The Wedding Ring That Never Made It to My Finger Chapter 06

The Wedding Ring That Never Made It to My Finger Chapter 06

Ethan woke the next morning to sunlight cutting through the blinds.

He reached up to shield his eyes, but his arm wouldn’t move – Nina was asleep on it, her head pressed into the crook of

his elbow.

He looked at her, and something felt wrong. Hollow. I hadn’t sent a single message since yesterday.

Before, I would’ve blown up his phone – frantic calls, demanding to know where he was. Now there was nothing. The silence made his chest tight.

He kept seeing it – the last image of me.

On the floor, blood soaking through my shirt, my back torn open.

Dragging myself toward the hallway, screaming for help.

Something in him had lurched – he’d wanted to go to me.

But the way I’d gone after Nina stopped him. He told himself I needed to learn. To stop fighting him. To be reasonable.

To behave.

Now, the unease wouldn’t let go.

He eased his arm free, but she stirred anyway..

She rubbed her eyes, still half–asleep. “Ethan? What’s going on?”

“Something came up at work. I need to make a call.” He didn’t bother making it convincing. He was already on his feet,

heading for the balcony.

He dialed my number – too late for it to be anything but guilt.

He wanted to ask about my back, about my mother.

All he got was an automated voice. “The number you have reached has been disconnected.”

He stood there, phone still pressed to his ear, as the panic set in.

Nina must have sensed it. She got out of bed and came to the balcony.

“You’re calling Clara.” She didn’t need to see the screen. She already knew.

“Something’s wrong.” He turned to Nina, face pale.

‘She’s never done this before.”

“I have to get to the hospital

He grabbed his jacket off the chair and was halfway to the door.

Nina caught him from behind, arms locking around his waist.

“Ethan!”

“I’ve made up my mind. I can’t let you go.”

“Take me with you. Please.” She’d been awake all night, wrestling with this.

Every time she’d been about to walk away, she’d turn her head on the pillow and see him there – eyes closed, breathing steady, lying beside her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

That quiet. That closeness. She couldn’t give it up.

So she chose him – over me, over a decade of friendship, over everything.

But Ethan said nothing. He knew the things he’d said in the heat of the moment outside the bar – about running away

together – were just talk

By the time he realized she’d taken him literally, it was too late to walk it back

“Nina… she’s your best friend. You two have been friends for over a decade.”

“She’s hurt, and her mom’s still in the hospital. We can’t just leave her like this.”

Something in his expression made Nina’s stomach drop – the guilt, the pull back toward me,

She grabbed his hand, eyes already rimming red. ‘Ethan, do you regret this?”

“Were you ever actually going to leave with me?*

Ethan’s patience was gone. All he could think about was me.

He shook her hand off and snapped.

I’ve been with her for eight years! You think I can just walk away?”

“Sure, I care about you. But let’s be real – it was just something new. Something exciting.”

“We both got what we wanted out of it, didn’t we? Don’t pretend this was ever more than that.”

Nina’s face crumbled. “What are you saying?”

“Was everything a lie?”

Ethan didn’t answer. He stepped around her and walked out.

—

Behind him, Nina screamed raw, desperate, furious.

He didn’t look back.

He drove straight to the hospital and stopped outside my mother’s room.

He stood there for a moment, steadying himself, then pushed the door open.

The room was empty. The bed was stripped, the blanket folded neatly at the foot and no one in it.

‘Clara? Ms. Reed?” He called into the empty room. Nothing.

He rushed to the nurses‘ station, barely holding it together.

“The patient in 503- where is she? She was here yesterday.”

The nurse’s face shifted – recognition, then pity.

—

*She had a heart attack yesterday. We did everything we could, but… she didn’t make it.”

“Her daughter collapsed right outside the OR when she heard.”

“When she came to, she checked herself out – still injured, still bleeding – and had her mother’s body transferred to a

funeral home.”

Ethan’s mind emptied out. The words looped, broken and sharp. Didn’t make it. Collapsed. Took her mother’s body.

His knees buckled. He caught himself on the counter, barely keeping himself upright.