The Necklace

It had been a long time since he saw that necklace adorn his late wife’s neck. He remembered it so vividly: sparkling diamonds set in beautiful gold. He had designed it himself. The sporadically placed rubies had made for a beautiful contrast against her brown skin. He always thought it brought out the cherry colour of her lips - lips he had not kissed for far too long.. Yes, he remembered this necklace very well. It was almost as though it was only yesterday, when he had so lovingly gifted it to his beautiful bride on their wedding day. It had been her favourite thing to wear ever since.

After it was lost so many years ago, he did not dare dream he would ever see it again. But, much to his surprise, there it was! Right there on the antique auction website he loved to peruse. The photograph did not do it justice. “Surely they could have taken a more professional picture”, he thought. The auction was to be held in London, England - one month from now. 

Graham slowly rose from his chair. He struggled to lean on his cane - silently wondering how much time he had left before he could no longer walk on his own. The fire had left its scars in more ways than one. He shuffled his way to the large window, which offered a view of the beautiful gardens that surrounded his mansion. He looked out over the flowerbed. Jane had always loved roses and Graham made sure the grounds keeper kept them in immaculate condition. Especially now, since it was one of the few things he had left of her. “What would she have wanted?”, he thought. He closed his eyes for a moment and remembered her smile. Graham loved to see his wife smile. She could light up an entire room and she sure did brighten all his days. He missed her dearly. Life just had not been the same without her. 

He brought his mind back to the necklace. “Jane would have loved for Annie to have that on her wedding day,” he thought. “She would say it could be her ‘something borrowed’.” He knew Annie, their only daughter, would look just as stunning wearing that necklace as her mother did. It would make for a brilliant surprise - and there was plenty of time until the wedding. 

Annie had grown up without her mother. What she knew of Jane came mostly from the photographs Graham had taken - and from the many memories and stories people had shared of her. Graham had struggled to raise Annie on his own, after he was left severely injured in the fire that burnt their entire house to ashes. He tried as best as he could to be a good father - and he believed he had, for the most part, succeeded eventually. However, it always pained him that Annie had not had a mother and Graham had been too grief-stricken to be there for her. It took him years to bond with her - years to form a true connection with his only child. He wondered if, at least in part, that was because she looked so much like Jane. Annie was a constant reminder of what he had lost - yet, at the same time, she was the legacy of a woman he had loved with all his heart. 

For most of her childhood, Annie had been lovingly raised by Mae - their live-in nanny for many years. Mae had been a dear friend of Jane. She was older than her and had always considered Jane her little sister. She had offered to help after Jane’s passing and had more or less taken it upon herself to raise her best friend’s daughter. Graham would forever be grateful to her. 

Graham glanced across the garden and allowed his eyes to rest near the gates. At his wife’s request he had large and beautiful gates reminiscent of those at Buckingham Palace placed around their land, when they first bought it. Jane loved architecture like that - she thought it reminded people of a more romantic time. He let his mind drift to a few days after they returned from their honeymoon, when Jane had insisted he take pictures of her by those very same gates. She has trotted out her new necklace for the occasion. Graham had been a professional photographer for many, many years - but never had he found more joy than when he was immortalising his wife on camera. He thought she was the most beautiful woman the world would ever see.

“Would you like a cup of tea, Sir?”. Arthur’s voice startled the old man, as he was brought back to reality. “Oh, um.. no. No, thank you, Arthur.”, Graham said. “Is everything alright, Sir?”, Arthur offered in return. “Yes. Everything is well. I was merely remembering Jane - and you know how I get lost in thoughts of her”. Arthur nodded knowingly. He had been the family butler since before Graham and Jane were married. He knew how deep their love for one another had run - and how utterly devastated Graham was when he lost her. It had destroyed him, really.

“Arthur.. Could you make arrangements for me to travel to London next month?”, Graham requested. “To London, Sir? Are you certain? I mean, in your condition?”, Arthur responded somewhat in shock at this seemingly out of character request. “What of my condition, Arthur?”, Graham replied, while raising his brow. He quickly followed with a playful smile, as he knew his butler and long-time friend was merely concerned for his health. After all, Graham was in his 70’s now and his health had not been what it once was. He had not travelled for decades. In fact, he had barely left the safety of his mansion for years. It was quite the undertaking he was considering - even he knew that. But Graham was determined: Annie would have her mother’s prized necklace to wear on her wedding day.

Arthur spent the next few days making all the arrangements for Graham’s pending travels. He would accompany him to London and they were to stay for a mere four days. As carefully as he could, he planned for all he thought would be needed - including medical contingencies. Arthur was worried Graham might not be well enough to travel such a large distance. It was an hour’s drive to the airport from the mansion. Adding to that the 9-hour flight and later travels to their accommodations made for a very concerned butler. Graham had not travelled this sort of distance since he last vacationed with Jane. Come to think of it, for the past twelve years, he had barely left the mansion at all. The only occasions that could coax him out of the safety of his home were visits with Annie. Lately, though, even she had not called on the old man as much as she used to. 

Arthur did not think they were estranged as such, but that special father-daughter closeness certainly lacked in their relationship. “It must be so difficult for both of them”, he thought to himself. He had tried a few times to approach the subject with Graham, but his old friend would not hear much of it. “Too painful,” he would say, before steering the conversation in a different direction. Arthur hoped giving Annie the necklace her mother once loved so much would be another step toward mending the broken bond she and Graham had. Jane would have wanted them to be close, that much he knew.

***

Graham lay awake, pondering his upcoming travels. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was rather nervous about flying. He had not been on an aeroplane since his last vacation with his wife, which was nearly 30 years ago. They had visited the Italian vineyards - tasted so much delicious wine and taken in the most beautiful sceneries. They had dined in the fanciest of restaurants and strolled along the plaza more times than he could count. The coffee there was unlike anything they had ever tasted before. He could almost still smell the aroma of freshly brewed espresso in the morning. Jane had loved the architecture in Italy. She had come back from their trip with so many ideas to redecorate their home. Graham wondered what this house would have looked like, had his wife been able to unleash her exquisite taste on it. He had the mansion rebuilt after the fire, though he would be the first to admit his inner interior designer did not compare to Jane's eye for beauty. In fact, she would probably tease him about some of his current choices, in that lovely playful way she always used to.

Tomorrow would be a long day. “Thank goodness Arthur offered to come with me”, Graham thought. So much had changed throughout the years and he was worried he might struggle to navigate the modern and novel-to-him avenues of travel these days. He looked up at the ceiling. The moonlight pouring into the windows offered the faintest of glows - lighting up his bedroom enough to see its contours. “I should probably get some sleep and be rested enough for the day’s journey ahead.” Graham tossed and turned. Alas, sleep eluded him. He could not still his mind long enough to let the night wash over him and take him into blissful dreams. He wondered what Jane would have thought of all of this. He was sure she would have loved for Annie to wear her precious necklace on her special day - yet he also knew his wife would gently caution him not to take on more than he could handle. Oh, if only she knew how many times those words darted across his mind, as he tried to raise their daughter on his own. “No, she would love this”, he thought. “Jane would have been thrilled at the adventure of it - at the chance to explore London and its history”. A smile danced across his face. He could picture her so clearly.

At last, as he imagined his wife travelling alongside him, Graham fell asleep.

The ride to the airport felt long. Graham’s gaze was affixed out the window, watching a world he barely recognised go by as his town car cruised smoothly through the streets. “What was I thinking?”, he wondered to himself. Before his mind had a chance to take him down a doomsday spiral, he heard Arthur’s voice: “We’ll arrive shortly, Sir. I will take care of the luggage, don’t you worry.”. He glanced over at Graham. His friend really was getting older now and he could see an apprehension in him he had never seen before. Graham used to travel the entire world - being booked as the photographer for exclusive events. He had seemed so worldly and confident back then. Everything changed after Jane..

The journey was a rather smooth one. Graham had marvelled at how different the airport looked and at how different the air hostesses seemed. Some things remained exactly the same: the aeroplane food left much for him to desire and he felt the same pit in his stomach during take-off he always had. Once in the air, he enjoyed the view of clouds beneath them. Jane had always said they looked like large pillows, from which she would love to spectate the world. He would have happily joined her - watching people go about their business and making up stories as to what that business was. He tried to sleep during the flight, but once again sleep was not his friend. This time around, he was much too excited to be on his way to London - going to retrieve a necklace he never should have allowed to be sold off in the first place. He was excited to see some of the other lots at the antique auction, as well.

He was happy. For the first time in a long while, Graham felt alive. He felt a sense of adventure he had long forgotten existed and he eagerly looked forward to walking the British streets once more. He remembered a quaint little place in Covent Garden. On one of his jobs, many years ago, he had taken breakfast there every morning. He loved their scones in particular. “I wonder if it is still there?”, he thought. He hoped so. He could take Arthur there and regale his old friend with tales of a time gone by. 

***