It is a Christmas miracle of sorts, manifested by the kindness of a stranger.
Toronto's Victoria Bothwell was on her way down the Sea to Sky Highway to the ferry from a “girls' day” at Scandinave Spa in Whistler when she stopped to take in the view at the Tantalus Lookout.
She is in B.C. visiting her soon-to-be in-laws in Gibsons and was heading to the Sunshine Coast.
But when she got to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal that Monday, Dec. 18, she realized her necklace's sapphire and diamond teardrop pendant was missing.
It was a gift last Christmas from her fiance Steven DesBrisay, and Bothwell said she had been triple-checking it was in place since it fell off suddenly two weeks ago.
"It's so pretty," she said, adding that while the jewelry is replaceable, the sentimental value means the most to her.
She had checked it was on when she left the spa, and it was there, so, at the ferry terminal, she ripped the car apart, even stripping off her clothes to see if it was still with her.
No luck.
She called the spa to see if she had dropped it in the parking lot.
No luck.
When she told her fiance, she was in tears, she said, adding that DesBrisay, who she will wed in September, was “really nice about it.”
“He's like, ‘You know, it's OK. It's only a thing,’” she said.
They thought they might have had insurance on the piece, but it expired about 20 days ago.
She didn't have time to go back to the lookout, so she returned to her in-laws but didn't give up.
She checked online and hoped someone would post finding it, but nothing came up.
Eventually, she posted on the Squamish Lost and Found Facebook group asking if anyone had seen it.
"I was kind of hesitant to post anything on Facebook because I didn’t want someone to go in and just look for it intentionally to steal it and sell it," she said, adding had she posted such a thing in Toronto, that is what likely would have happened.
But not so in Squamish.
Keeta Newman saw the post and went out to look for the pendant—at 4 a.m., with a flashlight.
Newman told The Squamish Chief that since her dad died in September, she hasn't slept as much, and searching for the pendant was a distraction.
She was as devoted to the task as Nancy Drew.
She walked a grid around the parking lot, looking back and forth for the piece of jewelry. She even used a tab from a soda as a reference for how the item might show up in the beam of light from her flashlight.
But as much as she paced, she couldn't find it.
"I'm like, I guess I'm not going to be her hero. I'm not going to make someone's day," Newman recalled. "And I'm like, 'Creator, please let me be someone's hero.'"
She was almost back at her vehicle when, there it was, by some rocks.
She let Bothwell know. They met at Squamish's McDonald's on Thursday.
Newman brought the pendant and a Christmas card, and Bothwell brought the cookies she had promised in her post for whoever found it.
The women hugged.
"I called her my Christmas miracle," said Bothwell.
The two are now Facebook friends and plan to stay in touch.
Newman says her dad would be proud of her.
"This is the first Christmas without him, so he would want me to do something good and make someone else's day because that is what he always did," she said.
