What Kind of Woman Abandons a Diamond Ring?

What Kind of Woman Abandons a Diamond Ring?
My grandmother threatened,
“Don’t crack your knuckles,
they’ll get big and I won’t leave you my diamond ring.”

I cracked my knuckles.
Forty years later, I received the two-carat solitaire.

I wore it to a wedding and to a bar mitzvah.
No one said a word.
Not “Are you engaged?”
Or “Where’d you get that rock?”

I couldn’t wear the ring.
It was too large, my hands too small
Was not the time to sell or give it away.
So I placed it in a safe deposit box.

I just left it.
Bad granddaughter.
Never visited.
Often wondered - was it still there?

A year later, I made the journey.

The attendant escorted me to the vault.
Turned the keys
Handed me the strongbox.

Once in the chamber, I opened the steel container.
Untangled the rubber band from the dingy box.
Removed the layer of white cotton.

There it was
The sparkling multi-faceted stone.
I slid the ring over my knuckle
Studied it from every angle
Placed the shiny carbon confection back in the box
And returned it to the attendant.