{"id":9351,"date":"2026-07-11T15:28:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T09:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/?p=9351"},"modified":"2026-07-11T15:28:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T09:58:21","slug":"the-locket-around-his-neck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/?p=9351","title":{"rendered":"The Locket Around His Neck"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

The ballroom remained silent.<\/p>\n

The little boy refused to let go of the woman in white.<\/p>\n

Then\u2014<\/p>\n

she noticed a small silver locket beneath his tuxedo.<\/p>\n

Her hands began to tremble.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I see that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy nodded.<\/p>\n

She opened it.<\/p>\n

Inside was a tiny photograph.<\/p>\n

A younger version of herself holding a newborn baby.<\/p>\n

Tears filled her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave him this the day he was born.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man in the black suit lowered his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe promised we’d keep it safe until the truth came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman in the maroon gown quietly stepped back.<\/p>\n

Unable to deny it anymore.<\/p>\n

The little boy looked at the photo.<\/p>\n

Then at the woman holding him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s you…\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled through her tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sweetheart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve loved you every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy wrapped his arms around her neck.<\/p>\n

And for the first time\u2014<\/p>\n

he wasn’t confused anymore.<\/p>\n

He had finally found the arms that had always been waiting for him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ballroom remained silent. The little boy refused to let go of the woman in white. Then\u2014 she noticed a small silver locket beneath his tuxedo. Her hands began to tremble. \u201cMay I see that?\u201d The boy nodded. She opened it. Inside was a tiny photograph. A younger version of herself holding a newborn baby. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}