She Got The Ring And The Marriage, I Got The Silence Chapter 08

She Got The Ring And The Marriage, I Got The Silence Chapter 08

His voice came out scraped raw.

Tessa.”

He pulled a velvet box from his uniform pocket. Inside sat a diamond ring.

Even in the gray light of that room, it caught every shadow and threw it back. Almost too bright to

look at.

“The year your mom died, you were shaking in my arms. Crying. You said you didn’t have a home anymore. I held you and I promised you. I told you I’d marry you. That I’d give you one.”

“I’m here to keep that promise, Tessa.”

Wind rattled the window. Outside, dead leaves lifted off the frozen ground and scattered.

My vision went dark at the edges.

Anger climbed my throat, and the taste of blood followed it.

I knocked the ring box out of his hand. It hit the floor hard.

The ring bounced free and rolled into some dark corner of the room.

“Eight years. Eight years, and you never once thought about marrying me.”

“My grandmother is dead because of your little soldier. She’s not even in the ground yet, she’s lying in the next room, and you’re proposing to me? Are you trying to make me sick?”

“You’re a monster, Graham. You know that?”

A violent draft pushed through the parlor and knocked a stack of funeral programs off the registry

table.

He stared at the scattered paper. His face was whiter than any of them.

He was sorry.

He’d been panicking since the moment he realized she was gone.

The PX was locked. Her friend’s house was empty. No one had seen her. He tore through every corner of Fort Ridgemont and came up empty.

He drove to Alderwick. That was where he finally found her.

He’d been too desperate.

All he could think about was telling her about the divorce, the ring, the words he should have said

eight years ago.

e’d forgotten what day it was. He’d forgotten about the funeral.

Graham drove his fist into the wall. Then again.

“Tessa, this is my fault.”

The March wind still had teeth.

I pulled my coat tighter and walked toward the door.

“This isn’t your only mistake.”

“I need to go bury my grandmother. And you need to leave.”

“She doesn’t want you here. And neither do I.”

Graham’s head came up. His eyes locked on mine, searching.

Looking for something. Anything.

There was nothing.

Whatever he was hoping to find–love, forgiveness, even hesitation–it wasn’t there anymore.

Graham closed his eyes. His throat worked.

I could see him finally understanding it. This time, there was nothing left to break.

And nothing left to forgive.

He tried to smile. Couldn’t.

The look on his face said it all. He knew.

Who forgives the person responsible for killing the one she loved most?

He could see it. I didn’t just want him gone. I wanted him erased.

On his way out, his eyes caught the ring in the corner.

He didn’t pick it up.

He left it where it was.

Graham walked out without a word.

I walked behind the procession and buried my grandmother.

When everything was settled, I booked a flight back to Bellgrave.

That evening, I submitted a formal, sworn complaint to the IG’s office.

A sworn affidavit. Graham: abuse of authority, manipulation of military promotion records.