She Grabbed the Waitress's Arm Over a Heart-Shaped Birthmark

CHAPTER 1 - THE MARK ON HER HAND

"Excuse me, May I see your birthmark?"

The French restaurant was all soft light, polished glass, and the quiet clink of expensive plates. Eleanor Whitmore had been trying to listen to her husband discuss their anniversary trip, but the moment the waitress leaned in to set down her sea bass, everything else disappeared.

The girl was young. Maybe twenty-two, twenty-three. Plain brown-and-black uniform. Blonde hair pinned back in a quick twist. Professional smile.

And on the back of her right hand was a tiny heart-shaped birthmark.

Eleanor stared so hard that her breath caught. Across from her, Daniel stopped talking.

"Eleanor?"

She barely heard him.

The waitress noticed her expression and straightened. "Is everything all right, ma'am?"

Then Eleanor was on her feet, chair scraping sharply across the wood floor, moving before reason could stop her. Her hands closed around the girl's forearm.

"Excuse me, May I see your birthmark?"

The girl blinked, startled, but still calm. She held out her hand. "Of course. I've had it since I was a baby."

Eleanor touched the mark with trembling fingers. She had kissed that tiny shape once. She knew she had. Twenty-three years could not erase the memory from her skin.

Her knees gave way.

Daniel lunged up from his chair, but Eleanor was already on the marble floor, crying too hard to care who was watching. With shaking hands, she yanked open her black leather handbag and pulled out the one thing she had carried for over two decades.

A silver chain.

A vintage locket.

Rectangular, but cut through with the shape of a heart.

She held it up toward the waitress.

"Do you have one like this?"

The girl's face drained of color. Her polite smile vanished. With stiff fingers, she opened the first button at her collar and pulled out the exact same locket.

Then she looked at Eleanor as if the world had just tilted beneath her feet.

"How do you know about that?"

Behind them, Daniel whispered a name Eleanor had not heard in twenty-three years.

"Anna?"