Page 103 of Best Man Speaking
I know this jewelry box. Had seen it on my gran’s dressing table numerous times growing up.
Picking it up, I can see the golden hinges are slightly tarnished, the velvet a little worn.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, heart pounding, blood rushing in my ears, I swallow thickly, then open the lid. The sight of what’s inside steals my breath: an emerald-cut ruby in a gold setting with three small marquise diamonds surrounding it on either side of the band.
The ring is beyond beautiful, more so than I remembered, the ruby deep and mesmerizing, the diamonds twinkling brightly even in the late-afternoon light.
The ring looks like new, recently polished.
I run a finger along the diamonds, not touching the ruby in case I leave a smudge on it.
And as much as I want to, I can’t bring myself to remove it from the box. I don’t dare to.
I’m so caught up in what I’m holding that I don’t notice I’m no longer the only one in the room. It’s a sixth sense that has the hairs rising on my skin, causing my eyes to lift.
Marcus leans against the doorframe of his room, his face partially in shadow.
Part of me remembers a normal reaction would’ve been to jump up; I’ve been caught unaware somewhere I shouldn’t be.
“How do you have this?” I ask, bypassing the part where I’m somewhere I haven’t been invited. I look from him back down to the small box in my palms.
Marcus doesn’t move from where he stands. “Your dad gave it to me after your gran passed away. She left it to me in her will.”
This is complete news to me. I’d had no idea the ring had been left to anyone.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he was right. It wouldn’t have been right for me to give it to you, to have taken your future from you. It was an unpleasant reality check, but a reality check all the same. I was never quite sure how to give it to you after that.”
I look at Marcus, finally seeing the harm those words did to him, anger at my father rising again. “Not then. Well…you should’ve told me then. And now. Days ago. Years ago. Why didn’t you tell me you had this?”
He finally moves into the room, and it’s then I notice how tired he looks. There are dark smudges under his eyes I’ve never noticed before. Marcus isn’t a person who loses sleep over much, but apparently he’s been losing sleep over me. I’d wished for it after all.
His smile is a shadow of his true self. “Hallie, what your dad said to me shouldn’t have dictated my actions, but it did. And instead of talking to you, I acted like the immature ass he accused me of being. I chose to hurt you because I knew you wouldn’t have left me otherwise. Hurting you was the simplest way to cut the ties between us.” He pauses, but only briefly, a hand rubbing along his neck. “As for the money, your dad offered it to help broker a conversation between you. Even considering it was wrong. I knew it was a mistake as soon as he told me about it. But when you first showed up, you wanted nothing to do with me. What did it matter if I suggested a conversation between the two of you? But things between us shifted, and I wanted to tell you, to get you on board with the young people we’d be helping—the young people who were suddenly at risk if the money didn’t come through. But the closer we got, the more wrong it felt. I don’t need to blame your father for that. I can own my own mistakes.”
I already knew that about you. The thought shocks me.
After the hurt of the last few days, I hadn’t assumed I’d feel this way. But it’s true; I know he owns his mistakes. I just hadn’t thought he’d considered breaking my heart to be one of them.
I think about what he reminded me of just days ago, of what he needed reminding of now.
“Marcus, you were young too. We were still kids. And as for the last few weeks, I didn’t expect this either,” I say, gesturing between us.
He shrugs. “But I still knew better. Could’ve handled it better.”
He’s so unbelievably hard on himself, and I don’t know how I never noticed before. He’s his own toughest critic, and that’s saying something since both Julian and I, two of the people who care for him most, don’t exactly go easy on him.
I look down at the ring again, my head shaking in disbelief. “I can’t believe she left you this.”
Marcus is directly in front of me now but still keeping his distance. “Why do you think she left you a house?”
My heart gives a little pinch. I know why. “I guess she thought we’d figure it out.”
“I think she hoped we’d have the same type of love she and your grandfather had.”
I swallow tightly. I’d thought so too. In fact, I’d told her so, that I’d wanted what she’d had.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” I ask, unsure if I’m referring to the ring or the impact of my words.
