To Wear His Ring Again by Chantelle Shaw Read Free Book Online Page A

about tonight is going to be over the top. You look perfect for the occasion,’ Ryan assured her.
    â€˜I can’t believe the Stone Ladies have been asked to perform tonight.’ She threw Ryan a wry smile. ‘Did you ever imagine when we were playing gigs in pubs that we would one day be top billing at a grand party held in a five-star hotel?’
    He laughed. ‘It’s crazy how fast things have happened. Sometimes I’m scared I’ll wake up and find I’m back in Derbyshire working behind the bar of the ex-miners’ social club.’ Ryan hesitated. ‘I reckon your dad would be proud of you, Izzy,’ he said softly.
    Her smile faded. ‘I doubt it.’
    Isobel recalled the conversation she’d had with her mother when they had stood at her father’s graveside on the day of his funeral three months ago. Ann Blake had sobbed quietly, but Isobel had found it impossible to cry for her father, whose dour moods and abrasive temper had cast a shadow on her childhood so that she had tried to avoid him as much as possible when she had lived at home.
    â€˜Your father was a good man,’ her mother had said suddenly. Catching Isobel’s look of surprise, she had continued, ‘I know he wasn’t always easy to live with, especially when he was in one of his black moods, but he wasn’t always like that. When I married him he was fun to be with and he had such hopes for us and for the future. But he changed after he had his accident, and he was no longer the strong, fit man he had been. When the coal mine closed and he couldn’t find work it destroyed his pride, and losing his dream of making a better life for his family crushed his spirit.’
    â€˜It seemed as though he was determined to crush my spirit and my dreams of a different life,’ Isobel had said fiercely. ‘I know Dad often made you unhappy. I used to hear you crying in the kitchen when you thought I was in bed. I never understood why you stayed with him.’
    â€˜Part of him died with your brother. He never got over losing Simon—and he needed me. I took my marriage vows seriously—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.’ Her mother had looked at Isobel curiously. ‘You made the same vows when you married Constantin. You’ve never explained why your marriage ended. It’s not my place to pry into your private life, but I can’t help wondering if you gave up too soon. A year isn’t a long time, and marriage isn’t all hearts and flowers. You have to work at a relationship and make compromises to hopefully gain a better understanding of each other.’
    She
had
tried to understand Constantin, Isobel thought grimly. But she need not have bothered, because she’d now had her darkest suspicions confirmed: that he had only married her because she had conceived his child. She had never told her mother about Arianna. It would have been cruel to tell Ann that she had lost a granddaughter as well as a son and husband.
    Isobel dragged her thoughts back to the present when she realised that Ryan was speaking. ‘I would never have met Emily if I’d stayed in Eckerton village, that’s for sure.’ He ran a hand through his fair hair, and said awkwardly, ‘Izzy, I’ve done it. I’ve asked Emily to marry me—and she said yes.’
    â€˜Thank heavens for that,’ Isobel said in a heartfelt voice as she flung her arms around Ryan’s neck. ‘You two were made for each other and I know you’re going to be very happy together.’
    Ryan’s expression clouded. ‘Emily makes me the happiest man in the world, but I don’t deserve to feel like this. I keep thinking about Simon, and how he never had the chance to grow up and fall in love. If only I’d stopped him going into the reservoir that day.’
    â€˜Don’t.’ Isobel pictured her brother’s