Page 64 of Devotion: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 1)

He handed the ring to me and I held it careful between my fingers.

“Look, Lachlan,” my eyes were fixated on the ring. “It matches the necklace and the grey stone matches your eyes. God, the ring is beautiful!”

I glanced up at Lachlan and his eyes had a strange look.

“You don’t like it?” I asked him, almost disappointed.

Instead of answering me, he pulled something out of his pocket. As he opened his palm, I saw it was a ring. Exactly the same ring, just more feminine.

“What the…” I trailed off. “They match exactly!”

“Yes, they are a match,” he replied and I had a hard time understanding. “They belonged to my family for centuries.”

“Oh,” I exhaled disappointed. “Then I can’t buy it.”

“A few generations ago, one of my ancestors lost the male wedding ring in a card game,” he commented and then pointed to the old jeweler. “Lucky winner was Mr. McBride’s ancestor.”

“Oh.” I felt like someone gave me a favorite toy and took it away the next second. “That’s a bummer,” I muttered as I handed the ring back.

The shopkeeper pushed my hand gently back. “It is time to sell it back, lass.”

My eyes shot up to meet his gaze. “Seriously?”

He smiled and I would have sworn that this man was a heartbreaker in his younger days.

“Yes,” he replied. “You see, lass, there is a story that my family passed on from generation to generation. The legend says that when a lass of foreign lands and broken eyes captures the heart of a McLaren, it is time to give back that which was so freely given away.”

I frowned, not quite following what he was trying to say.

“You have experienced pain and death,” Mr. McBride claimed. “I can see it in your eyes, broken eyes. And you are of foreign lands.”

I glanced back at Lachlan and Mr. McBride’s son, to see their reaction and evaluate who was crazy here. Those two did not seem to think him crazy.

The old jeweler closed my palm with his wrinkled hand. “The ring is yours. May all the joy and peace surround you and happiness be with you now that you have found your McLaren.”

I stared at him, probably looking a bit dumbfounded. Things like this just didn’t happen.

“I should pay you,” I told him in disbelief.

“No,” he was firm. “The ring is yours. It is bad luck to go against the legends.”

I looked back to his son. Maybe the old man was a little bit crazy.

“That’s right,” his son confirmed. “The ring is yours. We are big on old ways and this is the way it should be. As it was foretold.”

I shook my head in full disbelief. “It feels wrong to take it without paying. I was always told it is bad luck not to get the groom’s ring.”

“And you got it,” Mr. McBride agreed. “Nobody ever said you had to buy it with money.”

“I guess so,” I answered unsure, mumbling. “So bizarre.”

“I shall see you this afternoon at your wedding,” Mr. McBride finalized the discussion.

“Shit!” I cursed and turned to Lachlan. “I don’t have a dress. I’m not wearing Ainslee’s crazy color dresses!”

All three men laughed hard while I didn’t find it amusing at all.

“Seriously, Lachlan,” I told him annoyed. “I’m not doing it if she picked out anything with colors.”

“I got it covered,” he pulled me into him and kissed me on the mouth.

He seriously had no qualms about showing affections in public.

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