Were in the City Ch. 11

Her eyes filled with tears. Her mother had been happy and carefree sometimes, in a few precious hours at a time. It was important to remember those moments and not only think of all the difficult, painful things that were so much a part of their lives together. Jessie put on several pieces, moving around to watch them sparkle in the sunlight coming through the open window. She heard the truck pull into the driveway and the brothers' voices, and walked out the side door in the garage to greet them.

"Wow, don't you look fancy" said Jacob. "What have you been doing today?"

Jessie smiled. "I've been going through the boxes you rescued from the basement closet. I found my mom's jewellery box and have been remembering all the fun I had playing dress-up with her things." She laughed and bowed, "Today I am wearing the coronation jewels - the diamond necklace with a ruby pendant, ruby earrings, and several diamond bracelets with emeralds. It has been at least 20 years since I played with these. I think I will wear them to dinner tonight!"

Jacob and Liam laughed. "I hope that doesn't mean we have to dress up. We've been hanging drywall all day and I think we are both looking forward to a relaxing evening in sweatpants and hoodies."

Jessie laughed, "I don't see why I can't be fancy even if you are not. I might not wear it all, the earrings are quite heavy."

Liam suddenly looked startled. "Heavy? How heavy?"

Jessie took one of the earrings off and gave it to him. "Here, see ..."

Liam held it up in the sunlight, then brought it close to his eyes, twisting it around. He took a deep breath and said "Excuse me while I check this out ..." He walked quickly into the house and upstairs.

Jessie looked questioningly at Jacob, "What's he doing?"

"If I had to guess, he's going for his jeweller's loupe and a bright desk lamp. One of Liam's skills is, of all things, jewellery appraisal. We've had a number of occasions where it's been important and he's had quite a bit of training and experience over the years."

Jessie shook her head, "You two are full of surprises. I never would have guessed that would be something a were-coyote could do."

Liam leaned out an upstairs window and called out gently to the two of them below "Jessie, can you bring all your Mom's jewellery upstairs for me please."

Jessie put everything back in the box and took it up to Liam, then took a shower and started dinner. Nobody had come down by the time it was ready so she went upstairs to find out what was going on. Liam had all the pieces laid out on his bed, and was staring intently at one of the broaches under the light on his desk. Jacob was sitting on the floor working on his laptop.

"Dinner's ready ... what is going on? Are these interesting costume pieces or something? I don't know anything about such things."

Liam looked at her and said "These are not costume jewellery, they are the real thing!"

Jessie looked at him like he was joking. "Come on ... no way ... there are hundreds of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls on those things - some of those jewels are big. They look like gold and silver settings. If it was all real it would all be worth thousands of dollars."

Liam and Jacob laughed. Liam said "Jessie, what is sitting on my bed right now is worth in excess of one hundred MILLION dollars!"

"Sorry, I'm not that gullible ... joke's over" Jessie sounded a bit annoyed, "This is not an episode of Antiques Roadshow."

Liam shook his head. "Jessie, I'm not joking, it's all real. I've checked stones in many of the pieces now - they are real. We've been looking up the maker's marks online - its real, and it's old. Various pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries ... Italian, French, a couple from England. I'm willing to bet that the largest individual jewels are on some "known to have existed but are missing" list somewhere.

Jessie couldn't believe it. "I played with all this stuff, danced around the backyard with it practically dragging on the ground. My mom was obsessive about a lot of things and this jewellery was not a concern of hers. Surely she would not have let me even touch it if it was real?!"

Jacob said "Maybe she didn't know it was real either? Or maybe she didn't care if it was real, though that seems a bit crazy to consider. If she knew it was real then she'd have had some idea of its value."

Liam looked serious. "Jessie, we've checked out the maker's marks online as searches like that are very general and wouldn't raise any red flags. What I won't do is look online for the specific pieces themselves or the individual stones by describing them and searching. They are unique items and may very well point to your mother's family or your mother's history. I have a lot more research to do and I'm going to ask an expert from Helen's organization to help, but we'll have to be careful. For now, I'm going to take photos of everything and then lock it all in our safe."

Liam looked at Jacob. "Can you call Helen and tell her what we've found. Ask if Paul's available to help me in the next few days". He started using his smart phone to take pictures.

Jacob nodded and made the call. "Hi Helen, you are on speaker. We've got something amazing to share ..." He proceeded to fill Helen in on the details.

Jessie just kept shaking her head, running her fingers over the things on the bed. "It's not real ... it can't be ..." She picked up the necklace she'd been wearing earlier, running it through her fingers.

Liam had stopped taking photos and was watching her. "Jacob", he whispered, pointing "Jessie's eyes have changed. Look at her hair - it's changing." Her hair wasn't hair any more, it was now small white feathers that flowed over her head and down the back of her neck. Liam heard Helen say "Jacob, take me off speaker and let me talk to Liam." Jacob touched the screen and passed the phone to Liam who walked out of the room. Jacob continued to watch Jessie, who was picking up and inspecting each piece while muttering to herself.

A few minutes later Liam came back into the room. "Jessie, please sit" he said, pointing to the chair by the desk. He then picked up a pair of headphones, plugged them into the laptop and started some music playing. He looked at her. "I'm going to hide the necklace you were wearing today. No peeking, no listening. I'll be back in a minute." He put the headphones over her ears and left the room. Jessie looked at Jacob, who shrugged, looking as puzzled as she was.

When Liam returned Jessie's eyes and hair were human again. He took off her headphones and said "Find the necklace".

Jessie was confused. "How can I do that?"

"Just concentrate. Picture it in your mind, don't think about anything else. Walk around, see what happens".

Jessie didn't look happy but did what he asked, while Liam and Jacob watched. She walked around the house, looking upstairs and then downstairs, and then looked at them. "I can't find it. Do you want me to look in every drawer and under every piece of furniture?"

"No, I want you to sense where it is without having to toss the place. Are you sure it's not in the house?"

Jessie shook her head. "I'm not sure of anything but for some reason I don't think its here."

"Ok, where else could it be?"

Jessie looked at him, "Did you put it outside?" Liam just looked at her. "Fine ... I'll walk around outside too ..."

Jessie went out into the backyard and started walking around. Suddenly she looked startled and reached under a bush, standing back up with the necklace in her hand.

"How did I do that? It was under some leaves, I didn't see it but I knew it was there."

Liam laughed softly, looking very pleased. "I think Helen has figured out what you are ... and you are not supposed to be real!"