“What happened?”
He looked at the floor, then toward the window, as though he were searching for the courage to say something he desperately wanted to avoid.
Finally, he looked directly at me.
“I need you to return the ring.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“The ring,” he repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. “I need it back.”
I felt as though the floor had shifted beneath my feet.
For a moment, I could not understand the words. I looked at his face, waiting for the hint of a smile, the sudden laughter that would reveal this was some terrible joke.
But he didn’t smile.
“Daniel, what are you talking about?”
“Please, Nadya. Just give it to me.”
My fingers curled instinctively around the ring.
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“I can’t explain everything right now.”
“You can’t explain everything?” I repeated. “You proposed to me last night. You told me you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me. And now you’re standing in our kitchen asking for the ring back, but you can’t explain why?”
