My Grandmother's Ruby Ring

Did not filter down to me who wanted it. I was not as great a beauty as my mother, one of 8 my grandmother birthed: 2 daughters made the cut. My mother in sepia light of an old photograph is seated at the piano, head bent over sheet music as if about to play (except her sister was the musical one) She's wearing a necklace that she and her sister lusted for to wear when dressing up. Her sister not as great a beauty as my mother who wears the necklace down the front of her dress. She wears no smile, no need to beguile. Beauty was her duty. She did it surpassingly well.