The Wedding Ring That Never Made It to My Finger Chapter 07

The Wedding Ring That Never Made It to My Finger Chapter 07

He couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to my mother – why she’d collapsed.

-IMG

He remembered rushing into the ward my mother already flat on her back, staring at the ceiling, barely conscious.

I’d been gripping Nina by the arm, screaming, coming apart at the seams.

He saw it now

I wasn’t throwing a tantrum.

Nina was the one who’d pushed my mother over the edge. And he’d taken Nina’s side. He’d shoved me away.

He’d walked out without a second look at the blood on my back.

The strength went out of him all at once.

He sank to the floor, the phone shaking in his hand. “I’m sorry, Clara. I was wrong. I was wrong.”

“Please pick up. Please.” He called again. And again. And again.

The line was dead. Every call went nowhere. And something in his chest went cold and stayed that way.

He didn’t remember leaving the hospital. The next thing he knew, he was parked outside our building.

He punched in the door code and stepped inside. The apartment was silent.

My pajamas were still on the couch, folded neatly. A glass sat on the coffee table, the water completely evaporated,

leaving only a cloudy ring.

He opened the bedroom closet. Empty.

There was no denying it anymore.

I was gone. Every trace of me stripped from the apartment – no notè, no goodbye. Just absence.

He sat on the edge of the bed. A single piece of paper on the nightstand. He picked it up. A death certificate.

My mother’s name. Cause of death. Time. All of it printed in black and white.

At the exact moment she died, he’d been sitting across from Nina at a restaurant.

He remembered Nina had asked, something uneasy flickering behind her eyes.

“Are we really just going to leave her like that?”

“She’s all alone. What if-” “Don’t. Don’t overthink it.”

He’d leaned across the table and brushed his thumb over her cheek, cutting her off before she could finish.

Now the memory made him sick.

He slammed his fist into the nightstand, the crack echoing in the empty room.

How could he do this?

How could he have been with another woman while my mother was dying? He couldn’t imagine what I’d gone through

alone, bleeding, with no one to hold onto.

He crushed the death certificate in his fist.

Nina was in the doorway. He didn’t know how long she’d been standing there.

“Ethan…” He looked up. The disgust in his eyes was unmistakable.

“Why are you here?” “I… I was worried about you.”

Ethan said nothing. Nina moved closer and reached for his hand. He pulled away.

“Leave.” “Ethan, don’t do this…”

“I said leave!” The roar tore out of him, Nina flinched.

Her whole body was trembling, eyes burning red.

“Ethan, what do you mean?” Nina cried, her voice rising. “Clara left on her own! I didn’t make her go! Why are you blaming me for this?”

Ethan lifted his eyes to her. Whatever she was about to say died on her tongue.

“You think none of this has anything to do with you?” He rose. Walked toward her. Slow.

“Then why did her mother collapse?” His voice dropped, lethal and quiet. “She’s dead, Nina. Heart attack. She’s dead!”

“Clara’s gone because of this. And you’re the reason all of it happened!”

Nina took a step back.

The color drained from her face. She hadn’t known.

Because of her, my mother’s heart gave out.

She was the one who killed her.

Her eyes darted everywhere but his face, and the tears came fast.

“I… I didn’t know. I didn’t know it would end up like this.”

“Ethan, please believe me – I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“I never thought the shock would kill Ms. Reed. I didn’t want Clara to leave.”

Ethan looked at her for a long moment. Then he laughed.

It was the kind of laugh that sounded worse than crying.

“You didn’t cause this.”

“I did.”

He turned and walked out.

“Ethan! Where are you going?” He didn’t look back.