Chapter 4 - Aldridge & SonsHe stood there in his hotel robe, hair still a disaster, and he didn't look like a guilty husband caught in something ugly. He looked like a nervous kid whose big surprise had just blown up in his face.
"Vivian," he said, "was one of your grandmother's closest friends. She's the one who helped me track the ring down."
I stared at him. "Vivian?"
"Her cousin works at Aldridge and Sons. It took her almost a year to locate it and arrange everything. Then I spent months quietly paying it off."
I looked down at the photo again, my throat tightening.
"I was going to give it to you on the beach," he said. "In Positano."
My eyes filled without warning.
"And the key?"
"Safe-deposit box downtown. I didn't want it sitting in our apartment — I knew you'd find it eventually. You find everything eventually."
All the tension in my chest let go at once, and I actually started laughing, half sob, half real laugh.
"Grant, I almost googled divorce lawyers because I was cleaning out your tuxedo pockets."
"Yeah," he said. "I figured that might happen, honestly."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
He took both my hands in his. "I know we promised each other there wouldn't be secrets. I broke that promise. I'm sorry. I just wanted one chance to surprise you with something."
Then he told me the rest of it. Vivian had handed him the final receipt and the safe-deposit box key at our rehearsal dinner, two days before the wedding, in the middle of all that chaos. The note had simply been her thanking him for letting her help return something that had belonged to my grandmother, and telling him to save the surprise for the honeymoon.
Grant had shoved everything into his tuxedo pocket for safekeeping and completely forgotten it was in there.
"I basically forgot to destroy the evidence," he admitted, sheepish.
I squeezed his hands. "I'm sorry I assumed the absolute worst about you."
"It's okay. I get why you did."
"No more secrets," I said. "Not even the nice kind."
"No more secrets," he agreed. Then, after a beat, "Although — technically — this one did eventually work out."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Do not push your luck this morning."
He laughed and kissed my forehead, and for the first time since I'd stepped into that hallway hours earlier, I finally felt like I could breathe normally again.
Before we left for the airport, Grant asked me to make one stop with him first. This time, I didn't ask a single question.
A few hours later, standing barefoot on a beach in Positano with the Mediterranean stretched out gold and endless behind him, my husband slid my grandmother's engagement ring onto my finger, right beside my new wedding band.
It fit perfectly. Like it had been waiting the whole time to come home.
I looked at Grant through tears, the ocean wind pulling at both our hair.
May you like
That morning had frightened me more than I wanted to admit, even to myself. But standing there with my grandmother's ring back on my hand and my husband beside me, I finally understood the truth of it.
The secret I'd been so sure would destroy my marriage before it even really started had actually been a year-long act of love — one small, stubborn effort to hand me back a piece of my family I'd thought was gone for good.
