“She has always been that way, just give her five minutes,” he said, setting the hanger down on the chest. “She gets these ideas. She is seventy-eight, Natalie. She lives in her own head half the time, thinking about the old days.”
“It didn’t feel like a sweet old memory,” I said, my voice tightening. “She looked terrified of that box. What is actually inside it?”
“My grandfather’s mother’s diamond ring,” Ethan said, stepping closer and reaching for my waist. “It has been passed down to every first daughter-in-law for eighty years. It is a beautiful thing. My mother has been wearing it, and she is ready to pass it on.”
“Grace is just being dramatic because she likes the ceremony of it all.”
“But why would she tell me to refuse it?” I asked, stepping back slightly so his hands fell away. “If it is just a piece of jewelry, why would it frighten her?”
Ethan sighed, his shoulders dropping. “Because she remembers how much work it was to keep up with the family expectations when she was young. But that was fifty years ago.
