“I think it’s time you gave me the ring.”
Chloe said it loud enough for the whole room to hear.
It was the afternoon of my mother’s funeral. We were standing in Mom’s living room, surrounded by her friends, her sisters, her neighbors, her flowers. Somebody had put a framed photo of her on the piano, the one from her sixtieth birthday where she’s laughing with her head thrown back. There were paper plates of food nobody wanted on every flat surface. The whole house smelled like coffee and lilies.
And my brother’s wife walked straight across the hardwood floor in her black heels, stopped in front of me, and held out her hand.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“Your mom promised it to me,” Chloe said. She lifted her chin. “I’m her only son’s wife. It belongs to me.”
The room went completely silent.
My cousin Iris lowered her coffee cup halfway to her mouth and just held it there. Aunt Marcy’s mouth fell open. Somebody near the fireplace whispered, “At the funeral? Seriously?”
I looked past Chloe to my brother.
Brian was standing by the bookshelf. He was looking at the floor.
“Brian?” I said quietly.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Harper, maybe we should talk about this later.”
Chloe let out a small laugh. It wasn’t a happy sound. “There’s nothing to talk about. Your mom knew I’d carry the family name forward. She wanted me to have it.”
That was a lie.
My mother hadn’t said a single word in the last three weeks of her life. And before that, she’d never promised Chloe anything. I knew that for sure.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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