When Prue finds a hidden gift that mysteriously disappears, her quiet suspicions start to unravel a truth far more devastating than forgotten birthdays. At her husband’s party, a single whispered sentence from her son turns the evening into a reckoning. Some betrayals wear satin… others wear aprons and smiles.
I found the box a few days before my birthday. It was tucked behind two old suitcases at the back of the closet.
It wasn’t like I was snooping. I was decluttering, looking for the picnic blanket we only ever used twice a year. My son, Luke, needed it for his school’s evening picnic later that week.
“Please, Mom,” he’d said. “I told the guys that I’ll take the blanket and the soda. Oh, and I promised them that you’re going to make the chocolate and caramel cupcakes, too.”
So, I did what any mother would do. I went hunting for the picnic blanket, taking out old items in the process.
I found the box with the blanket. But the second I lifted the lid and saw another sleek black box. I opened it to find that skirt and in that moment, everything else fell away.
It was a luscious satin skirt in deep plum, with the kind of embroidery you can only get by hand. I had shown it to my husband, Christopher, months ago when we were window shopping.
I was only half-joking when I said that it was “too indulgent.” I’d secretly hoped that he’d get it for me.
“You deserve indulgent, Prue,” he’d laughed.
Now, when I saw it, folded so precisely, laying on top of pristine tissue paper, I thought: this is it. My birthday gift!
For a moment, I was over the moon. Chris and I had been together for years and there were times when I was convinced that the spark was fizzling out. But it was things like this… moments like this, that made me think we were stronger.
“You’ve just scored yourself some brownie points, Christopher,” I muttered to myself as I put everything back in its place. I figured that I’d give Luke a dark colored quilt to use for the picnic instead. I didn’t want Chris to realize that I’d seen the box.
You’ve just scored yourself some brownie points, Christopher,” I muttered to myself as I put everything back in its place.
