He Chose His First Love. I Own His Empire. novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Ring

The nursery at the lake house had been Odile's sewing room, and she had given it up without being asked.

Benton had painted it the yellow of butter on the weekend before the birth.

He had got most of it on the ceiling, and nobody mentioned the ceiling.

On Sunday afternoon the baby slept in the white cradle by the window, in a yellow blanket Odile had knitted in the night.

Odile sat beside her in the wheelchair with a small flat box on her knee.

"Close the door," she said to me. "Benton, you too. And sit down, both of you. I'm going to say this once."

Benton shut the door and sat on the floor against the wall with his long legs out.

I took the rocking chair.

"I wrote that rule about the thirty-fourth birthday," Odile said, "because I wanted to see who my grandson would marry when he was desperate."

"You wanted to test him."

"I wanted to be wrong." Her voice was dry. "I hoped he'd find a woman he loved and be honest with her. Instead he found a woman he could use. I watched that for three years, and I ate her cake."

"Odile..."

"I'm not apologizing to you again. I did it at the gala. I'd rather say the other thing."

She opened the box.

The emerald lay on grey velvet, with the old yellow gold and the engraving inside the band.

I had worn it on my right hand to every board meeting since October.

I had taken it off for the birth, and she had kept it for me.

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