For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.
“Jeffrey’s son?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
Peter hesitated.
“My father wants to talk to you. He… doesn’t have much time.”
My hand tightened around the receiver.
Before I could respond, I heard movement on the other end.
Then another voice came through.
Weak.
Older.
But instantly familiar.
“Ruthie.”
Tears filled my eyes.
Then I heard the faintest laugh.
“Jeffrey?”
“You remembered.”
“Of course I remembered.”
Forty-one years vanished in a single conversation.
Then Jeffrey’s voice broke.
“Ruthie, there’s something I need you to know before I die.”
I closed my eyes.
“What?”
“I was in love with you when we made that promise.”
I stopped breathing.
“Jeffrey…”
“And I had already bought the ring.”
My eyes opened.
“What ring?”
“The ring I planned to give you before I left for college.”
The room seemed to shift around me.
“Then why didn’t you?”
He started crying.
