Beyond the Price of Rubies
By Missy

The silver chain was barely thicker than the tip of her thumbnail, longer than the length of her inner arm and far beyond the pale fake metals she usually wore. Laverne stared at the open case with great confusion. She and Norman had just broken up; it was a month beyond her last misadventure with Jake of the Purple Fiends. Who the heck would unload a wad of dough to get her something like this?

She didn't notice the blond haired boy sitting behind her, watching her with a smile.

***

When they moved to LA, she got a new charm bracelet. It was more of a statement of independence than anything,

He gave her a little hula dancer charm the day he walked out the door to join the military. She didn't take it off, not even when he returned from active duty alive.

***

Their first Christmas - a half-wilted tree and a sun-filled living room. She found it at the bottom of a sock-stocking, with an orange and an apple - two tiny pearl earrings.

"Well, I was thinkin'," Lenny said, "that I didn't know what I should get you for Christmas. Squig knows this guy who sells watches down on Main Street, but they turn your nails black if ya wear 'em for an hour..."

"Spit it out, Len," she sighed.

"So I got ya those. How do you like 'em?"

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I like 'em tons."

***

They could hear Carmine singing downstairs in the living room on their first anniversary. It was one of the downsides to sharing a house with Shirley; there was an unenviable amount of shared noise. Lenny pinned her, giggling, down with his arm and passed her a little velvet sleeve.

"For those hard-to-reach noises."

It was a little ruby pendant with a loop on it, to hold her earplugs

***

Two kids, a mortgage, and a beautiful house. He gives her a double-string of cultured pearls, which she held up to the light, letting it reflect and shine off of the bright beads.

"Aww, Len, I don't need any of this stuff," she smiled.

"I know. I give 'em cause I love you."

She kissed him back, telling him how much she loved him without words.