Furthest to the left, a teardrop sapphire in a golden band, the setting encrusted with diamonds. It gleamed like a baptismal font, like love, like truth.
Beside it…a silver band with an unusually dark amethyst, along with two moonstones on either side that shone like eyes in the dark.
Next, a ring I’d seen before: a small, classic diamond that Delilah had snatched from the jewelry box more than once when we were kids, only to have Grandma catch on and chastise all six of us for being little thieves.
And last—rose quartz in a filigree rose gold band that wove like vines, tiny leaves framing the rough-hewn stone.
Rhett let out a low whistle beside me. “Damn,” he said. “And here I thought we’d all be bachelors for life…but it seems Hazel had other plans, huh?”
His daughter let out another squeal of agreement. Rhett chuckled.
“Not you, sweetheart. Your great-grandma.”
She cackled.
Yeah…I wasn’t sure if there was all that much of a difference.
Hazel kept her eyes on me, still bopping in Rhett’s arms as I hovered my fingers over the rings. Each was unique…different, like they were made specifically for very specific kinds of women.
And I knew which one was made for my June.
The sapphire.
Shaped like a teardrop…like we’d both come from grief, like we were in each other’s blood, surrounded by those small diamonds.Beautyin the healing. I plucked it from the box and Hazel squawked, loud and joyous.
“Think that’s Hazel’s favorite,” Rhett said, and again, I wasn’t sure if he was talking about his daughter or our grandmother.
I turned the ring in the light, the sapphire catching it like holy water—like the flash in June’s eyes when she was ready to throw down or throw her arms around someone. “This one’s hers. No doubt in my mind.”
Hazel let out another chirp and promptly tried to dive headfirst for it.
“Hey now,” Rhett laughed, reeling her back in before she could faceplant off his knee. “That ain’t a snack.”
“She’s got good instincts,” I said, tucking the ring into my breast pocket. “And fast hands.”
“Wonder where she got that from,” Rhett muttered, smoothing down her curls. “You gonna ask her soon?”
I chuckled. “Kinda already did…this is just the physical confirmation.”
Rhett snorted. “Let me guess—you blurted it out during some kind of divine revelation?”
I gave him a look. “Gonna keep that to myself for your daughter’s sake. Remember—little pitchers have big ears.”
I closed the jewelry box again and we both stood up, Rhett tucking Hazel securely against his hip. She gurgled and set to playing with his beard again—a far more interesting activity now that the rings had vanished. We didn’t say much as we went back downstairs and out onto the porch, where Rhett took a seat on the porch swing—his eyes straying to the garden, where Willow was on her knees in the dirt, preparing for the chill of fall.
“So,” I said after a minute, “you think Whit’s next?”
Rhett raised an eyebrow. “Who’s to say that diamond ring ain’t for Delilah and someone else? She was as much one of Hazel’s grandkids as any of us…and Whit don’t even have his own place. Hell, I have no idea where he lives.”
I laughed softly. “Fair enough—but you have to have noticed the way he looks at her.”
“I’ve also seen the wayshelooks athim,” Rhett said. “Like she’s debatin’ whether to kiss him or kick him in the teeth.”
“Same difference with those two,” I muttered. “That diamond’s gotta be Delilah’s, though. Remember how many times she tried to steal it when we were kids?”
“She also tried to trade it for a potbelly pig in the third grade, so…”
We both laughed as Rhett trailed off. Hazel was getting sleepy now, curled into his arms, eyelashes fluttering like she was trying—and failing—to stay awake and listen to the conversation.
