Page 243 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
‘Well, I don’t know quite when it happened for me, but...’
‘Please don’t say it if you don’t mean it.’
‘I promise you I would not. I called our jeweller and asked for the necklace to be made on my first day back at work.’
Susie frowned.
‘I think I got cold feet,’ he went on. ‘And then he sent the designs.’
‘You had this made?’
‘I did.’ He nodded. ‘It was to be a farewell gift; I was never going to tell you it had been designed with you in mind. That felt like a bit much. So yes, maybe I did get cold feet.’
She reached up and struggled to take it off, just to take another, better look. Dante knelt up in the bed and helped her.
‘I heard you wanted something chosen specifically for you...your little jealousy issue.’
And then he made her smile and he made her cry as he talked her through the stones.
‘Pale sapphire—that dress you wore. I was like a fifteen-year-old... I told myself it was just sex.’ He pointed to the darker sapphires. ‘Your eyes.’ Then to the little collection of tiny diamonds. ‘The bubbles in the sink at Gio’s...’
Her breath grew shallow as he took her through their time together.
‘The pink and lilac I left to the jeweller, and the grass is enamel, I think, maybe with little gems?’
‘Is it a tiny ladybird...?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘That was a late addition this Wednesday. I had the ruby flown to Signor Adino.’
The air went still.
‘I know you wanted fresh stones, and new metals, but I have never known what to do with the rubies. One for Sev...one for me. I wanted something nice for it.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Yes, I guess I officially knew I loved you on Wednesday.’
Susie turned and kissed him. It was a kiss that wasn’t anything other than a loving kiss, a blissful one, and the bed was still and steady now, all nerves gone.
‘Marry me,’ he said. ‘Up in the hills. Because when I think of them now, I think of you.’
‘Marry me,’ Susie said. ‘I get to ask,’ she told him, ‘because I loved you first.’ She smiled.
‘Well, I’m not so sure about that...’
It was a delicious debate to have.
EPILOGUE
SUSIEWASFINALLYthe talk of the town—and was very happy to be.
She’d arrived in December, was marrying in May... And, yes, there had been a lot of nudges as the restaurant’s patrons peered into the kitchen at the new apprentice chef who was dating Dante...and possibly showing her pregnancy a little.
Now, on her wedding day, her little bump was irrefutable.
Her dress was a simple one—white, but with the tiniest hint of pink, and only if the light was right. It tied under her bust and flowed down to her pretty jewelled sandals. It was floaty and summery and perfect for a wedding at a winery in the lush Tuscan hills.
She held sunflowers, because they made everyone happy, and that was the only requisite on this gorgeous sunny day.
Oh, and she wore her necklace.
Susie hadn’t wanted an engagement ring, and neither would she require an eternity ring. Even if not another soul ever knew that the so-called ladybird she wore on the necklace around her neck meant everything.