The Angel In The Diamond

Lane DeGregory: ST. PETERSBURG — The first thing he saw was the flaw: a slender white swirl threading through the clear facets. "Almost every stone has one," explained the sales associate at Bond Diamonds.

Billy Young held the ring to the light. Squinting, he turned the diamond upside down. He admired the princess cut, the elegant white-gold band.

But that blemish . . .

He wanted this ring to be perfect. After three failed engagements, this one had to work.

He peered again at the 5/8-carat stone, fixated on that flaw. "It looks like an angel," he remembers telling the sales clerk. "Hold it this way, and she's flying. Tip it down, and — look — she's praying."