Chapter 2: The Key With My Name on It
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
The key lay across Josiah's palm, its metal surface dulled with age. A narrow hospital identification tag had been tied through its small ring with a piece of fraying string.
The tag was yellowed at the edges.
The handwriting was faded but unmistakable.
Ava.
My name.
I stared at it until the letters blurred.
"Where did you get this?"" I asked.
Josiah glanced toward the chapel doors, where Marcus was now standing beside Denise, speaking rapidly and looking from the boy to the watch in my hand.
"My mom gave it to me.""
"When?""
"This morning.""
"Did she tell you what it opens?""
He shook his head.
"She said you would know what to do.""
I looked at the key again.
I didn't know what to do.
I didn't even know why my name would be written on an old hospital tag attached to a key that had somehow survived alongside my father's watch.
My father had supposedly died before I was old enough to understand death. My aunt Lorraine had handled everything after the accident. She had chosen the funeral arrangements, kept his belongings, and answered every question with the same weary expression.
Some things are better left alone, Ava.
I had hated those words as a child.
Eventually, I learned to stop asking.
Now a seven-year-old stranger was kneeling in front of me, wearing dirty clothes and holding objects that should never have existed together.
Denise crouched on my other side.
"Sweetheart, we should get him some water," she said.
"And perhaps call security.""
"No security," Josiah blurted.
His voice was so desperate that a nearby guest stopped whispering.
I turned toward him.
"Nobody is going to hurt you.""
He studied my face as if he were deciding whether he could afford to believe me.
Then he placed the key in my hand.
His fingers were cold.
I closed my fist around it and felt the sharp edge press into my palm.
"Does your mother know you're here alone?""
"She told me to come.""
"She sent you by yourself?""
He nodded.
"She said if anybody asked, I should tell them I was bringing something back.""
"Bringing something back from where?""
Josiah lowered his eyes.
"She didn't tell me.""
Behind us, Marcus cleared his throat.
"Ava, what is going on?""
I turned.
My fiancé stood in the chapel entrance wearing a perfectly tailored black tuxedo, a white rose pinned to his lapel. His hair was immaculate. His expression suggested that the entire situation was an inconvenience someone should have prevented.
He glanced at Josiah's shoes.
Then at the watch.
"Is this some kind of prank?"" Marcus asked.
The question landed harder than it should have.
I rose slowly, gathering my gown beneath my fingers.
"No.""
"Then why is a child interrupting our wedding with some random piece of jewelry?""
"It's not random.""
Marcus extended his hand.
"Let me see it.""
I pulled the watch closer to my chest.
He noticed.
For a fraction of a second, his face went still.
Then he laughed softly.
"Ava, come on. We've got two hundred people sitting in there. Your aunt is asking where you are.
The pastor is waiting. Whatever this is, we can deal with it after the ceremony.""
I looked at him.
"How do you know my aunt is asking for me?""
He blinked.
"Because she's your aunt. She's here.""
"Where?""
"Inside.""
"Then why hasn't she come out?""
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"Because she's probably trying to keep the guests calm.""
That answer should have been reasonable.
Instead, it made the coldness in my stomach spread.
My aunt Lorraine had practically raised me after my mother died. She was the person who told me my father had been buried in a closed casket. She was the person who said I should never expect answers about the night he disappeared.
And she was the person who had insisted I wear a family heirloom at my wedding.
A pearl necklace.
The same necklace she had brought to my dressing room that morning, insisting it would make my mother proud.
I suddenly remembered something she had said while fastening the clasp.
Your father would have wanted this day to be perfect.
I looked down at the watch.
Then at the hospital key.
"What hospital?"" I asked Josiah.
He shrugged.
"I can't read all the words.""
I turned the tag over.
The writing had almost vanished, but a few printed letters remained near the bottom.
BENNETT.
My heartbeat stumbled.
Marcus stepped closer.
"Ava, give me the watch.""
I looked up sharply.
"Why?""
"Because you're upset, and I don't want you making a scene over something a child brought from who knows where.""
Josiah moved behind me.
Marcus noticed and frowned.
"Son, don't be afraid. We're just trying to sort this out.""
Josiah shook his head.
"My mom said not to let anybody take them.""
Marcus's expression hardened.
"Your mother doesn't get to dictate what happens at my wedding.""
I felt the boy's small hand clutch the back of my gown.
I had never seen him before that morning.
I knew nothing about him.
Yet when Marcus reached for the watch again, I stepped between them without thinking.
"Don't touch him.""
Silence fell across the foyer.
Marcus stared at me.
Then his eyes moved to the key clenched in my fist.
Something flickered across his face.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
It vanished almost immediately, replaced by the familiar smile he used whenever he wanted a difficult conversation to end.
"Ava," he said quietly, "you need to trust me.""
I searched his face for the man I had agreed to marry.
"Do you know what this key opens?""
His smile disappeared.
For one terrible moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he looked toward the chapel, where my aunt Lorraine had finally appeared between two guests.
She wasn't looking at me.
May you like
She was staring at the watch.
And when she saw that I had the key too, she dropped the bouquet from her hands.
