A Most Stunning Diamond and Ruby Necklace
On a chilly autumn evening years ago, Peter and I were relaxing at home. It was a lazy evening at home. The weather was blustery and cold, more winter-like than autumnal. The rain was angrily thrashing against the window panes. I had just received one of my magazines in the mail. As I was leafing through it, I spotted one of the most beautiful and stunning necklaces. I was thoroughly fascinated with it. I gazed at that image and pictured it around my neck. In those days, my neck was flawless. It was creamy, sleek. In my opinion, it was one of the attractive features in me. I imagined that stunning necklace around my neck with an elegant black sheath evening gown that I owned. My hair would be twisted up into a chignon at the nape of my neck and the necklace around my elegant neck. Added to that would be my diamond studs on my ears. I smiled dreamily to myself.
Peter glanced at me and asked what I was smiling about. I showed him the magazine with an expectant smile. He looked at them and commented, “They are beautiful. How much are they?” Peter never refused me much, but I did not expect him to get me these.
In a soft low voice, I replied, “Thirty thousand.” He cupped his ear dramatically, leaned towards me in a very theatrical way and once more asked, “How much?” He pretended not to have heard me.
In a slightly louder voice, I once more reiterated, “Thirty thousand.”
He then asked me the question that he did, which he asked when he meant to say no. “Do you need these?”
“Peter, I am only admiring them. That’s all.” I protested.
He took my hand into his and patted it affectionately. Of course, I did not need it. The subject was dropped, but I did not stop thinking of the exquisiteness of that necklace. Autumn passed, winter and spring came and went. The next summer, we were invited to the wedding of the son of one of Peter’s acquaintances at a restaurant on Long Island. He was a young policeman. Most of the men attending were policemen, young policemen at that. His retired parents were of modest means. From what we understood, so was her family. The wedding was not extravagant, but most pleasant. The bride was exquisite. She reminded me of Sandra Dee, a movie star who was popular in the fifties and sixties. As she walked down the aisle, I noticed the necklace around her neck. It was the $30,000.00 necklace in the magazine!
“How could that be?” I wondered.
“Peter, look,” I whispered.
Peter whispered back, “Hush, I saw,” he replied, in a soft voice. There was no more to be said.