Page 147 of Love Unforgettable
Epilogue
LEXIE – Four weeks later
In case you’re wondering, it costs $2,100 to get x-rays for seven dogs at the 24-hr Emergency Clinic. They wouldn’t even give me apay for six, get the seventh for freediscount.
According to the x-rays, none of the dogs had swallowed the ring. Regardless, I still obsessed over their every bowel movement for the next week just to be sure. It only took an entire box of surgical gloves, and countless hours of searching, to find nothing. The good news being I now consider myself to be an expert on all things dog poo related.
It took until this morning before I admitted to Cole that I lost the ring. That’s four weeks of lying to him and telling him I just wasn’t ready. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the look on his face when I finally did tell him broke my heart. I think he would have cried had I not started crying first. I don’t know what hurt him more, the fact that I lost something so precious to him and his family, that he had entrusted to me. Or that I was ready sooner and lied about it to hide the fact that I lost the ring.
Not that it matters now, we are on our way to buy me a new ring.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask.
“Do you not want a ring, sweetness?” he smiles as he asks. “That why you ‘lost it’?” He air quotes the words lost and it. I laugh and backhand him on the biceps.
“Don’t tease,” I say. “It’s not funny. I feel terrible.” He picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. Then holds it, as he rests both hands in his lap.
“We will start our own tradition with a new ring, sweetness. Okay? One that you can pass on to our son when the time comes.”
“What if we have all girls?” I ask.
“Bite your tongue, woman,” he scolds.
I laugh.
He’s made no secret of the fact he wants at least two boys and two girls. I already told him twins run in my family. He said two sets of twins was fine with him. To which I laughed, because two sets of twins are a near impossibility.
We arrive at the jeweler’s office just before our appointment time, Cole rings for entry. It’s the same jeweler that Babs and Pappy used over the years and he’s by appointment only. Two security cameras reposition themselves above us, Cole steps back to show his face. The door buzzes and a voice says, “Welcome, Mister Mason. Come up to the studio, please.”
We climb an art-filled stairwell to a well-lit studio with modern furnishings. The jeweler sits behind a large desk. He stands to greet us, introducing himself to me, then motions for us to sit across the desk from him. Two velvet trays are arranged on the table top that hold five to ten rings each.
“These are exquisite,” I breathe over the selection he’s set before us. The first one to catch my eye is similar to Babs’ ring that I lost. Rose gold eternity band, with jewel clusters set to look like flowers. Four diamonds act as petals and surround a single pink or yellow diamond in the center to make up each flower. Eight flowers in all.
I take my time and look at all the other rings but keep going back to the first one.
“Do you see one you like?” I ask Cole.
“I do. Do you?”
I nod. I want to know how much they are, but it’s not like at the department stores where a little tag is attached. I don’t want Cole spending a lot of money on a ring for me, but I’m afraid to ask the jeweler for the price.
“What can you tell us about this one?” Cole asks. I gasp as he picks up the one I’ve been eyeing.
He looks at me.
“I love that one,” I admit.
The jeweler tells us about the ring including that it’s five carats total weight. I gasp at that as well.
“It’s too much,” I say.
“We’ll take it,” Cole says.
“What if I lose it?” I argue.
“Then we come back for the second favorite,” Cole states.
The jeweler shines the ring and hands it to Cole. He in turn hands it to me. I raise my eyebrows at him. He nods toward my ring finger. I put it on and hold my left hand out in front of me.
