"Wedding Ring Dilemma"

"Hey, Mom, how long are you going to wear your wedding ring?" Candy

asked out of the blue one morning.

Carolyn paused with her coffee cup halfway to her mouth, staring at

her daughter in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked, in

confusion. "I can't remember WHEN I last took it off..."

Shrugging, Candy took another mouthful of toast, swallowed, then

said, "I just wondered. I mean, you're not married anymore. Not

really. Not to Dad, anyway. Maybe to the Captain."

Carolyn's breath caught in her throat. Candy didn't notice, and

she continued, "We were talking about rings in Social Studies at

school. How the wedding ring is a symbol of the commitment you make

to each other. Well, now that Dad is gone, so is the commitment,

isn't it?"

"Well, in one way, yes. But I still have you two as a reminder..."

Carolyn began.

"I know THAT!" Candy protested. "I MEANT wearing the ring to show

you were in love with someone. It's the custom, right? And your

plain gold band is a wedding ring, but you could have any kind of ring

as an engagement ring or something."

Jonathan was looking from one to the other in puzzlement. "Who

cares about rings? How can a ring show you're in love? That's dumb!"

"Oh, Jonathan!" Candy was exasperated. "YOU probably would still

give a girl worms in her desk or something to show you liked her.

GROWNUP men give rings to the women they love. So Dad gave Mom a

ring. But now that he's dead, and the Captain is here..."

Round-eyed, Jonathan looked at Carolyn. "Did the Captain give you

a ring to show he loves you, Mom?"

"NO!" Carolyn managed to gasp. She was still trying to figure out

how the topic had gone from rings to the Captain being in love with

her, and how the children knew, or thought they knew!

"If he was a real living person, he'd have to." Candy explained to

her brother. "Maybe because he's NOT, it's okay that Mom is still

wearing Dad's."

"But the Captain's LIKE our Dad. He's here all the time..."

Jonathan started to say.

"Well, not ALL the time. And Dad sure wasn't around all the time

when he was living." Candy was matter-of-fact. "But Mom had the ring

to remind her that he loved her."

"So does it still?" Jonathan asked.

"Of course." Candy said. "But now he's gone, and the Captain is

here, so she really should take off Dad's ring and wear one of the

Captain's."

"It wouldn't fit her." Jonathan argued.

"You know what I mean!" Candy sighed. "He'd have to GET her a

ring."

"How? He can't go shopping. And he has no money." Jonathan was

stubbornly holding his ground.

"Well, then Mom would have to pick it out. He could go with her to

the store. As long as it was here in Schooner Bay. Or can he go to

Boston, too? Didn't he go when Claymore was there one time? That was

before I knew he was real. Well, a real GHOST. If you can call him

real. Could he go with you to Boston, Mom, to choose your ring?"

Candy appealed to her mother, who found it hard to follow the

children's thought processes so early in the morning.

"This is all purely hypothetical!" Carolyn announced, firmly. "And

if you two don't finish breakfast, the school bus will be here and you

won't be ready!"

"Okay, Mom!" both quickly finished toast and milk, then ran

upstairs to clean their teeth.

Carolyn sighed, putting her head in her hands. Too bad Martha had

gone to visit her mother in Florida! She certainly could have used

the help this morning. Hopefully the topic would be forgotten by the

time Jonathan and Candy returned home this afternoon.

Candy came clattering back down the stairs, Jonathan close behind

her. "I forgot, Mom. Jonathan is right. The Captain has no money.

At least, not any modern stuff the stores would take. Is that why he

has never bought you a ring?"

Before Carolyn could answer, the Captain himself materialized in

the foyer. "Buy your mother a ring?" he was astounded.

"Candy thinks you should, to prove you love her. Then she could

take off Dad's ring." Jonathan informed him.

Raising his eyebrows, the Captain turned to look at Carolyn, still

sitting limply at the kitchen table. She closed her eyes and shook

her head. Blast. She had been hoping the topic would be over with

before the Captain heard of it.

"Well," said the Captain, slowly, "it's rather difficult in my

present state to conduct matters of business..."

"Hey, in that old trunk, with all that old stuff of Vanessa's, do

you have a ring?" Jonathan piped up.

"Jonathan, he can't give Mom someone ELSE'S ring! That would be

like Mom keeping Dad's wedding ring on and just pretending to be

married to the Captain instead!" Candy said decidedly.

"Isn't that what she's doing?" the boy asked.

"I believe the bus is here." the Captain spoke hurriedly.

"Bye, Mom! Bye, Captain!" both children grabbed their books and

lunch boxes and were out the door, slamming it behind themselves as

they ran for the gate.

The silence in Gull Cottage was deafening. Carolyn still sat

frozen at the table, eyes downcast. The Captain stood in the foyer,

his gaze on her.

Finally he spoke. "I seem to have appeared in the middle of the

conversation."

"I feel like I did, too." Carolyn murmured. She spread out her

hands on the table, eying the gold band on her left hand. "I wonder

why I DO keep it on? Habit, more than anything, I think. And that

way strangers know I'm married. Or was." She sighed. "Foolish

custom."

"You know, madam, that I..." the Captain hesitated. She raised her

gaze to look at him directly.

"Yes." she said, simply, and smiled. She knew. Were he alive,

they would be married, no question about that. In their hearts, they

were already. Then she looked down at her hands again. "But ... I

guess I never thought about the children questioning it. They really

are growing up, aren't they?"

"If your daughter thinks I am going to buy you a ring..." the

Captain growled.

Carolyn laughed lightly. "I think you're off the hook. She'll

have forgotten about it by tonight. I hope."

"You know, I DID have a signet ring ... my aunt gave it to me the

year before she died ... for my eighteenth birthday. It was a blue

chalcedony stone, and my initials were engraved on the band. I should

try to find it ..." and with that, the Captain disappeared.

Taking a sip of her now cold coffee, Carolyn grimaced, then got up

and dumped the cup out. She did up the dishes, then threw a load of

laundry into the washer. While the clothes washed, she vacuumed the

living room, then dusted. Since it was a nice day, she decided to

hang the clothes out on the line to dry ... thus saving on the

electric bill.

The clothesline seemed to be sagging a bit more than usual, so

Carolyn, armed with a hammer and pliers, climbed a ladder to see if

she could do something with the pulley. As she was trying to yank out

the last nail, the Captain appeared at the foot of the ladder.

"May I ask what you are attempting to do?" he asked sternly.

Considerably startled, Carolyn flailed for a moment, and her left

hand grabbed for the pulley. One of the nails still embedded in the

wood caught on her ring, and jerked her hand painfully as the ladder

almost went over. Carolyn let out an involuntary cry of anguish, and

managed to free her hand when the ladder was steadied by the Captain's

invisible hold.

Wincing, she climbed down the four steps. The Captain appeared,

still holding on to the ladder, so that she was between it and him,

encircled by his arms.

"I'm terribly sorry, my dear." his voice was low and apologetic.

"Are you badly hurt? I never meant to startle you so."

Cradling her left hand with her right, Carolyn bit her lip, then

turned slowly to look up at him. Blue eyes, filled with concern,

gazed into hers. "I know you didn't mean to, Captain." she

whispered. "I should have realized you might appear ... you'd think

by now I'd be used to your presence..."

"Your hand?"

"Throbbing." She looked down at it. "But no blood. For a moment,

I thought I had ripped my finger off!"

"That's why rings are so dangerous! I tried to tell my aunt the

same thing ..." the Captain began another tirade. Then he broke off

and spoke gently again. "Do you need to soak it?"

"It's beginning to swell." Carolyn admitted. She worked off her

wedding ring, her face twisting with the pain.

"I'll get some ice." The Captain vanished.

Carolyn went into the house and found the Captain in the kitchen,

wrapping ice cubes in a terry dishtowel.

"Here you are, my dear." he held it out. "Put your hand in between

so the ice can be all around the finger."

Putting her hand into the towel, Carolyn avoided looking at the

Captain as she sat at the table. "Thank you." she said, softly.

"I hate to bring up the subject of rings again, but I managed to

find mine." he put it on the table before her.

The stone was a small square cut stone of the same vivid blue as

his eyes. It was set in silver.

"It's beautiful, Captain." Carolyn picked it up in her right hand,

and saw his initials, D G, on either side of the stone.

"I would be honoured if you would keep it, madam .... Whether or

not you can ever wear it." his voice was husky and full of meaning.

"I can't accept this, Captain!" she put it down hastily. At the

look of hurt which shot into his eyes, she picked it up again. "I ...

I SHOULDN'T accept this."

"As a symbol of my love, Carolyn?" he leaned closer. His use of her

first name set her senses rioting. She swallowed hard.

"You ... you don't need to give me anything ... it's just because

of what the children were saying this morning..." she said faintly.

"Please, Carolyn? I've never pleaded with any woman before this."

Carolyn carefully slipped the ring over her finger and studied her

hand. "It's a lovely ring..."

"For a lovely lady...with my love."

"Thank you. Daniel." Her eyes, filled with her love for him,

clung to his for long moments.

Then he cleared his throat. "How is your left hand now?" he asked,

gruffly.

Trying to smile, Carolyn pulled it out and examined it. "It's

still a little swollen, but I think the freezing is helping. I may

not be able to put my ring back on for a while ..."

"Possibly mine might fit, then?"

"Possibly." she agreed, and her smile widened. "Trying to brand

me, Captain?" she teased.

His words were serious but his eyes twinkled as he said, "Madam, I

will do whatever I can to claim you...however little it may be!"