refusal. “Come now. In the weeks since Hamlet went back to school, I don’t think we’ve spent any time together.”
Let me just say that was all her doing, and I doubt she missed the time with me any more than I missed hanging out with her.
“Ophelia, sweetheart, we’ll buy you something fabulous. Ooh, we can even catch high tea at the Crown.”
I forced a smile of my own and replied, “Sounds lovely. Let me just get my jacket.”
“No need to say that this is just between us,” she said, winking at me. I shook my head as she closed the door behind me.
On the way home, Gertrude admired the suede blazer she had purchased for me, the one piece of clothing I actually liked all afternoon. The kiss went unmentioned. Though she thought she had bought my silence, more than anything I was too stunned to take action. I liked the blazer, yeah, but I didn’t stay quiet over designer clothes. I just wasn’t sure what to do. Was I supposed to alert the press? Tell my dad? Call Hamlet? Probably. Maybe I should have gone to Wittenberg and told him in person. But it was so surreal. So gross. So personal. As tempted as I was to tell him immediately, there was a part of me that thought Gertrude ought to do it herself. And if she and Claudius had ended things quickly and quietly, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Part of me thought—maybe hoped—they would, and that would have spared the three of us—okay, me—having to tell anyone anything. And I never would have stayed quiet if I’d realized how serious things were with Claudius and Gertrude or how quickly they would progress. So I admit it: I took the blazer and I stayed silent. I’m not sure if telling Hamlet right away would have changed anything, but I wouldn’t feel quite so bad about what came next if I had.
And she didn’t write me any blessed note, which didn’t matter anyway, because I would never have handed it to my teachers if she had. I just stayed up later than I wanted and did terrible work, which I had been doing a lot even without her help.
Less than a week later, I was up in Hamlet’s room grabbing a CD he said I could take to download when Gertrude came walking in.
“Oh,” she exclaimed, “I thought you were one of the maids.”
“I was just leaving,” I said, holding up the case.
She gestured broadly to the door, and that’s when I spotted the sparkle of an enormous diamond. On her finger.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at her hand, my eyes wide.
She looked down and quickly covered her left hand with her right, then said, “Please follow me.” She clip-clopped down the hall to her receiving room. The walk must have given her time to think of what to say. I know it gave me time to think of a lot of questions.
She sat behind her desk and pointed at the chair I was to sit in. “Well, dear, things have developed, and I am truly glad that you found out, well, even before Hamlet.” I knew this could not be good. “Perhaps you can advise me on the best way to tell him that… Claudius and I are engaged.”
My mouth actually dropped open. I searched my mind for the date to be sure I wasn’t crazy for being so surprised. Nope, not crazy. One month. It had been one month since her husband had died of unknown—one might even say mysterious—causes. “Are you kidding?” I asked.
“No,” she said, clutching her hands together, hiding her new ring again. “It only happened this morning, you see.” She blushed and let out a little half laugh. “I’m simply afraid that, well, Hamlet is not going to take this well.”
“I imagine he won’t,” I answered, still in shock.
Gertrude stayed cool and patted her perfect French knot. As she did so, I had the chance to study the ring, and it was, to say the least, lavish. Twice as large as her original (which had been no small diamond) and sparkling dazzlingly. She said in a clipped voice, “The thing is, I’m very, very happy about this, and I am hoping that you can convince Hamlet that it is a good thing.”
I blew out a burst of air and smiled, though not for the reason she probably thought. I was laughing at what an impossible request it was, and how improbable