Inside the dark velvet box lay an identical gold chain and teardrop emerald.
Margarethe lifted the necklace out into the bright morning sunlight.
She held the two pendants side by side in the open air.
The two emeralds matched perfectly in color, weight, and custom setting.
Margarethe: What did she say about your parents?
Hannah: She said it was the only thing they left me when I was a baby.
Tears streamed freely down Margarethe's face as she looked at the young woman.
Margarethe: Then you are my...
Margarethe stopped herself, unable to finish the sentence out loud.
The weight of thirty years of grief suddenly came crashing down upon her shoulders.
Thirty years ago, her infant niece had disappeared from a city hospital without a trace.
The family had spent millions searching for the missing heiress to the estate.
Her brother had died of a broken heart just five years after the baby vanished.
The entire family fortune had been locked in a legal trust fund ever since.
Margarethe grabbed Hannah's hand, holding it tight between her warm palms.
Margarethe: What is your full name, my dear?
Hannah: Just Hannah.
Margarethe: Do you have your birth records from the orphanage?
Hannah: They said I was left in a basket on the chapel steps.
Margarethe pulled the girl into a sudden, fierce embrace.
Hannah stood frozen in shock, unsure how to respond to the wealthy woman's tears.
Hannah: Ma'am, I don't understand what is happening.
Margarethe: You don't have to call me ma'am anymore.
Margarethe wiped her wet cheeks with the back of her silk sleeve.
Margarethe: You carry the blood of the Montgomery family.
Hannah stepped back, her pale face turning completely white.
Hannah: That's impossible.
Margarethe: This jewel proves it.
Margarethe pointed at the matching pendants lying together on the white vanity surface.
Margarethe: My father had these made for his two grand-daughters.
Margarethe: One was for my daughter, and one was for my brother's child.
Hannah: But I am just a maid working for hourly pay.
Margarethe: Not anymore.