"Our engagement was settled before we were even born. You can't just tear it up!"
He thought I was throwing a tantrum.
He had no idea that reaching this moment had cost me two lifetimes.
I spoke each word like a nail driven into wood. "I will not marry you, Lester."
His grip on my wrist tightened. "If not me, then who?!"
He was banking on the fact that the Blacks needed House Vance's support.
And he was certain my heart still belonged to him alone.
I met his furious gaze without flinching. "A peddler. A drifter. A merchant off the street. Anyone would do."
"Anyone but you."
Lester's breath caught.
He closed his eyes and drew in a long, slow breath.
Then he reached into his coat and pressed something into my hand.
I recognized it at once: the gift I'd given him ten years ago, the day he left for the front.
Back then, it had taken me half a year to find the white jade, and another half to have it carved into a ring.
When I placed it in his palm, I'd said, "May we be like this jade. Hearts never parting, forever bound."
The ring looked exactly the same as it had then.
But all I wanted now was to sever every thread that tied me to Lester Vance.
He didn't know what I was thinking. His voice softened. "Norma, I fought on the frontier for ten years, and you waited for ten. Everyone in the capital knows the depth of your devotion."
"Saying you won't marry me now, that's just anger talking."
"This ring is the one you gave me before my first campaign. I'm leaving it with you. On our wedding day, you'll tie it on me yourself."
He thought that lowering his tone and producing an old keepsake would be enough to coax me down the steps he'd so graciously laid out.
Where did he get that kind of confidence?
Lester said his piece and left.
I picked up the jade ring and tossed it into the painter's supply case.
"Miss, this looks far too valuable. I couldn't possibly keep it."
The painter fished the ring out carefully and held it back to me.
I waved him off. "It's yours."
"Do a good job on the portrait. If I'm selected, there'll be more where that came from."
The painter thanked me over and over.
"A beauty like you, Miss, is certain to be chosen."
I smiled and said nothing.
In the days that followed, while I waited for word from the palace, Lester came calling constantly.
Every visit, he brought armfuls of gifts.