Chapter 14: The ring

Seventh grade ended and, despite the barely passing grades they gave her, Cookie was promoted to the eighth grade for the coming fall.

Not a lot happened during that summer, though Cookie kept herself busy with babysitting as well as going to the library, her housework, laundering, gardening and cooking.

During that same summer Cookie began to blossom in earnest. Evident curves now accentuated her slim waist and rounded hips and her upper thighs filled out to match her wider behind. Her breasts were now full and firm and, try as she might to hide it, she had assumed the unmistakable appearance of a very pubescent, young lady. Baggy and loose-fitting clothes were no longer going to help her hide all of these dire developments from the watchful eye of her stern father.

So far, to her relief, he hadn't said, or seemed to notice, anything.

When mid August came it was time for Cookie's birthday (on the 15th) and that meant a big, family celebration for her cousin Kate whose own birthday was the 13th. As usual, Kate's birthday would be celebrated on Cookie's birthday and this year that would be on a Saturday and at Cookie's own house.

Cookie spent her birthday cleaning and decorating the house and making party food, including and a large sheet-cake which she adorned with white frosting and 'Happy Birthday Kate' written across it in pink icing. She also made pink icing roses, with green, mint leaves as a border.

Everything ready, she made sure her father and Corey had their supper at four and went up to change into a pale-blue dress with a full skirt and a big bow at the back for the party.

The family members soon began to arrive. Uncle Bryce and Aunt Ellen came in with the guest of honor Kate and her brother Little Bryce. Grandpa came with Aunt Janice and Uncle Chris and little Alice and then Aunt Kathryn with Uncle Harry and Nora and Tommy and Janice. This year, as a special surprise, Aunt Kathryn came with Auntie Nell, a very old, bent, stern-looking woman who lived in California and whom nobody in the family had seen since Cookie's mother passed away thirteen years ago. Cookie herself had never seen the woman but had heard her name mentioned many times.

Auntie Nell was slowly led to a cushy chair in which she was helped to sit and she sat there glowering at everyone in the family, over the hook of her cane, all night long, causing everyone to avoid any contact with her what-so-ever.

Cookie was at once timid of the old woman's appearance and gruffness but felt, as hostess of this affair, she should be as cordial to her as possible and so she kept offering her elderly aunt hors d'oeuvres and canapés and ginger punch which the old lady grunted at and accepted with greedy grabs of her well wrinkled fingers.

"I hope that you are enjoying the party, Auntie Nell," Cookie smiled and told her. "We're all so very happy that you're here with us."

The old woman just looked up at her and snorted and grumpily asked for coffee which Cookie ran and fetched, for her, right away.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time, other than timeworn old Auntie Nell, and soon came the time for the cake and presents for Kate.

Cookie placed the 13 green candles on the cake and lit them and brought it out for her cousin who joyously blew the candles out after everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. Then she opened her gifts which included a bracelet from Cookie.

"Thanks," Kate said, tossing the bracelet to the floor, "but my father won't allow me to wear cheap jewelry."

Then Uncle Bryce stood up and had an announcement to make. "Everyone," he began, ringing his glass with a spoon for attention, "this is a very special birthday for my little Katydid here. Today, or rather Thursday, she turned 13. She's a teenager now and that's an important right of passage in our family and I have a special presentation for her." Uncle Bryce reached into his suit-jacket pocket and produced a small, black-velvet box that he now held in his hand as he looked lovingly down at his daughter. "Kate, in our family there is an old tradition that dates back to the middle of the last century, before your great grandmother came over from England. Your great-great-great grandmother gave her daughter a very special ring, on her thirteenth birthday, that she'd had designed and made by Mappin and Web, the London jeweler. She told her to wear it on the third finger of her right hand until she had a daughter who became thirteen. Then that ring was to be given to her daughter to wear until her oldest daughter was thirteen, and on the tradition went, uninterrupted until your grandmother gave the ring to your Aunt Lynn on her thirteenth birthday many years ago..."

Cookie's ears perked up as soon as she heard the mention of her mother's name. Her heart started to swell and race and chills ran through her body as she began to realize exactly what it was that her uncle Bryce was holding in his hand; her own mother's ring.

"Pumpkin," Uncle Bryce said to Kate as he opened the box and took out a shiny silver ring adorned with many sparkling diamonds and a heart-shaped red ruby at its center, "this is your thirteenth birthday and today we are passing that very special ring on to you." And he took her hand and started to place the ring on her finger as Kate smiled from ear to ear.

"No!" Cookie found herself saying and everyone turned to her. "That was my mother's ring. You can't give that to her."

"What?" Uncle Bryce said. "That's a lot of nerve. This is Kate's ring. We wouldn't let it go to waste by giving it to you, of all people."

"But it was my mother's ring," Cookie protested. "She was supposed to give it to her daughter on her thirteenth birthday. That was supposed to be handed down to me."

"You will shut up," her father yelled now, pointing his finger at her for emphasis. "This is Kate's special day, not yours. Don't you dare cause a selfish scene in front of your Aunt Nell who came all the way here from California to see this special event."

Cookie turned to her gruff old aunt who looked back up at her, with a sneer of distain on her craggy face, and then sipped loudly at the coffee she held in her shaky hand.

"I'm sorry, Auntie Nell," Cookie told her, fighting back tears. "Please forgive me."

Kate stood now and, as Cookie sorrowfully watched, she began to parade to each of her relatives, showing off the glitter of the shiny ring on her finger.

Desperate to actually see something that her mother had once possessed, Cookie walked directly over to where Kate stood and asked, "May I see it, Kate? May I just touch it, please? It was my mother's, Kate. I just want to touch something that she once touched ... please!"

"No," Kate hissed at her. "It's mine now and I don't want you even looking at it."

Kate walked away, past her old, scornful-looking aunt and to a seat on the couch between her Aunt Kathryn and her mother who both began to admire the beautiful ring on her slender finger.

Cookie could not bear the aching hurt in her chest a moment longer. Losing her struggle for composure, she ran to the shelter of the downstairs bathroom where she closed the door and, for the first time in her life, just let loose her grief and began to wretchedly cry and cry hard and cry loudly, allowing all the pent-up and immense hurt and ache to pour out of her crippled heart in an agonizing torrent. Letting the painful emotions have her, she fell back against the hard bathroom wall and then slid down its length until her round bottom settled to the cold tile floor and, in an attempt to hold herself together, she hugged her knees tightly to her chest, closed her eyes and convulsed, crying hard as she just let it all out and rocked her body in extreme emotional agony.

That was her mother's ring, her thoughts tormented her further. How could they just give it to Kate in front of her? How could they do this to her? How could they be this cruel? If only she hadn't even known about the ring. If only they had spared her this tremendous hurt and this unbearable agony. This was a family tradition, they said, and family meant so much to Cookie and she could have possessed a ring that went back over a hundred years through the women of her family ... including her own, dearly adored and much beloved mother.

Cookie just couldn't gain any control over the misery and the hurt and all of her extreme anguish kept gushing out of her, loudly and in torrents, until the front of her blue dress was soaked with the salty evidence of her painfully flowing and seemingly endless tears.

Cookie shook and rocked and contorted, hugging her knees tightly to her breasts and collapsing to her side with her face now pressed to the cold tile floor and still she cried and cried and cried, hearing the sound of her grief loudly echo back at her from the hard, ceramic walls.