Page 59 of Wyoming True

“So,” he said on a sigh and smiled, “what sort of ring would you like?”

ITWASTWOdays before the snow stopped and the roads were clear. Jake took her by the vet’s office to see Butler, who was improving nicely, and then on into Catelow to the jewelry store.

Old Brian Pirkle had owned Catelow Jewelry Company for fifty years, and he was still around, although his son, Bill, waited on Jake and Ida. Brian’s eyebrows went up, as silvery as his hair, when they walked to the counter that displayed wedding sets.

“You’re not getting married, Jake?” Brian exclaimed.

Jake chuckled. “I wasn’t. But I am now.” He looked down at Ida, who flushed prettily.

“Well, congratulations!”

“Thanks,” they chorused.

“What sort of ring would you like?” Jake asked Ida.

She was hesitant. Charles had bought her a diamond. Bailey had let her buy herself an emerald set.

She looked up at Jake. “You should decide, too,” she said. “I’d like them to match. You’ll wear one, too?” she added hesitantly.

“Oh, yes,” he said, when he hadn’t planned any such thing. He got lost briefly in her wide blue eyes.

“Then what sort of stones do you like?” she persisted.

He smiled gently. “My grandmother loved rubies. I have hers in the safe-deposit box. Among them is a small, very simple yellow-gold ring with a faceted ruby in a Tiffany setting that her grandfather left her. Legend says that it belonged to a royal member of Isabella’s Spanish court in the fifteenth century. If you’d like to wear it as an engagement ring, we can get a band here to match it. Pigeon’s blood rubies,” he added, which were the most expensive.

“We should have an eighteen-karat yellow-gold band with rubies in that back section, Bill,” the old man told his son.

“Yes, sir, we do. Here it is.” He pulled the ring out and laid it on a cloth on the counter. It was an ivy pattern dotted with inlaid, faceted pigeon’s blood rubies, the sort of ring that would become an heirloom.

Ida caught her breath as she picked it up. “It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen,” she said in a hushed tone.

“Here. Let’s see.” Jake picked up the ring and her left hand. He slid it gently onto her third finger, where it fit as if it had been measured for her. He looked down into her soft blue eyes and felt another unexpected jolt like a burst of electricity.

“Do you want it?” he asked her.

“Oh, yes, please.” She searched his eyes. “You have to have one, too.”

“There’s a matching men’s band, a little less ornate,” Bill told them and pulled out a wider gold band with inlaid rubies just in the center. It wasn’t fancy, and it was definitely a man’s ring. “We have a designer who works with us. He’s in New York, but he sends us mailings of his latest work. I wasn’t sure why I bought these,” he added, chuckling. “Honestly, most people just want traditional wedding sets with diamonds.”

“I like something a little out of the ordinary,” Jake said, smiling.

“Me, too,” Ida agreed. Her eyes were on the ring. “It’s beautiful,” she repeated.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“You didn’t try on the man’s ring,” Ida said.

He picked it up and handed it to her, and then extended his left hand. He smiled as she slid it over the knuckle. It was a perfect fit.

“That’s one for the books,” the elderly man chuckled.

“A good omen,” Jake said softly, smiling at Ida as he pulled off his ring and took hers, handing both of them back to Bill, to be boxed up, before he pulled out his wallet.

“A good omen, indeed,” Bill said, smiling.

THEYWENTBACKto the ranch and he led Ida into the living room, to the safe on the wall behind a portrait of the grandmother he’d told her about who was Spanish royalty.

“She was magnificent,” Ida murmured, gazing at the gentle smile displayed by the proper Spanish lady in the portrait, silver hair piled on her head, dressed in black with a high black lace collar and decked out in rubies.

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