Chapter 7: The Ring

Teddy drove me away from Power Street in his little red car, with the heater on full and his hands tight on the wheel.

He pulled over three blocks down, by a church with a locked gate.

"Say it plainly," I said.

"I don't have the energy for a hint."

He nodded.

"It was your twenty-seventh birthday week."

"Gavin took me to a jeweler on Wickenden because he didn't trust himself."

"He picked a round diamond in a plain gold band."

"He said you hated fuss."

I did.

I had said it a hundred times.

"He told me he was going to propose at your birthday dinner."

"He couldn't stop smiling."

"I'd never seen him like that."

I thought of that birthday.

Gavin had given me a grey wool scarf and said, "Next year will be a big one."

I had told myself he meant a trip.

"What happened?" I said.

"He told Adele first."

"He thought he should."

Teddy dropped his eyes.

"I was in the kitchen at her house the next morning, getting the cake for her brunch."

"I heard her through the door."

"She said, 'A wife has rights, Gavin."

"A girlfriend has duties.'"

I looked at the dashboard.

"She said, 'Rhea is worth more to this family as she is."

"Let her keep believing."

"She'll work harder.'"

My ears rang.

"Those were her words?"

"Those were her words," Teddy said.

"I was twenty-three."

"I wanted to be sick."

"I didn't say a thing."

"And the future Mrs. Ames thing?"

"That was her idea, too."

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