhums came into the room holding a gift-wrapped box that she
handed to Charmaine. Charmaine took it and placed it on the chair beside her
bed. Miss Markhums said she was trying to make it in time for the birthday
party but the train left Kingston later than usual, however, she could not go
to bed without wishing Charmaine a happy birthday. Charmaine told her thanks
for the gift and when it seemed that Miss Markhums had something else to say,
Charmaine said she faked a yawn and told her she was very tired and wanted to
sleep. Miss Markhums said she would talk to her in the morning and left the
room. I laughed when I read that. It sounded like something I would do. Now I
know whom I got my bad behavior from! Ha-ha!
When Miss Markhums left the room Charmaine decided to write some more in her diary. After a while she began to yawn, this time she was not
faking, she was really tired and sleepy. She said her prayers, kissed the
locket, signed and dated the page in the diary, closed it and went to sleep. I smiled and
closed the diary as Maud would be returning any minute now. I felt the necklace
around my neck and decided to look inside the locket to see if the pictures
were still inside of it. I took off the necklace and unclasped the locket. The
bits of hair, just as Charmaine had described them, fell out. Sure enough, the
pictures were there, albeit a little faded. I reached for my magnifying glass
so that I could see them a little clearer. The woman in the picture looked just
like my Grandmother Charmaine except for the way she styled her hair. My
Great-grandmother Charlotte was indeed a beautiful woman. I looked at the
picture of the gentleman and I gasped. It was the gentleman I saw in my dream!
This was my Great-grandfather Charles! No wonder my Great-grandmother ran away
with him, I don’t blame her, he was such a handsome man! I put back the hair in
the locket, closed it and placed the necklace once again around my neck. I shivered, I felt a presence in the room but I was not afraid, I realized
now that this was just my Great-grandparents’ way of letting me know that they
were around. I was quite certain that Grandma Charmaine was also here because I kept smelling the lingering scent of her favorite perfume. I heard footsteps on the veranda, it was Maud. 
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