Chapter 10 - THE RING
The jeweler remembered everything.
His name was Samuel Klein.
He had known Nick’s family for more than twenty years.
When Nick asked whether Martha knew about the engagement ring before the proposal, Samuel sounded embarrassed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She asked me.”
“And you told her?”
“I assumed she already knew.”
Nick’s voice became cold.
“She didn’t.”
Samuel apologized repeatedly.
Then he added something important.
“Your mother came into the store after you purchased the ring.”
“What did she want?”
“To see it.”
I looked at Nick.
He frowned.
“Did you show her?”
“No.”
Samuel paused.
“She became upset.”
“Why?”
“She said I was helping you destroy your future.”
Nick closed his eyes.
Samuel continued.
“She asked whether the purchase could be canceled.”
“What?”
“I told her only you could cancel it.”
“And?”
“She asked whether I could delay delivery.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did you?”
“No.”
Samuel sounded offended.
“I told her absolutely not.”
After the call ended, Nick sat silently.
I knew what he was thinking.
He had spent years believing his mother’s behavior consisted mostly of rude comments.
Now every major step toward building a life with me had apparently triggered another attempt to stop us.
College.
My career.
Housing.
Our engagement.
Our wedding.
I sat beside him.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“How?”
“She’s my mother.”
“That doesn’t make you responsible for everything she hides.”
He shook his head.
“I kept telling you she was difficult.”
“She was.”
“I kept asking you to ignore her.”
I didn’t answer.
Because that part was true.
Nick looked at me.
“How many times did I ask you to be patient?”
“A lot.”
“How many times did I say she didn’t mean it?”
“A lot.”
His voice broke.
“I made you stand there and absorb it because I wanted peace.”
I reached for his hand.
“I agreed to it too.”
“But you shouldn’t have had to.”
That was the first real crack between us after the wedding.
Not because I blamed him for Martha.
I didn’t.
But because for years, “keeping the peace” had meant asking me to accept behavior no one should have accepted.
Nick knew it too.
That night, he called Martha.
This time, I didn’t sit beside him.
I stood near the kitchen window while he spoke.
“Mom, did you try to cancel Emily’s engagement ring?”
Silence.
Then Martha said, “Who told you?”
Nick laughed bitterly.
“So you did.”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Losing you.”
“You weren’t losing me.”
“I already had.”
Nick looked at me.
“No.”
His voice became steady.
“You started losing me every time you lied.”
Martha began crying.
I heard it through the phone.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to watch your child choose someone who will make his life harder.”
Nick’s jaw tightened.
“Emily has made my life better.”
“You don’t know what hardship does to a marriage.”
“What are you talking about?”
Then Martha said something unexpected.
“Ask your grandmother what happened to me when I was twenty-three.”
Nick frowned.
“What?”
“Ask Rose why I care so much about money.”
Then Martha hung up.
Nick stared at the phone.
For the first time, there was something other than anger in his face.
Confusion.
May you like
Because Martha had finally pointed toward the reason behind her obsession.
And the answer was apparently buried in another generation.
