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I don’t think so. It’s just
some little trinket this shopkeeper gave me. I asked if I could pay
for it, but he just said ‘no price.’”
    “More like price less .”
    Silky black hair swayed across her shoulders as she
shook her head. Erica had always been a little princess, and even
after an all day shopping and sight-seeing binge, she still looked
like one. Heavy hoops hung from her ears, while a shawl of gold
necklaces blanketed her narrow neck.
    She knew jewelry. If anyone could tell me the value
of this bauble, it was her. Only…I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to
know. I wanted this necklace to be mine. I wanted it more than
anything else in my life. But if it was valuable, how could I ever
justify accepting such a gift from a man I’d barely even met?
    When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were even
wider than before.
    “It’s real.” Her words were little more than a
breath. “The damn thing’s got to be real.”
    “But…” I licked my lips. “But it’s not real real, right? It’s not like it’s a diamond or anything valuable,
so—”
    “Adair, it’s a black pearl. A real black pearl.
These things are rare. Even the little ones you can buy online go
for a fair price, but this…this… I don’t know what to say. It’s
priceless.”
    And that’s when my legs buckled beneath me.
    What had I done? Oh, Lord, what was I going to do?
By accepting this one token, I’d as good as stolen more than my
father’s yearly salary. Probably a lot more than that. Erica
launched into some speech about how black pearls were formed.
Something about black lips and Tahitian clams, but I couldn’t
concentrate on what she was saying. All I could think about was how
selfish I’d been.
    This necklace didn’t belong to me. It could never
belong to me. And now the only right thing to do was give it
back.
    The thought alone nearly made me cry.
    “I guess I’ll just go back in the morning and return
it.”
    “Return it?” Erica said. “You already said that guy
just gave it to you. Why do you want to return it?”
    “Because it’s not mine,” I said. “There had to be
some misunderstanding. No one would give away something like this.
No one sane, anyway.”
    “If it was me, I’d keep it.”
    “Erica…”
    “What?” she said. “He gave it to you fair and
square. If anyone says anything—which they won’t—all you have to
say is you thought it was a gift. You speak English. He speaks
Italian. How were you to know this was some priceless family
heirloom he just let you try on?”
    My stomach churned.
    All night long Erica tried to convince me to keep
the necklace, but I wouldn’t budge. I knew what I had to do, and no
amount of temptation was going to sway me from taking the right
course.
    I just wished the damned thing didn’t have to be so
beautiful.
    “Well, if you really are going to take it back,”
Erica finally said, “can’t you at least wait a few days? You know
I’ve got my Sorrento tour tomorrow, and I really, really want to be here when you go back to that shop. Please?”
    Half of me wanted to cave in, but I couldn’t. Erica
was set to leave on a three-day tour of Southern Italy early the
next morning, and I couldn’t wait until she got back. I probably
should have listened to her advice. After all, it was bad enough we
were splitting up for half a week—a fact neither of us told our
parents—but to go to an otherwise empty shop with only an old man I
hardly even knew for company, well, that was just asking for
trouble.
    Still, if I didn’t return this necklace soon, I knew
I never would.
    I didn’t remove my choker when I went to bed that
night. Wrapped tightly in the sheets, I cupped my pearl in both
hands and prayed that God would give me the strength to give this
little beauty back in the morning.
    In a fit of selfishness, I also prayed that I
wouldn’t have to.
    But whatever the outcome, I knew I’d do the right
thing. If the shopkeeper wanted it back, then it was