Page 240 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
‘Is this from your PA? The bauble that ends it all?’
‘No.’ His voice was suddenly serious. ‘This is from me. And I admit I’m nervous.’
‘Why?’
‘I have never bought a birthday gift before.’
‘Never?’
‘Not for a long time. Maybe a bottle of whisky for Gio. We don’t really...’ He fell into a silence that said more than words—for him, birthdays and family celebrations had stopped a long time ago. ‘Hopefully you’ll like it.’
He might not have wrapped it personally, but Dante had definitely written the little card attached.
Tutti bella.
Dante
Everything beautiful.
No kiss by his name, and yet her heart was thumping even before she’d peeled off the paper. She already loved it!
The box was walnut and gleaming, and when she opened it up Susie gasped. It was a circle of jewelled flowers, nestled in velvet. Then she saw that it was actually a necklace—and not just any necklace, nor just any flowers.
‘Magnolias...’ she breathed.
There were so many stones and different precious metals, swirls of enamel. Everywhere she looked she saw more. Pale sapphires, pink rubies and little emeralds, seed pearls and delicate flowers.
‘Magnolias...’ she said again. ‘It’s perfect. Where on earth did you find this?’
‘Locally,’ Dante told her, and took it out of the box. ‘Let me put it on you.’
‘I want to see it...’
He wasn’t listening, so she lifted her hair, and he fiddled with the clasp, and then he took a hand mirror from beside the bed.
‘I have never seen anything so heavenly...’
‘I should have given it to you last night.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s perfect for my birthday.’
She started to cry, her panda eyes spreading, and kept peeling tissues from the box he handed to her.
‘Thank you.’
‘You’re very welcome.’ Then he looked at her. ‘And a good choice, given you won’t be here for the magnolias.’
She went still.
‘You’re going back to England.’
‘I never said that...’
‘Aren’t you?’ Dante asked. ‘Can’t we both speak the truth?’
She swallowed.
‘Susie, I wouldn’t want to tell me either.’