He'd even prepared two engagement rings.
I didn't know whether to laugh that he'd once thought of marrying me, or to cry that I was only the spare.
I handed the ring back to him and said, flatly,
"Let's talk again in seven days."
The director had just walked in. He watched Ray on his knees in front of me, opened his mouth, hesitated a long moment, then finally asked,
"Faith, are you still going to—"
I cut him off.
"I'm going."
The director looked confused, but the aid team really was short on people, and I'd always kept my word, so he didn't press.
Ray seemed uneasy. He asked,
"Faith, where are you going?"
I closed my eyes and answered something else entirely.
"I'm tired. I want to rest."
When Phyllis heard about the miscarriage, she came with Byron to console me.
They brought not only the wedding invitation, but a gold ring and a jade bracelet too, a thank-you to Ray for getting even on her behalf.
And an apology for my being caught in the crossfire.
I didn't want to take them, but Phyllis slid them onto me anyway.
The bracelet fit perfectly.
Even the ring fit perfectly.
You could tell at a glance someone had been careful.
Phyllis lifted my hand and ordered Ray,
"Take good care of Faith! Loving someone is like tending a flower. Don't let me catch you letting her down!"
In that instant I understood. Phyllis had known about his buried feelings all along.
And this was how she meant to make him cherish me.
Ray took my hand, laced his fingers through mine, and nodded over and over, his eyes red.
I couldn't imagine how much he had to love Phyllis to treat her every word as gospel.
Over the next few days, Ray took his annual leave and stayed at my bedside, doing everything he could to look after me.
He made all three meals himself, even getting the soup to exactly the right temperature.
He found time, too, to redo our restored apartment back into the pink I liked.
The way he looked at me was so tender it was as if no one else existed.
Even in his dreams, he called my name.
It was the picture I'd longed for.
But the next second, asleep, he gripped my hand and murmured,
"Phyllis, as long as you're happy, I'll do as you say. I'll be good to Faith for the rest of my life…"
My phone buzzed.
The director was telling me to leave a night early.
I pulled my hand free, hard, and Ray didn't even wake.
As the plane lifted off, I sent him one last scheduled message:
【Sweet dreams!】
The next day, he stared at the empty hospital bed and, uneasy, called my number.
No one answered.
So he ran to find the head nurse.
"Have you seen Faith? We're supposed to get our marriage license at nine."
The head nurse froze, then asked him back,
"Marriage license? She flew out last night for the overseas aid mission. You didn't know?"
