Chapter 17 - The Ring Jamal Kept
Jamal did not want to give Marcus the ring back.
Not because it belonged to him.
Because he thought Marcus was making a mistake.
They sat on Jamal’s back deck Thursday night.
The velvet box rested between them.
“You asked me to hold this because you said you’d lose your mind if you kept checking it,” Jamal said.
“I remember.”
“And now you want it back.”
“Yes.”
“To return it?”
Marcus did not answer.
Jamal shook his head.
“That’s why I’m not giving it to you tonight.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“It’s my ring.”
“Technically.”
“Jamal.”
“Technically.”
Marcus leaned back.
“You think I should marry her after all this?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying stop making permanent decisions while you’re hurt.”
“I’m not proposing.”
“Good.”
“I’m not sure we’re staying together.”
“Also fair.”
Marcus looked toward the yard.
Jamal opened two bottles of water.
“You know what bothered me most about the driveway?”
Marcus glanced at him.
“Tiana’s reaction?”
“No.”
“What?”
“You.”
Marcus frowned.
“You were too calm.”
“You wanted me screaming?”
“No. You looked like somebody watching a result he already expected.”
Marcus remained silent.
“I’ve known you since we were kids,” Jamal continued. “You do that.”
“Do what?”
“You turn pain into evidence.”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
“Explain.”
“When you think somebody might disappoint you, you don’t ask.”
Jamal pointed toward him.
“You watch.”
Marcus looked away.
“Dad was like that after the foreclosure.”
“Exactly.”
“He learned.”
“Some things.”
Jamal took a drink.
“Other things got worse.”
Marcus knew his cousin was right.
Calvin had become disciplined after nearly losing the family home.
But also suspicious.
Every business partner had to prove loyalty.
Every large purchase required weeks of research.
Every relative asking for money became a potential threat.
Marcus had inherited more than the useful lessons.
“Tiana lied about sixty thousand dollars,” Marcus said.
“Yes.”
“She took joint money.”
“Yes.”
“She shared private information.”
“Yes.”
“You’re making this sound small.”
“I’m not.”
Jamal leaned forward.
“I’m saying her wrong doesn’t automatically make everything you did right.”
Marcus hated hearing it from another person.
“What should I have done?”
“Talked.”
“I tried.”
“No, you made comments.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Comments are what people make when they’re afraid of conversations.”
Marcus laughed despite himself.
“When did you become a therapist?”
“When you started acting stupid.”
They sat in silence.
Finally Marcus picked up the velvet box.
Jamal placed his hand over it.
“I mean it.”
“I’m not returning it tonight.”
“Promise?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Promise.”
Jamal released the box.
Marcus opened it.
The ring was elegant but not enormous.
A round diamond on a thin platinum band.
Tiana had once pointed out something similar in a jewelry window, then pretended she had not.
Marcus remembered.
Everything had seemed so clear when he purchased it.
Proposal.
Marriage.
Maybe children.
A new house eventually.
Jefferson.
Now every future image looked cracked.
“You still love her,” Jamal said.
“That’s the problem.”
“No.”
Jamal shook his head.
“Love isn’t the problem.”
“What is?”
“Trust.”
Marcus closed the box.
“I don’t know how to get that back.”
“You don’t.”
Marcus looked up.
“You build new trust.”
“With somebody who lied?”
“Or you don’t.”
Jamal shrugged.
“But stop pretending there’s a repair button.”
Marcus’s phone rang.
Tiana.
He considered letting it go.
Then answered.
“What happened?”
“I learned something about your dad.”
Marcus straightened.
“What?”
“My mother knew him.”
Silence.
“How?”
“They worked in the same building.”
“She never told me.”
“I know.”
“What did Dad do?”
“He helped her find financial counseling after my father died.”
Marcus looked toward the ring box.
“That sounds like him.”
“There’s more.”
“What?”
Tiana hesitated.
“She remembers something he said about you.”
Marcus gave a skeptical laugh.
“Mom barely knew him.”
“She remembers because it was about money.”
“What did he say?”
Tiana repeated Denise’s words.
Marcus became very still.
His father feared Marcus would become so afraid of being fooled that he would test people instead of trusting them.
Jamal watched Marcus’s face.
“That sounds like Uncle Calvin,” he said quietly.
Tiana heard.
“Jamal’s there?”
“Yes.”
“Ask him.”
Marcus put the phone on speaker.
Jamal nodded.
“He said versions of that.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You never told me.”
“You never asked.”
Marcus almost objected.
Then stopped.
How many truths in his life had hidden behind those three words?
You never asked.
Tiana spoke again.
“Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“I’m not telling you because I think it excuses me.”
“I know.”
“I just thought you deserved to know.”
Marcus looked at the ring.
“Thank you.”
They remained connected for several seconds, neither willing to end the call.
Finally Tiana whispered, “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Marcus put down the phone.
Jamal looked at him.
“You know what Uncle Calvin’s favorite saying was?”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“Price changes.”
“What matters should not.”
Marcus opened the ring box again.
Jamal shook his head.
“You’re still thinking about price.”
Marcus frowned.
“How?”
“What this relationship has cost you.”
Jamal pointed toward the ring.
“Maybe you need to figure out what still matters after the cost.”
Marcus stared at the diamond.
For the first time, he did not see a proposal.
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He saw a question.
And he knew neither he nor Tiana was ready to answer it.
