“Okay. So, we want you to marry us. You know this. But we get that we are all too young to do that. Or at least,” he sighed, “we know that you might feel that way. We’d get married tomorrow.”
Phoenix interrupted Barrett. “But the point is that we know that it’s too early. Probably legally too. So, we’re going to give you this.” He opened the bag and pulled out a bracelet. “It has four diamonds in it. We each picked one. We had to agree on the size. It’s the only thing we agreed on. None of us would try to outdo the others in the carrot size. Otherwise, we each picked out a diamond for you and it’s in the bracelet. When the time comes to get engaged, we’ll take the diamonds in this bracelet and make you a ring with all four diamonds present.”
I stared at him. We were all in a hot tub, in the middle of a snowstorm, and they were giving me diamonds? I opened and closed my mouth.
Tears flooded my eyes. This was really beautiful, but I could hardly think. “Guys…”
Julian kissed my cheek. “We know you’re worried about something happening to jewelry after what happened to the other two gifts. We didn’t know that before we ordered this to be made. But the thing is that it’s an act of faith, right? It’s saying that we are sure that nothing will happen now. That the bad is behind us and that this is all of us agreeing that there will be nothing but blue skies in the future for us.”
Jeremy grabbed the bracelet from Julian and held it out where I could see it.
I looked down at the bracelet, trying to make sense of the four diamonds set side by side. I wasn’t an expert on diamonds—far from it, these might be the first ones I’d ever really looked at up close—but even to my untrained eye, they were nothing alike. The first stone caught the light from the porch with a crisp, icy brilliance, nearly colorless and so clear I could see the reflections of the snow swirling outside right through it. Next to it, the second diamond was a little softer somehow, almost as if it glowed from within—a gentle warmth, not overtly yellow, but something mellowed and sweet, the sort of glimmer you’d find in candlelight.
The third was the boldest, set just off-center. It drew my gaze again and again—a touch of rose shimmered deep in its heart, like a secret captured. I had never seen a diamond with a pink undertone before; it was delicate and strange and felt a little magical. The last stone was the most dramatic, with more surfaces than the others, scattering light into tiny rainbows. It looked impossibly intricate, like I might never understand all of it.
They were all set in a simple row, each held in place by slender gold prongs, just touching but not crowding each other. Not quite matching, not quite clashing—like us. I almost didn’t want to touch it because it was so beautiful. But they’d given me this and it was… a promise.
I lifted my head to stare at them and forced myself to be able to speak. Even though it seemed impossibly hard. “Thank you.” Their grins were huge. Okay. I had to say something else. “I… I want this too. I do. What you’re describing. And I will take such good care of this. I promise. No one will hurt it. Ever.”
Jeremy squeezed my hand. “We love you. It’s more about no one and nothing hurting you. Not the diamonds. But they represent that.”
“I just can’t believe you love me this much.”
Barrett nodded. “We know that you feel that way. And some day you will. We know it, Alatheia. Some day you will be completely sure.”
“I am sure of you. Maybe it’s just me I’m not quite sure of yet.”
Phoenix chewed on his bottom lip. “Okay, so we’ll work on that. See? It’s a good thing we came back here. Or we would have had to have it shipped to Louisiana and Barrett would have worried about that.”
‘He’s right, I probably would have.”
Julian met my gaze. “Do you know who picked out which? It’s okay if you don’t. I’m just curious. We can tell you if you don’t want to guess.”
Did I know? I stared down at them again.
“ This one? The first one?” The one that had shown the snow in its icy reflection. “That is you, right, Jules?”
He let out a happy sigh. “Yes.”
“And this one?” The softer one. “That is Barrett?”
“That is it.” His smile lit up the night. Wow. It was good I was getting this right. But I wasn’t done yet. “The pink one? Is this you, Jer?” He did love to give me pink tinted things. My pearls that the school had destroyed when they ripped it off my neck had been pink tinted.
He squeezed my knee under the water. “That’s right. Yes.”
“And that would make this last one ” —the one with the multiple top surfaces— “yours, Phoenix.”
“I love that you did that. That you just knew.” He closed his eyes. “There. That’s done. And she loves it. I told you guys she would love it.”
Jeremy laughed. “You didn’t know that she would love it any more than we did. You were just as nervous. Maybe more.”
“I’ll never admit to that.” Phoenix opened his eyes and winked at me.
They had worried about that? “I’m in this too. If fate can be kind to us, some day in the not-too-distant future, I want you to turn this into a ring. I mean, it’s going to be a huge ring. I’m not sure I won’t get robbed wearing it. But yes, please. Make it a ring.”
“Let’s put this on you.” Barrett gently grabbed my wrist, and after messing with the clasp, slipped it onto my wrist and closed the clasp. It was beautiful. Like they were beautiful.
My voice, when I finally found it, was hoarse. I made myself speak. “I will never be able to thank you enough for this.”
