Page 85 of Windlass

“Fine.” Stevie drew out the word as she brightened the screen and stared at the picture in front of her. “How many are there?”

“Five. Swipe left.”

Stevie swiped. She didn’t even attempt to keep a neutral expression. “What the . . . Ivy, could the price of these feed a developing nation?”

“Not important.”

“Kind of important,” said Stevie. “Lil thinks diamonds are evil.”

“Evil’s a stretch.”

“Is it?”

“Fine, maybe not. Don’t worry about the ethics.”

“Lil will worry about the ethics.”

Ivy ran her shaky hand through her hair and exhaled sharply. Shewasnervous even if that was not the reason for the tremors. Stevie almost felt bad for her. Normally she would have, but while she knew nothing about fancy jewelry, she could tell this was expensive.

“It’s—the diamond’s my grandmother’s. These are examples from the jeweler. It will be custom.”

“Naturally.”

Ivy leveled her with a look. Stevie grinned anyway.

“This is the original,” Ivy said, reaching over to swipe the screen.

“Grandmama must have had strong fingers,” Stevie said, awed. The size of the stones on that ring would sink her if she fell in a river while wearing it.

“Runs in the family.”

“Nice one,” said Stevie.

“You think I’m joking?”

“I would never impugn your sapphic sex organ.” Stevie crossed herself. “So what about all the other stones?”

“Sapphires and emeralds.”

“Emeralds because your name is Ivy, am I right?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of matching my eyes, you know when she reaches out and lovingly touches my face.” Ivy reached for Stevie with mock seduction and booped her nose. “Also, it would look nice with her skin tone.”

“And sapphire?”

“Because it’s classic. Both lab grown. The ones on the original ring are going to my sister.”

“So you do have ethics.”

“Not too many; don’t worry. What do you think?”

“You’re right that Lil’s a classic girl at heart,” Stevie said slowly. Sweat pricked her armpits. She really, really was not the person to be asking about this. Angie would know, or Stormy, or honestly even Morgan, because she at least had experience buying engagement rings even if her first fiancé had broken things off, but Stevie had no idea what to say. When she’d thought about her own potential long-term partnerships, she hadn’t given much thought to this aspect. A ring was a ring, right?

Wrong, apparently. The options presented sparkled on the screen. She tried to sort through the differences: stone and band material? Shape of the stone? They were all lovely.

“Gut reaction.”

“My gut says, ‘Lil loves you, not a rock.’ But . . .” She swiped through again until she came to the simplest of the bunch, then swiped back to the first, noticing something. The band, which she’d initially overlooked beside the large stone, twisted like vines. Two emeralds nestled against the diamond like leaves. Lilian. Ivy. The Lily and the Ivy.

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