My sister-in-law stood in front of me with her arms folded.
“I think you should give it to me now,” she said.
I stared at her.
“This isn't the time.”
“That's exactly why I’m asking now.”
Her answer shocked me.
“What does that mean?”
“It means things get complicated later.”
I looked toward the kitchen.
“Did my brother tell you this?”
She hesitated.
Then she said, “We talked about it.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“He thinks Mother would want me to have it.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew I'd appreciate it.”
I looked at her for a long moment.
“You barely knew what it meant to her.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I knew it was valuable.”
There it was.
The word that made something inside me go cold.
Valuable.
She saw a diamond.
I saw my mother.
The Argument
“You're making this emotional,” she said.
“Of course I'm emotional. We just buried my mother.”
“You’re acting like I’m asking for something meaningless.”
“You're asking for the one thing she wore every day.”
“It’s jewelry.”
“No,” I said. “It’s hers.”
My sister-in-law took a breath.
“Your mother had plenty of things. You can't keep everything.”
“I know.”
“Then this shouldn't be so difficult.”
“It wouldn't be difficult if you hadn't asked for it at her funeral.”
Her face tightened.
“You know, not everything is about you.”
That sentence hurt more than I expected.
Perhaps because I had spent years trying not to make everything about me.
During my mother's illness, I had arranged appointments.
I had helped with medication.
I had driven her to treatment.
My brother had helped financially, but his work kept him away often.
And my sister-in-law?
She visited occasionally.
She was pleasant.
She brought flowers.
She wasn't cruel.
But she wasn't close to my mother either.
She hadn't sat beside her through the long nights.
She hadn't helped her bathe when she no longer had enough strength.
She hadn't watched her hands shake while trying to drink water.
She had never heard my mother whisper, “Promise me you'll be okay.”
Yet here she stood demanding her ring.
My brother finally entered the room.