Chapter 19: No Ring

Stuart's hand closed on Celia's arm, and he peeled her fingers off my wrist one at a time.

"You do not touch my wife," he said.

"Stuart, please, it was all her mother..."

"Be quiet, Celia."

Two men in plain dark suits had come up the steps behind her.

They had been standing at the back of the ballroom beside the lawyer since the first bar of the waltz.

"Celia Verplanck," the first one said. "You are under arrest for assault and for tampering with medical records. Put your hands behind your back."

"I'm not going anywhere!"

"You are."

The cuffs closed with a small flat click that every microphone caught.

Celia screamed.

She screamed Stuart's name, and then she screamed mine, and she kicked off one white heel as they turned her to face the stairs.

Rosalind had started to edge toward the side door with her handkerchief against her cheek.

The woman in green stepped in front of it.

"Not yet, Mrs. Verplanck," she said.

"Let me past."

"The police would like a word with you first."

Rosalind turned.

Four hundred people had turned to look at her.

No one made a sound.

The second man took her by the elbow, and the pearls clicked against her coat as he led her down the steps.

At the doors, Celia twisted around one last time and looked at me over her shoulder.

Her mascara had run to her chin.

I looked back at her, and I did not look away first.

Then they were gone, and the ballroom began to clap.

It started with the woman in green, then spread, until the sound filled the room and rattled the chandeliers.

I sat down on the edge of the stage because my legs had stopped.

The nurse crouched beside me and took my pulse.

Stuart knelt in front of me.

He held out a small velvet box with the lid already open.

Inside was a plain gold ring with a single grey stone.

"I said it in the car," he said, "and I'll say it with all of them watching."

I put my hand over the box and closed the lid.

"Not tonight," I said.

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