Page 156 of Road Trip
“You look like Zelda Fitzgerald in that flapper dress,” Maeve told Therese, who smoothed the dress over her hips.
“It’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever had on my back,” Therese agreed. “The handiwork is so exquisite. I can’t believe this was balled up in a foot locker all these years.”
She’d brought a small satin drawstring bag into the room. “Putout your hand and close your eyes,” she said, and then dropped a pin into Maeve’s outstretched palm.
“Now open.”
Maeve held the brooch up to the light. The center stone was blue and oval-shaped with a circlet of tiny pearls outlining it, all in a gold setting.
“That’s your something blue,” Therese said. “Let me pin it on your collar.”
But Maeve had turned the pin over and was studying the back.
“Where did you get this brooch?”
“Remember Mama’s junk jewelry box? I unearthed it from the very back of her closet shelf. I guess you missed it when you were doing your Swedish death clean.”
The junk jewelry box had been a favorite treasure trove of the two sisters when they were playing dress-up.
“I don’t remember seeing this brooch among the plastic pop-beads and silver charm bracelets,” Maeve said.
“I was surprised to find it too,” Therese said. “Maybe someone gave it to Mary Helen after we were grown and gone.”
“Don’t think so,” Maeve said slowly. She showed Therese the back of the pin where the number14was stamped in gold. “This means the brooch is fourteen-karat gold. Definitely not fake.”
“Therese, remember the letter from Kathleen where she was telling Tommy about the jewelry Delia gave her along with the painting the night she sent her away?”
“Sort of. I remember something about pearl earrings and a diamond bracelet, but I thought her letter said she’d sold them to help finance her new husband’s tavern.”
“In that letter she described a pin—with a large sapphire in the middle, encircled with pearls. I’m pretty sure this sapphire is the real deal. It’s literally the Rossington family jewels.”
Therese held the brooch now. “Maybe Mom kept it with her good stuff, not that there was much of it, because she didn’t want us playing with it and taking it to school for show-and-tell. Ormaybe she didn’t know herself that it was real. She must have gotten it from Nana. Did you ask Frannie and Bernie if they’d ever seen it before?”
“I did, and they had no idea where it came from.”
She fastened the pin to Maeve’s dress and beamed. “Have you got everything now?”
“Yup. Kathleen’s lace handkerchief is my something old.” She touched her ears. “My new sister-in-law Angie gave me the diamond earrings for something new, and Cormac’s wife, Siobhan, gave me the same sixpence for my shoe that she wore for her wedding. So now I’m set. We’d better get going. If we’re late Liam will be thinking I changed my mind. Did Scotty bring the Rolls around yet?”
“He’s downstairs and I’m pretty sure he’s still buzzed from that rehearsal dinner after-party at the distillery last night. That’s the last time I let him hang out with the wild and crazy Grogan brothers. Those dudes don’t play! He came crawling back to our room at the inn at four in the morning.”
“Hopefully Liam checked out way before that,” Maeve said.
Scotty Childress wasstanding beside the gleaming black Rolls, and his face lit up when he saw the Dunagin sisters approach. “Wow,” he said. “You two look… magical.”
Maeve laughed and patted the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket. “Thanks, sport. How’re you feeling?”
He touched his forehead. “The truth? I’m a little, uh, headachey. But I’m feeling awesome now, seeing you ladies.” He held the back door open and helped the women slide onto the seat.
Scotty glanced in the rearview mirror. “All set?”
“Definitely,” Therese said. “You know where we’re going, right?”
“St. Bonaventure Church,” he said. “Cormac took me by yesterday, and I’ve got it in my GPS.”
He pulled the car slowly away from the curb. “I still can’t believe I’m driving a Rolls-Royce Silver Phantom.” He gave the dashboard a reverential pat. “Where’d you get this puppy?”
Maeve chuckled. “You might call it a petty revenge purchase. Esme’s brother Geoffrey owned it, but he had to unload it quickly at a fire-sale price to pay his lawyer’s fees after he was arrested. We’ve been using it a lot for events at the inn. Guests seem to love it.”
