Carol and the Belles by Havig Chautona

Author:Havig, Chautona [Havig, Chautona]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Wynneword House
Published: 2015-11-25T08:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Michal—

Nothing could have been more amazing than a proposal at the event. Does Lloyd know me or what? And the check? Five thousand dollars toward the orphan project. How cool is that? Of course, the next morning, he insisted on taking me shopping for a ring. That’s just the kind of guy he is.

“I’ve had the money set aside for two years. It’s time to spend it before I decide I want a vacation in Borneo instead.” Or that’s what he claimed. We both know he’d never do it, but it sounds nice and threatening, doesn’t it?

So, we ended up on Boutique Row in Rockland. I wanted to go to the mall or some little store in Brunswick—keep the money local, you know? But, Lloyd has always tried to pamper me, and it would be a lot cooler to take our kids down the row and point out a store there than to wave at a little place in a strip mall and say, “That’s where Daddy bought this ring.”

Part of me protested the idea. I mean, it does sound a little arrogant—snooty, you know? But Lloyd is all about making memories and that’s one of the things I love about him. I can’t exactly say I love how he does that and then complain about how he does it. That’s complicated and convoluted even for me.

Near the Row is Bridal Aisle—a street almost exclusively devoted to businesses catering to the wedding industry. If we didn’t find anything in one place, surely the other…

Just in case you didn’t know, shopping for rings when you thought you knew what you liked and then discover that you don’t—unsettling at best. I have always been a big fan of the princess cut. But as I turned my hand in the light, imagining it in our engagement photos, our wedding photos, family photos for decades… Something just didn’t sit well with me. “What do you think?”

Lloyd’s arms slipped around my waist and his chin rested on my shoulder. “It’s stunning, but my question is, ‘What do you think?’”

I held it out, fingers splayed. “Maybe it’s just bigger than I imagined.”

“Well, I’m not buying you a cheap ring. You deserve the best.”

The woman behind the counter beamed with an eagerness that hinted that she loved her job. “We have a number of quality rings with smaller settings if you think you’d like to try one. Or perhaps a different cut? Marquise, asscher, brilliant, pear…”

Lloyd requested a good princess cut in a smaller stone—in platinum. “Let’s see what smaller looks like, but I don’t want you to settle.”

Three princess cuts later, I shook my head. “They’re all pretty.”

“But not what you want. Okay, so… oval?”

A man stepped up and the woman shifted to the left. He took my hand, turned it over in his, and flipped it back with a smoothness that almost felt… intimate. Lloyd sure didn’t like it. But then the man nodded and walked away. The woman grinned. “That was Tobias. He’ll be back.

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