Black Jewel

Chapter 31 - The Past Resurrecting

Ana was at Lola's house going through pictures for the engagement party. She wanted to do a slideshow presentation of the couple. She sat there engulfed in memories, even laughing to herself. Lola overheard her as she came down the stairs.

"See you later, madrina. Have fun," said Lola.

"Ok, míja," said Ana looking up at Lola.

All of a sudden, Ana froze. She looked like she'd seen a ghost when she saw what Lola was wearing.

"Madrina, you ok?"

"Where did you get that necklace?" asked Ana with a shaky voice.

"Mauricio gave it to me. Isn't it beautiful?"

"It's lovely. But where did he get it from?"

"His dad...but I'll tell you about it later. I'm late for my meeting. Love you," said Lola kissing her on the cheek and running out the door.

Ana began shaking. She left the mess on the floor and ran home. When she got there, she walked right passed David who was cleaning himself up from the fight. She didn't even stop to ask what happened. She headed straight for her closet and pulled down a photo box that was tucked away. Inside were pictures and other memorabilia of Natalie, including some with Lola's father, Náto (pronounced Naw Toe).

"Here it is! David, I found it!" she said frantically waving a picture.

"Woman, what's wrong with you?"

"Look at the picture! Look at what Natalie's wearing."

"Ok."

"Look at the necklace."

"It's nice. What about it?"

"I just saw Lola wearing the same one."

"Ok. It belonged to her mother. What's the big deal?"

Ana explained what the big deal was. Náto gave Lola's mom that necklace years ago. She recognized it because she'd never seen such a beautiful black jewel in her life. But supposedly Náto snatched it off of Natalie's neck one day when they got into an argument. Náto was supposedly the last one with it. So, how did Mauricio get it? Or better yet, where did Esteban get it from?

"That's the one he snatched that day?" asked David.

"Yes."

"Speaking of Náto, I ran into him today."

"What!!!"

David explained he was having a cozy lunch with Darlene on Lincoln Road when Náto just stood up and punched him. David couldn't believe he did that.

It was all too coincidental now. Ana wondered how Darlene knew him and if he was looking for Lola. Ana got scared. David tried calming her down.

"Náto doesn't know of Lola's existence," he said.

"That's not true."

Natalie found out she was pregnant after Náto stood her up at the altar. But she wanted to see if he would try and make it work with her one last time. So, she sent him a letter, a copy of the ultrasound picture and her engagement ring. He was supposed to come back and put the ring on her finger when he was ready. But he never showed up.

"What if he's using Darlene to get information about Lola?" questioned Ana.

"Darlene isn't gonna tell him anything."

"But what if he's pretending to be someone else?"

"I doubt it."

Then, she suddenly remembered the familiarity with Lola's engagement ring. It was Natalie's engagement ring. She found the picture where Natalie had it on. How was Mauricio able to give her that ring? And who was Mauricio's father? Ana had to find out.