The Engagement Ring on the Kitchen Counter
Chapter 05 - The Engagement Ring on the Kitchen Counter
Vanessa returned to our city apartment that evening. She was still wearing the champagne dress beneath a long cream coat. Her face looked drawn, but her first question wasn't about Emily.
“Have you spoken to my father?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That the foundation should hurry.”
Vanessa put her bag down. “He's trying to protect a profitable project.”
“Profitable for whom?”
She stared at me.
I placed Rebecca's summary on the kitchen counter. “You have an interest in the company proposing to acquire Dad's building.”
“It's a passive arrangement.”
“Then why didn't you disclose it?”
“Because I knew your mother would make it into exactly this.”
“Mom didn't put your foot on Emily's dress.”
Vanessa's expression hardened. “She was threatening our future.”
There it was again: the assumption that my sister's right to be heard was a threat.
I asked whether she'd contacted Emily before the gala. Vanessa admitted she'd told her to stop investigating the property. She insisted the confrontation on the staircase had gotten out of hand.
“Did you intend to hurt her?” I asked.
“I wanted her to leave us alone.”
“That wasn't the question.”
Vanessa began crying. For two years, I had rushed to comfort her whenever she cried. Tonight I remained still.
“I love you,” she said.
“I thought we loved each other enough to tell the truth.”
She pulled off her engagement ring and placed it on the counter. “Then I suppose you've already chosen.”
I looked at the ring. I remembered proposing in Central Park, how happy she'd seemed, and how proud I'd been to imagine a family of my own. I wasn't ready to pretend none of that had mattered.
But I also wasn't willing to buy that future with my sister's pain.
May you like
“Yes,” I said quietly. “I've chosen to find out what happened.”
Vanessa collected her bag and left.
