Margarethe: I haven't seen the inside of this locket in twenty years...
Child: My mom said there's a picture inside, but she told me never to open it unless I was safe.
Margarethe looked down at the tiny photograph fitted inside the velvet lining. Her eyes filled with tears as she recognized the young face of her daughter, smiling brightly while holding a tiny newborn infant in her arms.
Margarethe: It's Sarah... holding you when you were just born.
Child: Is that really my mom when she was younger?
Margarethe: Yes, sweet girl. And this woman holding her... is me.
Lily stepped closer, her wide, innocent eyes fixed on the photograph inside the gold frame.
Child: You? But you were mean to me...
Margarethe: I was wrong, Lily. I was so blind and bitter because I thought everyone was trying to take from me. I thought I lost my daughter forever.
Child: My mom missed you every day. She kept this locket under her pillow every single night.
Margarethe: She kept it? Even after everything?
Child: She said her mother was a proud woman who loved her very much, but bad people drove them apart with lies about mortgages and legal papers.
Margarethe dropped to her knees right there on the cold marble floor, completely ignoring how her expensive dress pooled around the dusty stone.
Margarethe: I listened to her uncle's lies... I thought she abandoned the family business and ran away with the inheritance!
Child: Uncle Richard was the one who took our apartment away when mom got sick! He said we owed him money for a loan!
Margarethe: Richard did that to you?
Child: He took everything... That's why mom told me to run and find the gate with the blue locket key.
Margarethe reached out, her hands trembling as she gently pulled Lily into a tight, desperate embrace, tears streaming down her face.
Margarethe: You are my granddaughter... My sweet, sweet grandbaby.
Child: Grandma?
Margarethe: Yes, my darling. I'm your grandmother, and I am never letting anyone hurt you or your mother ever again.
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