Chapter 9

With military precision, everyone in the house was up at 7am. Megumi had her own attached bath to her bedroom, so Sean used the hall bath for a quick shower and shave. He passed a little gel through his hair, brushed it and was downstairs at 7:30. As expected, the little lady was very affectionate and happy. Suki looked like her mind was whirling at 10,000 RPM thinking of the day when Josh would be slipping a ring on her finger also.

For ease of parking, James suggested that they take his big Toyota tank. The Sequoia SUV was huge. Suki and Midori climbed into the back into the third-row bench seat. Sean and Megumi in the middle row, with Mom and Dad in the commander’s chairs. When they arrived at IHOP, surprisingly, they didn’t need to wait for a table. Sean was thinking, Boy, pre-Covid 19, this place would be packed on a Saturday morning...

Everyone except Suki ordered the breakfast sampler. Suki ordered blueberry pancakes. Megumi jokingly asked Sean as they ate, “Did you bring lots of money today?”

Sean smiled and said,” Nope. Thank the Lord for plastic.”

“You have that much in your account?”

“You seem to forget, my lovely little lotus flower, I was out in the lifeless, colorless desert for 1 year. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made was being suckered into grabbing the signing bonus and extending to that snake pit for an additional six months. I had nowhere to go or to have leave or spend any money. The Lord knew there was going to be a spoiled, high maintenance little Japanese pixie in my future”

James asked, “How much did they offer you?”

“Ten Thousand. Believe me, it wasn’t enough. The only thing I have to say for the ordeal was that I floated in the Dead Sea.”

“Floated in the Dead Sea? Suki asked.

“Yeah. The salt content is so high, you couldn’t sink even if you wanted to. Oh, and I swam in the Jordan River. But don’t ask, the Lord didn’t part it for me.”

Keiko almost choked on her sausage and said, “That was cute, Sean.”

Everyone sat around talking, looking at the clock. They had a second drink and talked for another fifteen minutes, then piled into the tank and drove to the Diamond Exchange. Once there, the girls hustled to the diamond ring case. The Manager, Sol Levinson, said happily, “Well, well, it looks like the ladies are in the market for some diamonds this morning.”

Sean said, “No, just one in particular.”

Sol smiled and said, “And I guess you are the lucky man who’s going to buy it for her, correct?”

“Very astute observation, Sir.”

Sol walked the parents and Sean over to the case next to the one Megumi and Suki were ooh-ing and aah-ing over. He said, “Miss, the quality engagement settings are here.”

Keiko, Midori, and Suki spent twenty minutes trying to convince Megumi which style of ring to get. Keiko was pushing the one carat halo round brilliant; Midori thought the pear-shaped was “unique.” Megumi finally just said, “Mom, Auntie, I am getting a princess cut engagement ring. End of story. Mr. Sol, please show me your princess cut rings.”

Sol, trying to avoid a family squabble quipped, “Never argue with a woman who knows what she wants.”

James, from the peanut gallery added, “Amen to that.” Keiko turned and gave him a glare.

After the infighting stopped, the selection became much more discriminating. Keiko and Megumi had the selection down to four rings: two were ¾ carat and the other two were one carat.

Sean got pulled into the fray and after he looked at each of the four rings, he wasn’t really drawn to one ring. He looked in the case and one really jumped out at him. He asked, “What about that one?”

Sol asked, “Which one are you pointing to?”

Pointing, Sean said, “This tray here, third from the left in the second row.”

“Oh,” Sol said, “I forgot about that one.”

He brought it out and handed it to Sean. Sean said, “What size is the stone in this ring?”

Looking at the tag, he replied, “It’s 1.6 carats at VVS-1, an excellent quality diamond. It has 18 Pavé diamonds: nine on each side for a total carat weight of 2.8 carats. In a 14K white gold Luxe Petite setting. Price is $4,950.00”