Beyond the Divorce

My father thought for a moment. "Your mother did have a family crest-a brooch. Your mother carried it to commemorate her time in the Avila family."

"Oh? Do you know where it ended up?" I couldn't wait to ask, thrilled that this family crest actually existed.

My father shook his head and sighed, "I don't know. I never saw it again after your mother and I parted ways."

His voice choked up as he spoke about it.

Coming back home, he mainly reminisced about my mother. I suppose that was his greatest emotional wound. He returned, but his beloved was no longer with him.

That kind of pain must have been unbearable. So, every time my mother was mentioned, he would tear up slightly.

I pressed further. "So, where did Mom usually keep her jewelry? I mean, when you were together?"

struggling financially, so she rarely wore jewelry. That brooch was part of a set which she only

When my business with Louis did well, and we made some money, I bought her a few decent pieces of jewelry. She kept them all in her jewelry box on the

like storytelling. I had almost no recollection of any of it. Even their house

safe. She laughed and said, 'In this house, with its doors open at night, why bother locking anything?"" My father's face lit up with a fond smile

a little, and I teared

Even if my father couldn't

said made sense so I never brought it up again. That brooch was probably

it look like? I mean, like the color or the design?"

rubies, which was their national flower. It symbolizes strength, dood

listened intently, picturing it in my

it when you were little, asking everyone, 'Do I look pretty?" My father remembered, looking at me with affection. "That was probably

it?" I asked in surprise, then sighed quietly, "I don't remember it at