"As he shrunk, my husband became less and less able to wear his clothes and accessories…" Beverly noted, while the younger man's tongue probed between her toes. "The ring was actually one of the first things he couldn't keep up with."

If the young man was aware of his own diminishing size, it didn't slow down his adoration of her toes and between. He still worked diligently to clean her toes, leaving no part of her toes uncovered with saliva, and then obliging Beverly as she moved her foot up his face, presenting the ball of her foot to him. There was an odd, trance-like state to his work, but definitely not completely mindless.

"In fact, before he shrunk completely, I had a whitesmith take his ring and resize it…" Beverly noted, testing the progress of the man at her feet by holding her foot against his face before allowing him to resume. "His shrinking was slow, so I had it made into something of a collar at first, then into a more suitable size for me."

She moved her foot to facilitate his tongue against her arch and allowed him to continue there. Every so often, when she felt his enthusiasm wane, she'd press her sole into his face, eclipsing him under her bare foot. The renewed pressure was always enough to revitalize his lips and tongue. He'd been on his knees, at her feet, worshiping toes and soles and heels and arches and anywhere else she had pushed into his lips, for hours already, but she was far from done with him.

"Then, before he got too small, I told him how things had changed…" Beverly said. "And how they were going to change."

His adoration never stopped. Once every possible surface on her foot had been covered in kisses, licks, and the gentle touch of his hands, Beverly quickly swapped it out for the other foot, and the process began anew. She spent even more time wiping the sweat of her foot onto him, making sure that while her soles would be sparkling by the time she was finished with him, he’d still reek of her feet. She’d put him away like that, as well, with only a soiled sock of hers for warmth, just to hammer the point home. The second foot took more than twice as long as the first, owing mostly to his constantly diminishing size. The extra time allowed Beverly to produce a small, felt box from her purse while she waited.

"But don't think I forgot about you…" Beverly said, pushing him back with her foot, a bit of glee creeping into her voice.

She dropped the small box into his waiting hands. His brain, still foggy from worshiping her soles with all his enthusiasm, could barely register the felt covered container resting in his palms, and how large it was compared to him. He opened it like he was discovering the idea of a hinged box for the first time.

“Look familiar?” she asked, the glint of gold reflected in his eyes. “It should. Take it out.”

He obeyed, struggling to extract the ring from where it lay deeply nestled in silk, velvet, and cushioning. He finally pulled it free and held it in both hands, easily too large to be a ring for him, but maybe a collar or even something worn around his waist. He looked at it with a kind of persistent mix of confusion and loss that couldn't quite penetrate through to his conscious mind. Like a memory was always just out of clarity for him, no matter how hard he tried to focus.

The golden band was freshly polished, the diamond setting flanked on either side by a ruby that almost rivaled the center gemstone for size and brilliance, almost. He could see his reflection in the metal and the stunning array of colors from the diamond was mind-numbing even in the relatively subdued lighting of her bedroom. On the inside, etched into the band, he could read an inscription;

TUUS SUM IN AETERNUM

“Th…this is special.” he said, suddenly aware of his vision blurring and moisture on his cheek.

“You're right, that one is special. All of these…” she wiggled her toes above him, more than a dozen sparkling bands circling her toes. “Are the rings of husbands, but that one is different. The inscription may be a little ironic, but it holds truer now than ever before.”

She set her feet down, in front of him where he considered the engagement ring in his hands. Her toes continued to wiggle and clearly caught his eye as his gaze shifted up from the ring to her feet. All the confusion flushed out of his eyes with a single blink, even as the tears, now only of joy, continued to flow.

“Now, I've given you the honor of adorning the same toe that my husband’s own ring sits on.” Beverly announced, presenting her toes to him. “Get on your knees and thank me.”

Obediently, as though her words were the very neurological signal his brain sent, his legs collapsed out from under him. Weeping, he held the band he barely remembered, the band he had a ghost of a memory of, of having slipped on someone’s finger, aloft and over his head.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” he said with all his chest. “Please grant me this!”

“Good pet.” Beverly said. “You may put that ring on my second toe.”

The band slipped over her nail, and nestled into place, expertly sized from the original finger it was intended for down to her toe, next to the plain gold band she already wore. If there were any doubt in either of their minds, the soft clink of one golden band against another, and the perfect fit of what was once an engagement ring on her toe made it clearer than ever. He belonged to her, forever.