Rachel's head jerked to look at me. Her smile vanished as a look of shock spread on her face. "How...why
would you ask me that?" she demanded.
"Because he hurt you," I said. "You didn't deserve that."
"You're right," she said. "But that doesn't mean he does, either. I don't want to be with him anymore, but I
don't want him to suffer any more than what the law will give him." She paused for a minute. "I'm not a
believer in 'an eye for an eye,' Joe. That's for someone else to decide."
I felt a bit ashamed. Now it was my turn to look down at the ground. "You're a better person than me, I
guess," I said.
"You're not a bad person, Joe," she assured. "I appreciate the thought, I suppose, but that's just not me.
All I would want from Adam is a sincere apology and for him to demonstrate that he'll never do that to someone
else. And that he'll let me go."
"I could make that--" I started.
She interrupted me and said, "Absolutely not! It has to be sincere. It has to be real. I don't want it to
be some mystical enforcement by that ring."
"OK, I understand," I said. "I'm sorry to have upset you."
"Oh, you didn't upset me," she said. "I don't want you to force things just for me."
Silence fell between us. I was almost afraid to look at her, because I still felt that I did genuinely upset
her, no matter what she said. Then another idea popped into my mind. "I think there is something that I can
have the ring do for you that will be OK," I said.