Page 127 of With Spite

“Last night,” I said. “I found it on top of the gravesite.”

Her face was priceless. “Best diamond ring ever. Now ask me.”

I grinned. “You knew that was what I was going to do?”

“Figured, since you seemed so hell-bent on finding it.” She smiled. “Now, ask me.”

I touched the tip of her nose. “I’ll ask you now. Then I’ll ask you again once I get it shaped into a ring for you.”

She raised her brow, waiting.

“Will you marry me, Bernice?”

She threw herself into my arms, the diamond hitting the floor somewhere behind us. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Six Weeks Later

“Holy, holy shit,” she breathed. “It’s so pretty.”

“Forty-one carats rough, eighteen cut,” I said. “Now…”

I got down on one knee, ring between my fingers. “Last chance to say no. Will you marry me, Bernice?”

She hit me like a battering ram, just like the first time.

The damn ring went flying.

“Yes, yes, yes!” she repeated her earlier agreement.

At least this time it didn’t take us twenty minutes to find the damn thing after she said yes.

Epilogue

On the bright side, I’m not addicted to cocaine.

—Romina to Bernice

Bernice

“Mom!”

I ignored it.

“Mom!”

I ignored that, too.

“MOTHER!”

I eventually looked up from the presents that my kids were getting, then looked at the other grandkids, and felt ire light my veins.

“Children,” I said as they stared in shock at all the presents that they were getting, and all of the presents their cousins weren’t getting. “Can y’all go outside to play with your cousins?”

My precious angels got up and walked outside, catching the hands of their cousins on the way.

Their cousins looked dejected.

I wasn’t sure what the hell Vera was thinking, but this was unacceptable.