The Necklace IV - Brighton, December 1999

Synopsis and Prologue

SYNOPSIS

After Susan's friends betray her on her last trip into the past, forcing her to return on her wedding day, the day she would have married James, a member of the most famous band of all time, she falls into a deep depression and can't seem to shake herself out of it. Having James's engagement ring on her necklace, along with the silver ballerina slippers, makes it even worse.

Michelle, her level-headed and successful attorney daughter, decides to get to the bottom of Susan's melancholy, and when she finds out the truth about her mother's trips into the past, she determines to go with her on one more time-travel journey to end the link between James and Susan once and for all. She contacts Marta, the remaining Haiti lady, who sent Susan on her previous time travel adventures, and both mother and daughter are transported back to December 1999, where James is scheduled to make his first public appearance since his wife passed two years previously.

Michelle's well-intentioned plans go awry, however, when she encounters James's son, an up and coming concert pianist as well as a spitting image of his father, and gazes into his captivating eyes.

Susan, wondering if she will be able to reunite with James once again, realizes he's likely to have some serious trust issues concerning her. With her marriage falling apart back in the future, her heart's desire is to somehow make him love her again and, this time stay in the past and change history.

Will she be able to, however, especially when Hilary, a gold-digging ex-courtesan, enters the scene just as determined to make James her own? Is the love between James and Susan strong enough to thwart Hilary's plans, or will Susan be forced back to the future to live out the rest of her life in despair?

PROLOGUE

It was March 1987. James was standing in front of the glass display window of a high-end jewelry store in the Galleria Mall in Costa Mesa, California. As was usual when out in public, he was in disguise, this time with a gray wig, mustache, and beard. His attention was focused on a row of diamond watches, and he was wondering which one his wife might like for their eighteenth wedding anniversary. Not that she didn't already have quite a few expensive watches, but he was at a loss at to what else to get since he'd waited until the last minute and felt pressed to get something before he left the mall.

As he glanced to the side, a young girl with long blonde hair came up to stand next to him, also gazing in at the watches. He heard her give a heavy sigh and mutter under her breath, "Too expensive...I guess I shouldn't have waited..."

He looked over at her briefly before saying, "You too then? Here it's my anniversary tomorrow, and I can't figure out what to get my wife."

The girl seemed embarrassed, knowing he'd heard her musings, but turned and looked at him. She appeared to be a young teen, possibly thirteen or fourteen years old with blue-green eyes the color of the ocean, and a very pretty face. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite think of who.

"Yeah, it's my grandma's birthday tomorrow and she just broke her watch. My mom and I were thinking to get her a new one. I guess maybe I need to go to a place like Walmart though..." She looked back at the display window. "These are stupid expensive."

When she tossed her head and some of her hair flew around her shoulder, a sudden jolt hit James as a memory of an older girl with long blonde hair and green eyes flashed into his head. He closed his eyes for a moment, conjuring up the memory, and it wasn't long before a face came into focus in his head...followed by a name...

Susan.

Not Susan, his wife, but another Susan. One he'd tried to erase from his memory, and who he'd been pretty successful at obliterating from his mind since one disastrous day almost twenty years ago.