Married Men (9 page)

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Authors: Carl Weber

BOOK: Married Men
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“What’s wrong, Ma?” I wasn’t used to seeing my mother so silent and weepy.
“Allen, baby, you know how much I want a grandbaby, don’t ya?”
I nodded my head though I was a little confused. Ma placed her hand on mine when she sat down and handed me a small jewelry box. I looked at it, then looked at her. I had no idea what she was up to.
“What’s this for?” I asked.
“Just open it, baby.” Ma’s voice sounded so tiny all of a sudden.
I opened the box and had to do a double take when I saw what looked like at least a two-carat diamond.
“Where’d you get this from, Ma?”
“That’s my mama’s ring.” She took the ring out of the box. “It’s the only thing in the world I have to remind me of her. I want you to give it to Rose, son.” She handed me the ring.
My eyes got watery when I realized what Ma was doing. The sentiment alone made tears come to my eyes. Even with all her eccentric ways, I always knew Ma loved me. She’d tried hard to restrict me to the confines of her world. Giving me this ring was way out of character for her. This was as if she was setting me free. It was as close to blessing my marriage as she was ever gonna come, and I was truly touched.
“Ma, I can’t take this ring. This is Granny’s ring. Rose will never understand the sentiment it has. Why don’t you give it to your first granddaughter?”
“No, Allen. I want you to give it to Rose, if you really love her. This way both of us will be sure you’re getting married for the right reason.” Ma put her hand on my shoulder and kissed my cheek.
“Okay Ma, I’ll give Granny’s ring to Rose.” I wrapped my arms around my mother and both of us began to cry. “We’re gonna have a whole house full of grandkids for you.”
 
I took the following day off from work and drove over to Rose’s job at North Shore Hospital in Manhassett, Long Island. I’d spent most of the day trying to come up with a romantic and unique way to propose. I decided to take her to dinner at Louie’s Seafood Restaurant before proposing to her on a midnight jazz cruise.
When I showed up at the hospital, Rose was leaving the building with two other nurses. She didn’t spot me at first, so I whistled to get her attention. She said goodbye to her two friends and headed toward me, greeting me with a warm, happy kiss.
“Well, what brings you here all dressed up, handsome?” I was wearing my best suit and had just gotten my hair cut. “Mmmmm, lookin’ good and smellin’ good too.” She smiled.
“Thought I might take you out to dinner. You always said you wanted to go to Louie’s in Port Washington. We have an eight o’clock reservation.”
“Ohhh, Allen, really?” I nodded and she smiled from ear to ear, kissing me again. Then she stepped back abruptly.
“Allen, I can’t go to Louie’s lookin’ like this. Look at me.”
I glanced at her nurse’s whites and smiled. I liked the way she looked in her uniform. She looked pure, conservative, and untouched, which was a huge difference from the tight-fitting mini dresses and revealing, low-cut outfits she usually wore.
“You look aw’ight, baby,” I reassured her.
“Pleasssse
, you got to be kidding. You think I’m goin’ to Louie’s dressed like this? Not on your life. Take me home so I can get dressed.” What had happened to the sweet woman who was so happy to see me a minute before?
I looked at my watch. “Hold up, Rose. I ain’t driving all the way back to Queens. Do you know how hard it was to get eight o’clock reservations at Louie’s?”
“Ohhhh,
that makes sense. Take me to a five-star restaurant dressed like I’m going to dinner at McDonald’s.” She folded her arms defiantly.
“I’ll tell you what. Let’s go buy you something to wear. There has to be a mall or boutique around here.” A huge smile cropped up on Rose’s face and her eyes turned into dollar signs. There was no doubt in my mind she knew exactly where a store was.
“There’s a Macy’s right down the block. They got this bad DKNY dress I was lookin’ at and I saw the perfect shoes to match it. Don’t worry, baby, this ain’t gonna take long at all. Matter of fact we probably got time ta get my nails done.” Rose looked more excited than a kid in a candy store.
I knew this little shopping spree was gonna cost me three, four hundred but it didn’t upset me. I’d saved almost three G’s when Ma gave me Granny’s ring.
“We ain’t got time ta get your nails done, Rose,” I told her.
“Okay, baby.” She smiled. “Let’s go.”
Rose was right. It didn’t take long at all for her to pick out a dress. Especially since she had the dress and shoes on layaway. I don’t know why, but somehow I felt like I was being set up. The whole outfit cost me close to five hundred bucks after Rose insisted on a matching handbag. Despite the money I had dropped on it, I had to admit she looked stunning as we walked out of Macy’s.
“Allen, can I get a pair of earrings?” She pointed at a small jewelry store by the entrance to Macy’s.
“Sure, why not?” I smiled, tapping my suit pocket to make sure Granny’s ring was still there. What was another hundred bucks, when I wouldn’t be spending a couple thousand on a ring?
When we walked into the jewelry store, Rose walked right over to the counter and greeted the jeweler.
“Hey, Henry. You still got those earrings I was looking at the other day?” she asked sweetly.
“Sure, Rose,” Henry answered like she was an old friend, or at least a very valued customer. He opened the glass case and handed her a pair of emerald studs.
While Rose was trying on the earrings, I took a look at a showcase filled with engagement rings. None of them even compared to the size of Granny’s, but I wanted to a get an idea of what they cost.
“This is what you’re looking for, sir,” Henry said, startling me. He handed me a small box with an engagement ring. He pointed toward Rose, who was now checking out some more earrings in the display case. “She likes this one.”
“Does she.” I looked at the pear-shaped diamond ring that he’d handed me.
“Yes, sir. It’s three-quarters of a carat, with a good color and quality,” he assured me in his best salesman’s voice.
“How much?”
“Rose is a good customer. For you, eighteen hundred, regularly twenty-three.”
If I didn’t already have a ring, I would have brought that one on the spot. The price was right, and more importantly, I already knew Rose would like it. I was surprised, though, at the ring’s size. I had no idea she would settle for anything less than a carat. The ring I had originally planned on buying her was a carat and a half and almost three grand. Granny’s ring was at least two carats, so I figured Rose would be thrilled by the rock when I gave it to her.
“Oh, Allen, isn’t it beautiful?” Rose approached from behind.
I looked over my shoulder and smiled. “Yeah, it’s real nice.”
“I’m gonna take these earrings, Henry.” Rose handed him the empty earring box. The gems were still in her ears.
“Well, sir, what about that ring?” Henry smiled at me, then at Rose. He was trying to put me on the spot for the sale, and I sure didn’t appreciate it too much.
“I’ll be back to talk to you real soon. When I’m alone, okay?” Both Henry and Rose smiled as I slapped down my MasterCard to pay for the earrings.
Dinner was fantastic, and the atmosphere at Louie’s set the perfect romantic mood. We shared our gourmet dinners, feeding each other across the candlelit table between sips of champagne. Every once in a while I would rest my hand over my jacket to feel the box that held Granny’s ring. I was full of anticipation. The night was young and would only get better when I got down on my knees in front of the woman I loved.
After dinner we strolled over to the town dock and boarded the
Sound of Music,
a three-story cruise ship that was going to take us around the island of Manhattan. The cruise was great, and so was the band. We were the only blacks on board, but that didn’t matter. Most of the people on board were our age, and let me tell you, they could party.
We were having a great time on the top deck, inhaling the fresh night air as we listened to the sax player blow a romantic solo. Rose sipped a glass of wine, holding on to the rail as she watched the full moon creep in behind the Statue of Liberty.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” I asked, wrapping my arms around her waist as we admired the statue glowing against the nighttime sky.
“Perfect,” she whispered.
“Are you having a good time?”
“Everything’s perfect, Allen.” She turned around to kiss me.
“What about this? Do you think this is perfect?” I opened up the box and showed her Granny’s ring.
“Is that what I think it is?” She was beaming with excitement.
I bent down on one knee and smiled. “Rose, will you marry me?”
Tears streamed down her face as she answered, “Yes, Allen. Oh God, yes, I’ll marry you.”
I took out Granny’s ring and placed it on her finger. It looked magnificent. Rose looked at her finger and then at me.
“Allen?” she said as I stood up.
“Yes, babe.” I kissed her forehead.
“Oh, nothing.” She just wrapped her arms around me and I held her close.
 
The next morning I found out what that “Oh, nothing” really was, and it sure was something. Rose didn’t want Granny’s ring. She wanted the ring from Henry’s jewelry store. She tried to be polite about it, but there was no way of being polite when you’ve told someone that a family heirloom wasn’t good enough for you. I was hurt, but I kept it to myself because I didn’t want an argument after such a perfect evening. Plus I was more worried about what Ma was gonna say about Rose rejecting Granny’s ring than anything.
I sat in the Macy’s parking lot for almost an hour, staring at my grandmother’s ring. I just couldn’t figure it out. Why would Rose want a diamond half the size of Granny’s? It just didn’t make sense. Finally, I decided not to worry about it. If that’s what she wanted, that’s what she was gonna get.
I got out of my car and walked toward the jewelry store, sighing as I entered. There was old Henry, engrossed in some work at his jeweler’s table. He recognized me right away.
“Ahh, Ms. Rose’s friend.” He offered his hand. “You’ve come for the ring, I take it.”
I nodded with a frown.
“What’s wrong, young man? Afraid to make that commitment?” He gave a reassuring look.
“No, that’s not it. I proposed last night.” I still couldn’t shake the sadness from my voice.
“She did not accept?” Henry sounded surprised.
“Oh, she accepted. It’s this she didn’t accept.” I handed him Granny’s ring.
His eyes widened as he carefully removed the ring from the box. He walked over to his table and picked up his eyepiece, and he must have stared at that ring for five minutes without a word. The way he scrutinized it, you would think he was looking at a piece that had been stolen from his family.
“Do you realize what you have here?” he finally said. “This piece might be a hundred years old, and the diamond is a little over three carats. I’ll give you twenty grand cash for it, right now.”
“Sorry, Henry. This is a family heirloom. It belonged to my grandmother, and maybe even to her mother. I need to give it back to my mother.”
“I understand. Ms. Rose made a big mistake.” Henry shook his head.
“Yeah, she makes a lot of those, Henry.” I pulled out my credit card and handed it to Henry. “I’ll take that other ring now if you don’t mind, Henry.”
“No problem,” he said as he ran the card through his machine. “I’m sorry, your card has come up ‘declined.’ ” He tried to say it gently. I think the guy genuinely felt bad for me.
“That’s impossible! Run it again.” He did, and it came up “declined” again.
I was pissed. I’d been cleaning that card for months just to buy Rose a ring. There had to be room on it. That’s when I remembered the dress, earrings, shoes, and handbag I had bought the day before. Not to mention the hundred and fifty dollars I spent on dinner and then the cruise. I’d spent almost a thousand dollars in one night, on a Visa card that only had a twenty-five-hundred-dollar limit. I looked at Henry, and he looked at me, wordlessly. Both of us knew I couldn’t go home to Rose without that ring.
 
The Roadhouse Bar in Hollis had been our meeting place and hangout on Saturday nights since we’d been old enough to drink. The Roadhouse wasn’t anything special, just a small local bar. But to us it was a sanctuary. A place we could go and be away from our better halves. We’d shared drinks there over good times and bad, and Jay, Wil, and Kyle had all announced their plans to marry there. That’s why I’d waited all day to tell them about Rose’s and my engagement. I thought it would be nice telling them in our old haunt. But by the time we arrived, it didn’t seem like the greatest idea.
Our basketball team had its first loss of the year, and Jay was overreacting to it. He’d started drinking the minute we walked in. Wil was on his cell phone, getting comfort from his wife Diane. And Kyle was driving me crazy talking about this damn lawsuit he was filing against the police. He wouldn’t let me get in a word.

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