They both shook their heads and walked over to a sitting area near a case at the front of the store. Right after they sat, the door to the shop opened and Ms. Kitty walked in. She smiled at the saleswoman who greeted her.

“Hello, Ms. Kitty,” the saleswoman said. “I believe Mr. Davis has your piece ready. He’s doing an assessment right now so it will be a few minutes. Can I get you anything while you wait?”

“No. Thank you.” Ms. Kitty turned and caught sight of them. “Fancy meeting you two all the way out here. But then, you can’t do better than Stewart for custom work.”

“That’s what everyone says,” Halcyon said.

Ms. Kitty took a seat next to them and looked at Marina. “How are you holding up, Marina? I heard about that mess with your daughter. Is she all right?”

“She’s fine,” Marina said. “I mean, considering. I guess we’re both fine, considering.”

“Considering your husband is a no-taste-having asshole?” Ms. Kitty asked.

“That covers part of it,” Marina agreed.

Ms. Kitty looked at the counter next to them and frowned. “You shopping for engagement rings? That’s some fast work.”

“God no!” Marina said. “I think I’d rather wear handcuffs.”

“Same thing,” Halcyon said.

Ms. Kitty grinned. With three husbands in her rearview mirror, she and Halcyon probably shared an opinion on the term “permanent.”

“I’m looking to sell my wedding rings,” Halcyon said. “In case Marina needs the money for Avery and things.”

Ms. Kitty gave her an approving nod. “You’re a good woman. I know some don’t like it that you speak your mind, but I happen to admire that quality in a person.”

“Probably because you’ve got it in spades,” Halcyon said.

Ms. Kitty laughed. “There is that. I’m surprised you never had those rings turned into something else—a nice bracelet or something.”

“I thought about it but never got around to doing it,” Halcyon said.

“My daughter divorced her first husband years ago,” Ms. Kitty said. “He was a piece of work, which I knew from the beginning, but you can’t tell a nineteen-year-old a damned thing. So I bit my lip and paid for the wedding, even though I knew they wouldn’t make it until she was of legal drinking age. They didn’t. He did buy her a decent ring, though. That’s about the only thing he ever did that was worth anything.”

“Did she have it made into something else?” Marina asked.

“No,” Ms. Kitty said. “She stuck it in a drawer and left it, probably hoping it was all a bad dream, but then she met her current husband. He came across it shortly after they were married and asked why she still had it. She said she’d just never done anything with it but she’d go have it made into a necklace or something. Well, he got all butthurt over the idea of her walking around wearing a diamond that came from her first husband, even if it wasn’t on her ring finger. So she gave the ring to me and told me to get something for myself.”