Page 6 of Don't You Dare Marry Me

“I don’t have it. I do need that ring back.”

“You have nothing to bargain with, and a gift is a gift. If I were to take this to court, they’d side with me.” Nicola bit a little too hard on the inside of her lip and the iron tang of blood reached the tip of her tongue. “I’m going to keep it.”

“Nicola, that’s a family ring!”

Guilt ate away at her stomach. She really did need the money, but he wasn’t wrong. And she had told him that she would return it because it was a family heirloom. She couldn’t imagine not having the things that were left of her parents, including her mother’s simple wedding band that she always wore on her right ring finger. She stared at it now and smiled.

What would they think of where she was now?

Disappointed? Probably.

Unethical? Maybe.

Did it matter though? The entire point was to keep Alanna in that rehabilitation facility for as long as humanly possible. She needed to be able to learn how to live on her own again, didn’t she? The doctors had said that would never happen, but Nicola had hope. They said she would always be confined to a chair and a bed. Nicola sighed, not wanting to remember those moments.

They’d been so painful, and she’d had to make so many decisions.

She didn’t want to regret any of them, and if she thought about them too long, then she very well might. Swallowing, Nicola ran her fingers through her hair. “Fine, but I’m not going to meet up with you after what you did the last time. I don’t trust you.”

“Fine.” Warren paused, and Nicola waited. “Give it to Aunt Abagail.”

“What?” Nicola’s eyebrows rose into her hairline. That woman absolutely hated her. Although at least she wasn’t a total jerk about it. She could hold her tongue, unlike Warren. “I can’t?—”

“She’s got some meetings at her bar tonight. Head on over there and give it to her. Maybe you can ask her to release the fifty grand while you’re there.” He chuckled, the sound sending a shiver down Nicola’s spine. He didn’t care about her. Had he ever? He was just being mean now.

“Fine.” Nicola pressed her lips together hard. Maybe while she was there, she could apply for a job. Because, fuck, she really needed money. Without waiting for a reply from him, she hung up and put her car into drive. She needed to see Alanna. She needed to set the rehabilitation center straight on her account—in other words, she needed to beg them for yet another extension. And then she needed the sister time to calm her soul.

It took Nicola thirty minutes to get to her sister’s facility in Framingham. She parked her car, sent up a little prayer that it would start again, and then stepped out into the chilly spring air. It was so cold still, wet and damp and chill. It didn’t help that she didn’t have the gas to run her car at night and keep it warm while she slept.

Scratching her hand against the back of her head, Nicola walked inside. She stepped around one of the nurses as they smiled at her, and made her way straight to her sister’s sharedroom. She hated that she couldn’t afford a private room, but at least she was here, right?

“Alanna!” Nicola grinned as soon as she stepped through the door.

“Nic!” Alanna held out her hands, her fingers still curled in since she didn’t have the control any longer to straighten them out. She was sitting up in the bed, her legs bent. She grinned broadly and waited for Nicola to step into the circle of her arms.

Nicola breathed in her scent deeply and closed her eyes, tightening her grip. She didn’t want to let go. Everything that had happened in the last few years had taught her that these moments were precious and fleeting. But with the world so hard out there, with Warren’s breakup, with the weight of bills hanging over her head, Nicola just needed this. Simple love and warmth from the one person she hadn’t lost in that accident.

“What’s wrong?” Alanna asked, whispering the word into Nicola’s hair since she still hadn’t pulled back.

She started to, but Alanna pulled her back in tight, the sides of her thumbs digging into the bones in Nicola’s back, but she didn’t complain. She wanted this more than anything. Alanna here with her. It was the only consolation from that accident.

Alanna had survived.

Nicola smiled again and then finally pulled away. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“You’re not fooling me.” Alanna gave a half-lopsided smirk, which was the only smile that she could give since her paralysis diagnosis. It had taken Nicola a long time to get used to the fact that this was who her sister was now, but she still was so grateful that Alanna was alive.

“Warren called just before I got here.”

“Oh.” Alanna frowned. “What did he want?”

“He wants the ring back.” Nicola sighed and dipped her hand into her purse. She pulled out the small velvety box and handed it to Alanna after opening it. “It’s a family heirloom.”

“Then you should give it back.”

“I know.” Nicola watched as her sister used her curled fingers to maneuver the box so she could look at the ring.

“It’s huge!”

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