Time Will Tell by Fiona McCallum Read Free Book Online

across the table from her, or sitting watching television in silence.
    She thought about Nathan again and pursed her lips. No, as much as she’d love the extra money, she could see it would be a backwards step. She needed the space to truly find herself – as naff as that sounded – and she was sure Barbara would agree.
    Nathan would be disappointed, but she could only hope he’d meant it when he said there’d be no hard feelings. She’d better tell him soon so he could make other arrangements.
    Meanwhile she had Jake to entertain and Christmas lunch to cook. She poured the steaming water into their mugs, and was just adding milk when he spoke, startling her.
    â€˜What the hell?!’
    â€˜What’s wrong? Oh God, you didn’t cut yourself, did you?’
    â€˜No, but have you seen this?!’ he asked.
    Emily looked over at him, frowning. Jake was holding up a smoky blue-grey stone about the size of the nail on her index finger.
    â€˜Oh, yeah, Elizabeth noticed that the other week when you guys were here – weird, huh?’
    â€˜Do you have any idea what this is?!’
    Emily shrugged. ‘Just a pretty little pebble; Gran was accumulating all sorts of stuff near the end.’
    â€˜It’s an uncut diamond.’

Chapter Five
    â€˜Don’t be ridiculous,’ Emily said with a laugh, moving towards him. Something tugged at her memory, but she was unable to secure whatever it was, and returned her focus to the tiny object in Jake’s hand.
    He held it out to her.
    Emily closed her fingers around it and pulled both hands to her chest in an exaggerated theatrical gesture.
    â€˜What? You mean I’m rich?!’ she said, doing her best Scarlett O’Hara impression. She then held it up for a closer look.
    It was a strange-looking little stone, a deep grey-blue colour, sort of clear, but not quite, and with a slightly milky sheen. Up close, she saw that it was oddly shaped – long in the middle and pointy at each end.
    â€˜Seriously, Jake, you shouldn’t get a girl’s hopes up like that. It isn’t fair,’ she said, pouting, before handing it back to him.
    â€˜I’m telling you, Em, it’s an uncut diamond!’
    â€˜How would you know anyway, you’re a…’
    â€˜An architect? Actually, I’ll have you know I’m a man of many talents,’ he said, grinning at her. ‘I did an introductory course on gemmology a few years back. And I would put money on that being an uncut diamond. See, the shape – a tetrahedron – it’s how they’re formed. It looks silky and smoky, but not really opaque,’ he said, sounding more and more excited. ‘There’s no other gem quite like it.’
    Emily had never seen a loose diamond before, let alone one in its uncut state. ‘Looks like quartz or opal to me, or scratched glass, or something.’ She frowned slightly.
    â€˜Well it’s not, trust me. Bloody hell, this could be worth a fortune! How did it get here? Where did it come from?’
    Emily rolled the small object slowly around between two fingers. Something in the back of her mind was fighting to be remembered, but it was still too small to grasp.
    â€˜It does feel sort of silky,’ she said thoughtfully, as she tried to focus her mind. ‘They come out of the ground in this shape?’
    â€˜Pretty much – in different sizes of course.’
    â€˜It’s actually pretty big, isn’t it?’
    â€˜And, being such an unusual blue-grey colour, I wouldn’t mind betting it’s really quite rare. Probably worth a fortune.’
    Emily suddenly felt as if the blood had drained right out of her body. Feeling quite unstable on her feet, she dragged the nearest chair away from the table and sat down. Oh God! The letter she’d found among Granny Rose’s things.
    Jake continued to inspect the object, turning it over and over, around and around. She