She Walked Out, and Ten Years Later She Showed Up With Expensive Gifts at a Twelfth Birthday Dinner

“It won’t wobble in fifty years,” I said.

“I mortised the corner joints and pinned them with maple dowels.”

Lily reached into her pocket and pulled out the little silver locket she had carried up from the dining table.

She laid the locket in the top drawer of the vanity and pushed the drawer closed with a soft click.

“I don’t need to look at it,” Lily said.

“You can keep it or toss it in the river,” I said.