When The Ring Doesn't Fit

The ring had been meant for me. This much was clear when Frank slipped the ring on my ring finger.

He we were, standing before an altar, in front of our families and friends, and the ring meant to bind me to the love of my life didn’t even fit.

What’s worse, I saw in Frank’s eyes that he knew what I was thinking. He knew, that I now knew, this ring didn’t fit. Even if I didn’t know all of the gory details as to why this ring didn’t fit, I could start connecting dots pretty easily.

The wedding went on, despite the sinking feeling in my stomach. The sinking feeling that everything I was about to do walk into was a lie. A lie that could never be talked away or excused, but one lie I try to do so anyway, just excuse it all away, not cause any problems for anyone.

Why?

Dad paid for a beautiful wedding, that’s why. And it was my job to be in this wedding, perform for all the guests like a dancing monkey despite my growing heart ache.

“Who was the ring really for, Frank?” I asked in the limo on the way to the reception.

Frank continued looking out the window. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said.

“Bullshit,” I said. “You know what I’m talking about. You knew it up there at the fucking altar. I saw it in your eyes.”

Finally, Frank turned and looked at me, tears in his eyes. Crying had never been something I thought Frank was capable of.

“Talk to me.” I begged. “Talk to me before we both make foolish spectacles out of ourselves.”

Frank took a breath.

“What’s her name?”

“Cheryl.”

“Why isn’t she the one sitting here instead of me?”

“She left with her family out of state. I already bought the ring by the time her father wired two million dollars into my bank account for me to stay away from her.”

I looked out the window, unable to face why Cheryl was gone, why he was stuck with me. And the sick game I saw clearly I was now stuck in.

“So, the rumors are true then.”

“Not in the way you THINK they’re true.”

“She was a thirteen year old girl you wanted to marry. Your family threatened if they didn’t flee there would be problems. Slander against the family, everything that could be done to destroy them would be done if they didn’t disappear. Cheryl’s father paid you off just to seal the deal.”

“When you put it that way, it sounds terrible.”

“No matter how you put it, I promise you it sounds terrible.”

Frank sighed.

“Now tell me,” I said, looking right at Frank, even if he was too much of a coward to look at me. “how do I play into this? I know it couldn’t have been a chance meeting in that flower shop.”

Another sigh from Frank, I would punch him if he let out another fucking sigh.

“Your father and my father go way back. Further back than you might have once thought. My old man thought a wedding would smooth things out.”

“And out of my sisters and I, you chose me, the youngest.”

Frank looked at me then. A pathetic, pleading smile on his face, a smile I just wanted to slap right off his face.

“You’re no thirteen, but I’ll have to make due with nineteen.”

The anger inside me was enough to kill someone, to kill Frank, to kill all the lies others have told to put me in this position. A position I put myself in because of my own naiveté.

I turned to the driver. “Stop the car.” I said.

“Sorry Miss Stephanie, we have a schedule to keep, and you’re already late to your reception.”

“I don’t give a shit.” I snapped. “It’s my wedding day, stop the fucking car.”

But he didn’t stop. He continued driving, without a sign of stopping until we approached a red light. I bolted from the car, grateful this driver didn’t think to turn on the child locks on the doors.

The driver and Frank called after me, but I didn’t let them stop me. As I continued to sprint away from the limo, I felt the ring just fly off my finger, as though the ring knew just as well as I did that this entire wedding was a complete, sick joke.

I ended up at the edge of a bridge that overlooked a creek, a creek that wrapped around a winding canyon.

Time passed, however without a watch or a phone, I didn’t know for sure how much time passed. The only way I could tell was from the movement of the sun.

Night had fallen by the time anyone found me.

It was my older sister Maggie. She sat next to me, our backs against the stone railing of the bridge.

“Mom and Dad always think they are the experts at pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes.” Maggie said. Then she reached out and took my hand. “little did they know they had you, who made them think they were really going to get away with this sick arranged marriage. Their expressions were priceless when they realized you weren’t in the limo.”

We both laughed. It felt good to laugh. I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed.

“I think I can live without seeing them for a while.” I said.

“Come on, babe. You can stay with me for a while, for as long as you need.”

“You’re not taking me back to Frank?” I asked, surprised.

“Hell no,” Maggie said. “I knew he was twisted, that he was creepy. I just didn’t have all of the proof. I’m just happy you saw it before it was too late.”

Finally, I thought. I wasn’t alone in my fears and someone believes me and loves me enough not to force me into anything I don’t want.

With my wedding gown flowing behind me, Maggie and I walked side by side. Back to her car, and in a perfect world, back to something I thought would be my life before this fiasco with Frank.

In the car, Maggie driving, I fell asleep in the passenger seat. It’s the first time I’ve slept peacefully in months.

The End