Start reading the story here.
Dearest Sabina,
I’ve loved you since before you were born. You are my special treasure.
Now that I am gone, I want you to do me one favor. Live!
I want you to take the next steps in your life and not feel limited by our special ring. It was a beautiful thing that we shared, but now it’s time to move on. I want you to enjoy more. I want you to enjoy and invest the inheritance that I’m leaving you. It will allow you to pursue your dreams, uninhibited by money. Live the life God planned for you. Serve others. Take care of your parents. Marry. Have kids. Live!
Please, Sabina, put the ring away for safe keeping. Think of me whenever you look at it, but don’t feel like you need to wear it every day or never take it off. Let this be a new stage of our relationship, where you treasure the memories that we shared more than the ring. Trust me on this, Sabina. If you truly love me, do as I say. Take the ring off and put it in a special place.
The ring was a symbol of our relationship. Our relationship, our bond, is not broken if you take the ring off. I promise. Keep it in perspective and don’t let it overshadow the love I have for you. Please, by all means, don’t let your life revolve around the ring or be defined by it.
Sabina finished reading the letter and was speechless. She didn’t know what to even think. Was this a forgery? Would Grammy B really have written these things? Who would be so cruel as to pull a prank like this 3 days after her death? How could Grammy B go back on her initial instructions 10 years prior, to never take the ring off?
She was convinced that there must have been something she was misunderstanding. How could Grammy B go back on her word so drastically? Never means never and she never wanted me to take the ring off, Sabina was convinced.
At the funeral, Sabina spoke about her grandmother and of course, included the story of the special ring (omitting the part about the letter, of course). In fact, this cemented Sabina’s commitment to wearing the ring. She was determined that everyone she met from now on, would know the story of the ring and the love she had for her precious Grammy B.
Weeks after her grandmother’s funeral, Sabina and the family had a meeting with her lawyers regarding the estate. Each of them read their copy of the will in silence. There was money and property left for her parents and for her adopted brother. Sabina began to weep when she got to the part about her inheritance.
There was a special clause that her grandmother had inserted just months before her death. It said that in order for Sabina to claim her full inheritance, she had to hand over the ring to the executor of the estate for safekeeping in a safe deposit box. She could come to get the ring any time, but could not have it in her possession for more than 3 weeks at a time.
Sabina was confused. What should she do? Maybe the letter was real? Should she do what the letter said and what the will stipulated? Or should she go on what she knew and heard her grandmother say 10 years ago. After all, she’d heard that with her own ears! It was something she knew for certain. She didn’t understand how her grandmother wasn’t banning the use of the ring, yet didn’t want her to wear it at all times. Was the ring good or bad? She was a bright girl, but this confused her. She didn’t know what to do.
The will didn’t stipulate when Sabina had to make her decision, so she decided to wait. But time only increased her love and commitment to the ring. She missed her grandmother so much, and that ring brought her solace and peace. Looking at It was the only way she could rest her mind. How could she give it up? She loved it!
A year later, Sabina still hadn’t made her decision, but in the year since her grandmother’s death, she met a young man, Paul,…
Stay tuned for the final installment.