A year passed and Ruby refused to date anyone. She still wore her engagement ring, and as far as she was concerned, her heart would always belong to Doug.
Then one day, David Roberts walked into the Magnolia Café and into Ruby's life. He was an ex-Marine just intending to pass through, but Ruby caught his eye. Right on the spot, he decided to stay for a while. He asked Ruby for a date, and to everybody's surprise, she accepted! Even more surprising, Ruby took off her engagement ring and left it on her dresser. For the next few weeks, David and Ruby were a steady item.
“I've met the perfect man,” she told her parents one night. “David is the man I want to marry.”
“Honey,” her mother said, “nobody is perfect. You hardly know David.”
“Maybe you should get to know him better before you think about marrying him,” her father told her.
“I know him well enough,” said Ruby, “and David doesn't want to wait.”
“Well, sleep on it,” her mother suggested.
Ruby didn't answer, but went on up to bed. Her parents worried. Something didn't feel quite right.
The next morning, Ruby walked into the kitchen where her parents were getting ready to eat breakfast. She held out the engagement ring that Doug had given her.
“Did you put this on my pillow, Mom?” she asked.
“Heavens, no!” answered her mother, surprised at the question.
“Did you do it, Daddy?” she asked.
“You know I would never come into your room while you were sleeping and do a thing like that!” he said.
“It was on my dresser when I went to bed,” she said. “During the night, I had a dream of Doug. He was holding the ring and shaking his head no! When I woke up, the ring was on my pillow! How could that be?”
Ruby sat down, pale and shaken.
“Maybe it's a sign that you should have second thoughts about marrying David right away,” said her mother.
“I agree with your mother,” said her father.
“Don't start that again,” said Ruby, getting up and hurrying to her room.
She returned the ring to her dresser and got ready for a date with David. When he picked her up later, she left with him without saying anything to her parents.
Ruby returned late that night. Her parents were still up, pretending to watch a late movie on TV. Actually, they were worried sick about her. They saw right away that she had been crying.
“What's wrong?” asked her father. “What happened?”
“David and I had a fight,” sobbed Ruby. “He wanted to know how much money I have saved. He wanted us to run off tonight and get married. I just couldn't do that. He said he would give me until tomorrow, and that it will be all over between us if I won't marry him then. He's leaving town and he wants us to go right away. What am I going to do?”
“One thing you're going to do is to let me do some checking on him,” declared her father. “There is something wrong about this man. He is rushing you too much!”
“Do go up and get some sleep,” said her mother. “We'll see what happens tomorrow.”
Nobody in the house slept well that night. Ruby was still upset and uncertain, and her parents were worried that she would do the wrong thing.
The next morning, Ruby came down to breakfast carrying the ring again. Her parents were surprised. Ruby was smiling!
“I couldn't fall asleep for a long time,” she told them, “but I finally did, and slept soundly. When I awoke, I saw the ring on my pillow again. I thought maybe you were right, Mom. Maybe Doug was trying to tell me something. He told me he'd always take care of me. I think this was his way of telling me that David is the wrong man for me. If it wasn't for seeing the ring, I might have run away with David. Now I know he is not the right man for me.”
When David called that morning, Ruby told him she would not be going away with him. Angrily, he slammed down the phone. She never heard from him again.
Her father checked on David anyway. He learned that David Roberts had been dishonorably discharged from the Marines, and that he was wanted by the police in another state for beating his ex-wife. Maybe Doug saw this from his perspective in the next world and could warn Ruby only by moving the engagement ring he had given her.
The Ghost of the Blackberry Patch
No one teller comes to mind for this story. We usually heard it when a group of women would tell stories while sitting under a shade tree, breaking green beans.
The biggest treat for many people in farm country in Kentucky is blackberries. They are delicious freshly picked or cooked into jam or jelly, or baked into pies and cobblers. They grow abundantly in berry patches, and people pick them both for their own use and for selling to those who are not able to get out and pick themselves. Picking blackberries was a sure way for children to make some money.