Heart shaped charm

Years ago I gave her a silver bracelet with a heart-shaped charm on it. It wasn't a particularly expensive piece of jewelry, but she loved it and wore it every day.  And when I went to sea, she gave it to me to take along. 

I hung it up in my bunk and would look at it before I went to bed and when I got up in the morning. It dangled there and would sway back and forth with the motion of the ship.  The ship's motion was hypnotic and the motion of that heart was also hypnotic.  It would gently sway above me. 

I would return the heart to her every time I came home.  She would put it on with a smile, hooking the clasp at her wrist.

Then one afternoon we were on the sailboat and she had finished hanking on the jib.  It was raining so we were both hurrying to get back in the cabin.  She came inside, took off her wet jacket, and said "My heart is gone."  I wasn't sure what she was talking about but she pointed to her wrist. 

We searched forward on the boat and we looked in the cabin and berth.  No bracelet, no heart.  She took it in stride, saying that she was sure it was lost when she was hanking on the jib. She regretted having worn it on the boat.  We talked a bit about how it had been so many places with her and with me.  It didn't seem right that it would be lost over the side, settling down into the dark mud on the bottom, perhaps being investigated by a passing fish, and then finally silted over for eternity. 

A few days ago, I went down to the boat to check on things after a windy, rainy day.  I got inside and looked at the aft bilge and there sitting on a piece of canvas was a heart shaped charm bracelet.  It glinted even in the feeble light.  I called her as soon as it was found.  I had told her that I would give her another heart but she wanted the one that I held in my hand.