When Tom lost something precious, he and Alma thought they’d waved goodbye to it for good…
Seeing my grandad, Åke, for the first time in years, I threw my arms around him.
‘I’ve some exciting news,’ I smiled. ‘Tom and I are getting married!’
‘I’m so happy for you both,’ he beamed.
I lived in the UK and this was my first visit back home to Sweden in years.
My grandad and I were very close, and it meant a lot to me to introduce him to Tom.
When he passed away two years later, I was heartbroken.
But though Grandad couldn’t be present at my wedding, I wanted to include something of his.
I remembered the wedding ring he’d worn since his marriage in 1949.
‘It would be really special for Tom,’ I suggested to my mum.
'I felt it slip off in the water'
‘That’s a nice idea,’ she said. ‘I’ll check with your uncle.’
On my wedding day, I presented the ring to Tom during the ceremony.
‘It’d be an honour to wear it,’ he said.
That evening we set off for our honeymoon in Crete.
We arrived at the hotel late, so it wasn’t until the next day that we took a stroll down to the beach.
After spending half an hour larking about in the sea, Tom called me over.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘The ring’s gone!’ he said.
‘Don’t joke,’ I gasped. ‘Show me your hand.’
To my horror, his finger was bare.
‘I’m so sorry, I felt it slip off in the water,’ he said miserably.
We both felt around in the sand, but we soon realised it was hopeless.
‘Stay there,’ I told Tom before rushing back on shore to buy some snorkels.
But even after an underwater search, we weren’t getting anywhere.
Disappointed, we abandoned the hunt after a few hours and went to dinner.
Tom had forgotten to reapply his sunscreen and was burnt to a crisp.
‘How about we use a metal detector?’ he suggested.
We ended up posting on a Facebook page for local detectorists.
And in just a couple of hours we had a response.
‘This man Jimmy says he’s only 20 minutes away and can come to help tomorrow,’ said Tom.
The following morning, we met him on the shoreline.
Jimmy was an Australian man in his 40s who lived on the island.
For the next few hours, he patrolled up and down through the water.
Tom and I helped as best we could, diving down in snorkels whenever he had a signal.
But as evening closed in, we’d still had no success.
‘We’ll try again when the sea’s calmer,’ suggested Jimmy.
Later that night, Tom and I consoled each other.
‘Don’t worry,’ I told Tom. ‘We’ll get a replica made and we don’t need to tell anyone what happened.’
And maybe Grandad would have liked to visit the Mediterranean, I thought.
But the next day, we woke up to clear skies and calmer waters.
To our delight, Jimmy was happy to come over and try again.
Though conditions were better, we still hadn’t found anything two hours in.
But then I heard a shout from behind me.
Turning round, I could see Jimmy holding something high over his head.
‘I’ve got it!’ he yelled triumphantly.
I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Tom and I rushed over and I confirmed that it really was Tom’s ring.
We jumped up and down in the water like we’d won the lottery.
Afterwards we invited Jimmy out for beer and dinner.
‘I really can’t thank you enough,’ said Tom.
‘If you’re ever back in Crete, you’re very welcome to stay at my house,’ replied Jimmy.
Now we’ve made a friend for life.
And oh buoy, did we get a great story out of it to boot!
Alma O’Connor, 31, Newham, London