Her Reluctant Wife: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

was rocked when Giana came back and opened her fist and

there, in her hand, was the necklace that started all of it. The

lies and the pain, the desperate apologies, the paperwork

sitting downstairs unsigned, and all the hours that had been

filled with pleasure while both of them forgot all about all of

that.

“My mother’s necklace,” Coralyn gasped. Her eyes flooded

with involuntary tears that spilled down her cheeks when she

blinked. She wasn’t ashamed to be crying. She’d spilled many,

many tears with Giana. These were of a different nature

entirely. She was shocked and overwhelmed.

She touched the necklace, unable to believe it was real.

She’d taken off the chain she normally wore her ring on. It had

been on her finger after she’d been married, but it didn’t feel

right to wear it anymore. She’d placed it in the top drawer of

her desk at home for safekeeping.

“It’s yours.” This was the most intimate thing that Coralyn

could imagine. “I should have leant it to you that day when

you asked. I don’t know why I said no. I guess I thought that if

I ever gave a little bit of anything away, it would start the

whole unravelling of myself in the process.”

Her brow arched. Giana’s expression revealed nothing, but

she kept studying Coralyn without looking away. “And now?

Are you unravelling?”

Her features softened, even though she didn’t smile. It made

Coralyn forget why she’d ever hated anything about Giana.

The first move was hesitant. Giana didn’t tremble. That was

all Coralyn. She was shaking when Giana slipped the necklace

around her neck. It hardly weighed anything in reality, but it

felt so heavy there, so cold against her skin.