If Only

After three wonderful years together. He knew she was the one.
He loved her with all his heart, she had come into his life at the lowest of low. Bringing with her smiles and laughter, friends, parties and social evenings. The whirl wind romance grew in the hassle and bussle of her busy life. Somewhere in it all he had forgotten his sorrow and pain and because of this he felt he loved her.

He had saved his pay check for months, hoping to propose with the perfect ring. It was difficult trying to keep all the bills paid, putting away extra for the engagement ring, while still keeping enough spending money for her social ways. Dining out with friends, going to the theatre shows, attending art galas. Though to him she was worth it, she distracted him from the pain.
It was planned out perfectly, the ring although not as big as he had hoped was elegant and simple, it was the promise, the symbol of his love. All he needed now was her to accept.

After a nice dinner at the finest french bistro in town, they walked along the cobbled streets in the old part of Montreal. The night was perfect, the sky clear and crisp for a late summer night.
Near the fountain by the historic hotel, he grabbed her hand and dropped to his knees. She blushed in the anticipation of it all. He opened the black box, and slid the ring up on her finger.
As his heart raced he asked the question.

She smiled, and kissed him, replied with a hesitant yes.
She would marry him, she loved him, but the ring. She hesitated because of the ring.
The response surprised him, but it seemed so miner at the time he agreed.
Months passed, and he had tried to save more for a bigger ring. She had picked one that she felt was her hearts desire, though in doing so she had also made it more of a burden on him financially. Even though marriage was in the future, she wanted to mantain her busy social calendar, and the ring that she had picked would be the envy of all within her active social circle.
This seemed of utmost importance to her. He didn't understand it but he would do everything he could to please her.
By the end of the year he finally could afford the ring she so desperatly wanted. She smiled in delight when he arrived home from work with the new ring in hand. Time passed and wedding plans became more concrete.
One day she came home late from a evening out with the girls, seemly distressed he questioned her displeasure. It seems her ring was again much to small in comparison to her friends she so needed to impress. Again she asked him to exchange it to even a greater size and greater cost.
Silently he agreed.
Another year passed and the burden of the approaching wedding cost and ring began to strain on him. He had taken on another job in the evenings to help, and because of this, she now spent more and more time socializing in the evenings without him.

Two weeks before the wedding he asked her for her old ring, as he had enough of a down payment to collect the new one for her, just in time for the wedding. On the way back from the jewellers his car was hit by a semi and he was killed instantly. A terrible explosion had occurred and engulfed his car in flames.
The police came to the door late in the evening to inform her of the tragic event. All they found in the remains was a set of rings. A small wedding band, with a small engagement ring, not at all the set she had picked.

They gave them to her, as she wept over her loss, she placed them on her finger and they left.
The bliss of a wedding day was replaced by the sadness of his funeral. The companies involved with the wedding planning we're heartfelt and understanding so without much financial loss we're able to plan out and attend to the details of the funeral.

Weeks had passed since the funeral and in the mail one day she received a letter from the jewelery. It was a survey about the service he had received and inside was a wedding card wishing them the best of luck.

Confused and displeased about the ring set, she went to visit the jewelers to inquire about her new large diamon ring that he had been paying off over the last few months.
When she arrived at the jewelers she set the tiny set on the counter and asked the jeweler to explain. The jewelry picked up the simple gold band, and the tiny most simple engagement ring.
The jeweler replied," Your husband told me how sweet and kind you are, and how you loved him more than the cost and burden of the diamond, since he lost his first wife to cancer he told me how you had asked him to take back the diamond ring in exchange for just the simple wedding band, while giving the money for your previous ring to the cancer society for research. When he told me about your warm and generous heart I couldn't bare to see you with just a simple band for your wonderful wedding. A lady with such a big heart derserves more therefore I gave your husband this tiny diamond engagement ring for free with the wedding band. I do hope you like it, it is so simple and elegant just as you, I wish your husband could have given it to you. I am so sorry about your loss."
With a flash af anger she took the rings and left, only to be tragically struck by a passing motorist.