A Mother’s Secret, a Hungry Child, and One Broken Moon Locket

CHAPTER 1 - The Church Steps

"Please... I'm hungry."

The girl's voice was so weak it barely carried over the wind.

Mara Ellison stopped on the stone steps outside St. Jude's Church.

"Where are your parents?"

The girl swallowed hard. "My father died. Mom never came back."

Mara's breath caught.

The child's collar slipped open.

A silver half-moon pendant hung there on a chain. Broken cleanly down the middle.

Mara went still.

Her fingers trembled as she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out another half, old and polished by years of touch. She pressed the two pieces together.

They formed one full moon.

The world seemed to go silent.

"Who gave you this?" Mara asked.

"My dad," the girl said. "He said my grandma had the other half."

Mara sat down hard on the steps.

"No... this is impossible."

The church bells rang above them, and Mara felt suddenly cold in a way the winter could never explain.

Then she heard footsteps.

A man in a dark wool coat climbed the steps, holding two coffees. He was tall, calm, and familiar in a way that made Mara's chest ache.

He looked from Mara to the child.

"Mom?" he said slowly. "This little girl looks so familiar... Who is she?"

Mara's hand closed around the pendant so tightly it hurt.

"Don't ask me that here."