The Day He Came Back

Wow. “I never knew that.”

“Yeah, I know. I never told you that part. Anyway, I remember holding the measly little necklace in my hand while her diamonds sparkled. It was sort of a metaphor for the balance of power, or at least how I perceived things then.”

I reached over to her and placed the diamonds around her neck. “And now you’re wearing it,” I said. “How ironic is that?”

She stared at herself in the mirror and tilted her head. “I can only imagine what she’s thinking.”

I stood behind her and kissed her neck. “Want to know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think wherever my mother is, she has a new perspective. I think she’s been forced to look at the life she led here and reflect on her actions. And I think she’s looking down right now and wishing she could apologize. Maybe I have to believe that to be able to live with what she did to us. She saw you as a threat to our family name, when in fact, in the end, you were the one holding it together, holding my father’s hand as he crossed over. She should be proud that you’re wearing this, even though her opinion doesn’t matter. It never did.”

“Well, that’s a very optimistic view. I don’t know if I buy it.” Raven stared at herself in the mirror, touching the diamonds. “You wanna know what my best accessory is?”

“What?”

“My scars.” She reached behind her neck and took the necklace off. Looking down at the diamonds in her hand, she said, “This is fit for a queen, but you know… It’s all bullshit.” She placed it on the bureau. “Maybe I’ll give it to Marina to play with.”

And that right there was precisely why Raven was, and always would be, my queen.