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I went to one of the trusted antique stores in the area because I wanted to get Bernadette something unique. In my mind, she was special and definitely worth the most expensive diamond ring that I could afford.
But money wouldn’t impress her. No, I wanted to make her feel special by finding a ring so beautiful that it would take her breath away. And so an antique jewellery shop was the perfect place for me to go.
The shop attendant was busy with something, so I began to browse the display cases. All of the rings were organized by size, and there were a lot in Bernadette’s. She had small, dainty hands, but a lot of the antique rings were exactly the same way. It gave me hope to find something especially unique for her.
I was so engrossed in examining the rings and trying to decide if any were the right one for Bernadette that I didn’t notice the shop attendant had come over until he cleared his throat.
I looked up at him in surprise.
“Can I help you with anything?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m actually looking for an engagement ring, size four, for a special girl. I want something really beautiful and unique. Dainty would be great.”
“Ahh, I see,” the man said, then began looking at the rings with me. He pulled out a few of them for me to look at closer up, but none of them seemed right for Bernadette so I shook my head at all of them.
Then, finally, he said, “I actually have a ring in this size that just came in in the back of the shop. I’d have to price it, but it might be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s very dainty, from the 1920s. Doesn’t have the traditional stone though and will cost you a pretty penny.”
I waved my hand. “That’s fine. I just want to find something that will fit her perfectly.”
The attendant nodded and headed into the back, then returned several minutes later with a box. When he opened it, I had no questions. I knew that I had found the perfect one.
21
Bernadette
I felt so lost without Lucas by my side.
I kept telling myself that it was fine, that if he really liked me then he would come after me as he should.
That was how it was supposed to be, right?
I talked to Vanessa about it, about how lost I felt, about how I just wanted Lucas to show me that he really did care about me. She told me that she would work to fix things, but I didn’t know if she would be able to.
I just wanted to be with Lucas. I missed him so badly I didn’t know what to do.
I knew that my mom noticed I wasn’t eating quite right. Or sleeping well. And during the day or night or whenever I was awake, I would wander the house aimlessly, wanting to do something but not knowing what or why.
So one day, a few days after everything had happened, she sat me down at the kitchen table.
“What is this about?” I asked.
“I want to tell you a story,” she said. “A story that I should have told you long ago.”
I tilted my head to the side, confused as to what she meant. “A story about what?”
“About how your father and I met. And then, how I had you. You see, the fact is that my mother also disapproved of the relationship at first. I should have known that you would end up doing something similar to me.”
She laughed. “My daughter, following in similar footsteps to me, mother’s disapproval and all. But I guess things are a bit different in some other ways. After all, your father and I met when I was in high school. The fact that we were so young was one of the reasons why my mother disapproved. She didn’t think we could know what love was at that point, but we did. We definitely did.”
She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “I miss him, you know?”
“I do too,” I said, feeling the tears come to my eyes. My father had been my favorite human on the face of the Earth. I missed him so much that sometimes I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. He had told the best jokes and had always made my mom soft.
“I know you do. I’m sorry that he was taken from you when you were so young. You didn’t deserve that. Neither of us did. I wish that the two of us had gotten to spend more time with him, but unfortunately, that’s just how things happened.
“He was never a very healthy man, but I loved him anyway, even if I knew that he wouldn’t have long for this Earth. I just wanted to be with him as long as possible.”
