Forever Yours
©2025 Elder Road Books - Lynnwood WA
Chapter 41: The Plan
ON BOXING DAY, Henry, Lisa, and Chastity borrowed Jackie’s car and went shopping. Lisa drove them directly to one of the oldest Louisiana jewelers in business, with a name as Cajun as the Benoits’.
“Whatever you want, love,” Henry said as they began looking at the engagement rings and wedding sets. “I’m only going to do this once in my life, so I don’t care what it costs.”
“You know, if I was a gold digger, I’d take serious advantage of that,” Lisa laughed. “I can’t help but think how Isobel’s hand seems to be weighed down by that rock Luke bought her. I’m a woman of simpler tastes.”
“You have me,” Chastity whispered.
“That is as complex as my tastes get,” Lisa said. “I want to wear my ring all the time, so I don’t want something with too high a profile. I don’t want to get it snagged on anything.”
“This is a pretty set,” Chastity said, pointing to a very antique-looking engagement and wedding ring. Henry wisely stayed out of the conversation. He’d give his opinion only if asked.
“Oh, that’s nice!” Lisa said. “It doesn’t stick up too high and it isn’t an open prong setting, so it isn’t as likely to get caught when I’m trying to hurry out of my clothes. You know?”
A salesperson named Greg smiled at the implication and pulled the set out of the case to display on a dark blue velvet board.
“I hate to think that I just chose the first one that I liked, like I did with my husband to be,” Lisa said with a grin.
“Yeah, but sometimes you just get it right the first time,” Chastity said.
“Please try it on for size and see how it looks on your hand,” Greg said.
Henry moved into action and picked up the engagement ring to place it on Lisa’s finger. It was stunning. He added the wedding band to complete the look.
“Do you think it’s too much?” Lisa asked, looking at him.
“I think it looks stunning on you,” he responded.
“I’d worry about it,” Lisa said. “What if I only wore the engagement ring on special occasions and just wore the band the rest of the time?”
“You know I celebrate every day I spend with you as a special occasion,” Henry said.
He kissed her lightly.
“Sold,” she sighed.
“Now let’s check that sizing,” Greg said, gently removing the rings and replacing them with a size ring from a series.
He tried one up and one down from the size he’d initially chosen, but returned to the original one, showing his expertise in assessing her size.
“We can have the set ready for you by New Year’s,” he said. “We’ll just need a fifty percent deposit.”
“If I pay you the full amount today, can you have it for us by Friday? We’re flying out on Saturday,” Henry asked.
“Oh! Well, of course!” Greg said. “Let me write it up.”
“We’re not done shopping yet,” Lisa said. “Do the paperwork and we’ll continue looking around.”
Greg immediately removed the rings and motioned an assistant over to do the paperwork while he accompanied the trio around the display cases.
“What can I show you?” he asked.
“We need something for Chastity,” Lisa said. “Not as formal as an engagement set, but something that shows permanence.”
“Ah? A third-party wedding?” he asked, as if it were common for people to shop for this kind of jewelry.
“Chastity is our maîtresse,” Lisa said matter-of-factly.
“Might I suggest a right-hand ring, then,” Greg said. He showed a case of lovely rings.
“These all look kind of fancy schmancy and wedding-y,” Chastity said. “I don’t want something that competes with Lisa’s ring.”
“I see. We have a small collection of artist rings. These rings were designed by various well-known artists over the past century and were forged and set by contracted studios. They are all limited editions, so you are unlikely to find anyone with a similar ring,” Greg said, pulling out a display tray with artistic rings. “With your skin tone and elegance, you remind me of one of these art deco mixed metal rings, like this one with white and yellow gold inset with lapis. It has a kind of ancient Greek feeling.”
“Oh! That’s gorgeous!” Chastity exclaimed.
“Perfect for you,” Lisa whispered. “Would you accept that ring from your girlfriend?”
Chastity sniffed and nodded her head. Greg handed the ring to Lisa and Lisa tried on Chastity’s right hand.
“Not too ostentatious, but absolutely elegant,” Henry said. “It’s perfect.”
“I don’t believe this will need any sizing,” Greg said. “You could take it with you now.”
“No!” Chastity breathed. “To pick up when we get Lisa’s rings.”
Greg smiled and summoned his assistant to write up the mixed metals art ring.
“Now,” Chastity said, after she’d wiped her eyes and nose, “we need an engagement gift for our man.”
“A watch,” Lisa suggested.
“A watch? I have a cell phone,” Henry began to protest.
“You deserve a piece of jewelry that does absolutely nothing but remind you that whatever time it is, we love you,” Lisa said.
“Oh. That ... Yeah ... That’s great,” he said.
“Hmm. You know the big deal these days is the smart watch,” Greg said, “but I see where you are going with this. There are still watchmakers who just create watches. Let’s see what we can do.”
He led them to a selection of men’s watches and allowed them to just look without his explanations. Some watches were fairly plain, while some had the date, cycle of the moon, water resistance, and shock resistance. Some were self-winding while others were battery operated. The selection of watches was as diverse as the selection of rings.
“You know, since it is supposed to be a reminder of our love at all hours, I really don’t see a reason for anyone else to be able to read it but me,” Henry speculated.
“I see exactly where you are looking,” Lisa said. “Would you really be content with a black-on-black watch face?”
“Why not?” Henry asked. “It would be clean and simple on my wrist and everyone else can just guess what it says.”
Greg withdrew the minimalist watch from the display and strapped it onto Henry’s wrist.
“I like it,” Henry said.
“We’ll take it,” Chastity said. “Put it with the other purchases for pickup on Friday.”
Greg took the watch and went to where his assistant had written up the other items. He began to add the details from the watch.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lisa said. “It needs to be three separate checks.”
Greg looked at them for a moment with puzzlement written on his face. Then he smiled in understanding. When they left the store, Henry had the receipt for Lisa’s wedding set, Lisa had the receipt for Chastity’s art ring, and Chastity had the receipt for Henry’s watch.
They could hardly wait for the jewelry to be ready on Friday to announce their intentions. Nonetheless, Friday night, the trio took Lisa’s parents and grandparents to dinner and announced the engagement together. There was a round of congratulations and Solange and Jackie oohed over the two girls’ rings. Beau looked at Henry’s watch and nodded, as did Bill.
There was a celebratory toast, even though the trio drank soda water. Then Beau began the lecture.
“Before you run off and tie the knot, you need a pre-nuptial agreement,” he said. “All three of you. Yes, I believe you will be together all your lives and the agreement will be completely unnecessary, but this is a world in which we’ve seen everything we believed in torn to shreds. It may take more than the rest of my life before we see real order restored. All three of you are wealthy. Yes, I know you don’t have a lot of cash, but Henry and Chastity have a substantial stake in Open Cloak and it is likely to be worth a billion dollars or more in a few years.”
“I have no problem with splitting whatever I have evenly with Lisa,” Henry said.
“That’s not the way Pennsylvania works,” Beau said. “You need to specify that in advance. But you are not the only one who is wealthy. Lisa is the sole heir to a family fortune that includes both Benoit Intracoastal Logistics and EZ Daze games. And by neither Pennsylvania or Louisiana laws would Chastity be in any way protected. The idea of a pre-nuptial agreement is to assure that you are each taken care of if anything should happen either to your relationship or to one of you. It needs to include a will that makes sure your family is taken care of in the event of a tragedy. For each of you.”
“I guess I see the sense in that,” Henry said. “I won’t be twenty-one for two more months. I never even considered needing a will.”
“God forbid that it is ever called for,” Solange said, “but we will all, including your parents, rest easier knowing you have taken care of business.”
Saturday, the three returned to Pittsburgh, still euphoric in the new definition of their relationship. They went immediately to the Pascals’ home to announce their relationship officially to Henry’s parents.
“I can scarcely claim you are too young,” Sylvia laughed. “That was what my parents said when Ryan and I got married. We were twenty-three. I assume you’ll be twenty-one before you tie the knot,” she said looking at her son.
“We have a lot of details to work out,” Henry said. “We need to get pre-nuptial agreements drawn up. And wills. Beau gave us quite a lecture last night.”
“And I need to figure out how I’ll discharge my obligation to work for my father after college,” Lisa said. “It was part of our agreement.”
“I suppose that is wise,” Ryan said. “Neither Sylvia nor I had a pot to piss in when we got married. We never made any kind of financial agreement.”
“What’s his is mine and what’s mine is my own,” Sylvia said lightly. Ryan simply nodded.
“Well, in addition to the legal stuff, we need to do the whole wedding planning routine,” Lisa said. “I know my family will want to have the wedding in Baton Rouge, but most of my friends are here in Pittsburgh. We might need to have two celebrations.”
“Plus, we want to figure out how to celebrate Chas as part of our family,” Henry said. “I know that’s a bit unusual, but I don’t want to be living a lie or hiding our relationship.”
“How did your family receive that, Lisa?”
“Surprisingly openly and happy for us,” she answered. “I knew Mom was really proud of her membership in a welcoming congregation of the Methodists, but I didn’t expect my grandparents to be so easy about it.”
“Did you know your grandparents had a maîtresse when they were first together?” Henry asked. Lisa’s mouth dropped open.
“Papere told you that?” Lisa asked.
“Yes. He said they were very happy together but she died young. He didn’t think your mom remembered her at all,” Henry said.
“Now I have a whole bunch of questions for Forever Yours!” Lisa laughed. “I hope they added those stories.”
“Beau said he would record them.”
“How are you doing with all this, Chastity?” Sylvia asked, reaching out to take Chastity’s hand in hers.
“I feel ... like I have a family for the first time in my life. If I died young, like the Benoits’ maîtresse, I would die happy.”
“Let’s all pray that doesn’t happen. You deserve all the happiness life can give you,” Ryan said. “I’m so glad you’ve become a part of our family.”
The previous year, the New Year’s Eve party at the club had included only the four partners. Luke and Isobel hadn’t even been engaged yet. The company had just been founded with the investment from the sale of their first license. This year, nearly thirty people, including spouses and dates, were at the party.
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