You know all I wanted was the pearl necklace,’ I said as we stood arguing in the bedroom of Mum’s cottage. I was pointing an unopened letter the solicitor had given me squarely in the face of my money-grabbing stepsister Gail.
‘Yes, Diana, but they’re real and quite valuable, unlike the rest of Mum’s jewellery.’
‘I’m well aware of that, but their value is of no importance to me. I have fond memories of sitting on Mum’s lap and playing with that necklace when I was a little girl.’
‘In many ways you still are a little girl. My dad always said you were too sentimental.’
Buttons were being pushed here, and Gail knew what she was doing.
‘That’s hardly fair!’ I barked. ‘Out of everything she’s left you, the pearls mean the most to me. They’re nothing to you.’
I’m sure I was starting to froth at the mouth.
‘So!’ Gail shrugged. ‘Her will said I could choose any item I wanted from Mum’s jewellery box. So I chose these.’ She dangled the
