With This Ring

Sarah and I reluctantly volunteered to clear Steve’s house after his death because no one else was prepared to do it. He was single with no close friends, just a few people like us he met up with from time to time, mostly in the pub. His remaining relatives after swiftly taking all valuables and financial papers, indicated their intention to send in a large skip but gave us a couple of weeks to take or dispose what we wanted first. Poor sad Steve; he wasn’t that old and was younger than all our circle of friends. But he went downhill very suddenly. For some years now he hadn’t taken good care of himself. He took little exercise, his diet was poor and he drank far too much. It was not really a surprise when he collapsed and died.

 So we began the task of sorting his stuff. The first part was easy; any books were bagged up ready for the charity shops and his clothes went straight for recycling as they had probably all come second-hand some considerable time ago. But at the very back of the drawer I found a small cardboard box; his relatives had clearly missed it in their indecent haste.  I took it out and cautiously opened it; I had this uneasy feeling that I might be intruding into something rather personal. Inside was what appeared to be a diamond engagement ring and attached to it was a small greeting tag; “To my dearest Susie with all my love. Here’s to our future together.” I showed to Angie.

“Dear God,” I whispered. “That must be Susie Jones a few years back.” We both knew there were rumours of them dating for a short while; they had never been seen out together but they had both been absent from our group of friends. Then she slipped back into our social scene and he followed a while later. Susie fairly promptly married John and they had been living happily ever after. I could well see why Steve would have been attracted to her; it was a lot less clear what she could possibly see in him. He was not noted for his social skills and often having a simple conversation with him was rather like drawing teeth. I rummaged around again in the drawer and pulled out some photographs. They all seemed to be of her; then I found one of them together and holding hands. I gasped in surprise; he was actually smiling and he looked so happy. I wondered who might have taken it but there was no note on the back. Not her family I thought; I can’t see him meeting them.

 “So was that it,” I said, “a doomed love affair with Susie broke his heart; he never got over it. That explains so much.” She nodded sadly.  

“Is it possible he simply misjudged her feelings for him?” she asked. “Perhaps she was up for the sex but not much else and had no intention of marrying him. But you could hardly blame her for that; no one could marry Steve. He was hardly likely to be her first lover but suppose he saw her through a massive divorce or breakup and no more. Did he present the ring as a romantic surprise and propose? I wonder if she turned him down and saw the only way was to ease him gently out of her life. I guess we’ll never know.”

“Yes,” I said. “But he surely deserved better than that.” I paused.  

“So what now?” I said. “Is there any point in making this public? I can’t see why people need to know.”

“I agree,” said Angie. “Let’s shred it all and give the ring to a charity shop.”

 It seemed the best way forward.