It took me years after Linden's death to convince myself that simply taking off my wedding ring wasn't some sort of act of infidelity. When I finally did take it off – four years after Linden's death – I did so only after I had convinced myself that it was simply because I needed to take that step in moving on, and had nothing to do with the young man who was constantly flirting with me, latest arrival to the mansion, Silas.
Cecily took a deep breath and glanced up at her reflection in her bedroom mirror. "You can do this." she admonished herself quietly. "It's time to move on."
Before she could lose her nerve, she took off her wedding band and dropped it into her jewelry cabinet, slamming the drawer closed. Hopefully, it would be out of sight, out of mind. But it wasn't. She felt like she was naked without it, and like everyone was noticing that she was no longer wearing it. The day was torture.
The next morning, before she left her bedroom, Cecily stood staring at her jewelry cabinet. She opened the drawer of rings and stared some more, all the while trying to make a decision. She desperately wanted to put her wedding ring back on – her hand literally felt cold without it – but something told her that if she let herself do that, it would never come off again, that she would never be in another relationship. And now that she had sixty plus years ahead of her to consider, did she really want to spend all of that time alone?
No, she decided, she wouldn't put her wedding ring back on. Instead, she would find a compromise. She could wear a ring on her ring finger for a little while, just not her wedding ring.
She grabbed a ring blindly and slammed the small drawer shut again for the second time in as many days. Turning her back to the cabinet, she slid the other ring onto her finger – a cheap, metal one with a fake, light pink jewel in the center.
Cecily shrugged. Oh well, it serves the purpose. At any other time, she wouldn't have been so practical, but she wasn't going to open the drawer back up and choose a different one. She doubted that she could ignore her wedding band a second time.
When she opened the door to her bedroom, she jumped, startled. Silas was casually leaning against the doorjamb.
"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you, Queen."
Cecily gave him a scathing glare. "No harm done, but I've told you before not to call me by that ridiculous nickname."
"Why shouldn't I?" By some sort of unspoken mutual agreement, they started together towards the dining room for breakfast with everyone else as Silas continued on, "After all, I still call Rhine 'Princess'-"
"Which she still despises." Cecily interrupted him to point this out, but Silas went on as if she hadn't even said a word.
"-And you are much more royal-seeming than she is, so the name 'Queen' fits you perfectly. And besides," Here he grinned his most charming smile at her. "I like it."
"Well, I don't."
"Aw, it'll grow on you."
"No, I'm sure it won't."
"It will, too."
"It won't."
"Really?" Rhine interrupted their dispute as Silas and Cecily made their way past the dining room doorway. "Twenty-one and eighteen, and still arguing like your four year old son?"
Cecily stiffened, and though she knew that Rhine hadn't meant it like it sounded, she couldn't help reminding her had been sister wife, "Bowen is not his son in any way, shape, or form. Silas may be good with him and they may like each other, but Bowen is Linden's son, not his."
Cecily's eyes darkened when she heard Rhine mutter "yet" as the blonde looked down at the table.
That evening, as she was getting ready for bed, Cecily noticed that the skin of her finger had turned green around the ring that she had chosen to wear. Oh well, she decided. She still didn't trust herself to open that jewelry cabinet drawer one more time.
She crawled under the covers of her bed, sighing. Was it ironic, she wondered, that, despite the growing number of people in the mansion, she felt more lonely now than she ever had when Linden was here with only a few other people and the servants?
Out of habit, she began to twist the ring on her finger. But it wasn't her wedding ring, and it just wasn't the same. Frustrated with that fact, she flung her arm listlessly to the side, into the moonlight pouring through her bedroom window, and glared at the ring. Again her eye was caught by the ring of her dark green skin. It looked almost… ghostly.
It's like the ring knows that part of me still wants to hold onto Linden.
The thought had crossed her mind before she could stop it, and then it stayed. She closed her eyes tightly when the pain washed over her as she realized once again that her husband would never be coming back to her and their son.
He had been gone four years, and she'd had just as long to deal with that fact, but one more time – Cecily promised herself that this would be the last time – she fell into a fitful sleep to the sound of her own crying.
This is my first CGT story, so reviews would be beyond awesome! By the way, feel free to suggest a better title for the story if you think of one. Thanks, guys (although most of you reading this are probably girls)!:)