After four years together, I thought Ryan was finally going to propose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he invited me to an \u201cimportant\u201d dinner at his mother Diane\u2019s house, I even got my nails done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I should have known something was wrong when Diane opened the door, looked me up and down, and said, \u201cNot the best choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside were three women I had never met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Diane tapped a spoon against her glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLadies, tonight we\u2019re going to find out which one of you is worthy of my son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stared at Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He only said, \u201cJust hear Mom out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was when I saw the clipboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My name was printed at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were four rounds: ironing, folding socks, peeling potatoes, and creating a week of family meals on a tiny budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re actually doing this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shrugged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFun for who?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diane deducted points for my \u201cattitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I picked up my bag and walked out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan followed me outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re really leaving?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter four years together, this is what you think I\u2019m worth?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had no answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I drove away furious and called my mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s when she told me something that completely changed the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two weeks earlier, Ryan had visited my parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told them he planned to propose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had even asked for my grandmother Evelyn\u2019s engagement ring, which had been promised to me for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stared through Diane\u2019s window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan was still inside, holding the clipboard and scoring the women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I called my parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome here. Please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirty minutes later, they arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My mother walked straight to the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGive me my mother\u2019s ring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diane looked confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My father looked around at the ironing boards and potato peelers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd what exactly is this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAn audition. Apparently, four years meant nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diane defended herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe point was to see whether she was really wife material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan pulled me outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was always going to choose you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen why did you let your mother humiliate me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He couldn’t answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he pulled the velvet box from his pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was going to propose tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He opened it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My grandmother\u2019s ring was inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years, I had imagined that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan got down on one knee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWill you marry me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stood slowly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I took the ring back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three days later, my mother brought it to my house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre you ready?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I slid it onto my finger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReady for what?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked at the ring my grandmother had worn for 52 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt belonged to someone who loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s reason enough to wear it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After four years together, I thought Ryan was finally going to propose. When he invited me to an \u201cimportant\u201d dinner at his mother Diane\u2019s house, I even got my nails done. I should have known something was wrong when Diane opened the door, looked me up and down, and said, \u201cNot the best choice.\u201d Inside …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21252,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21250\/revisions\/21252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}