Lucy Gordon - A Convenient Wedding

‘Never remove it again,’ he whispered.

‘I never will.’

‘I’ve something else to show you.’

He reached into the drawer again, this time producing a flat box. Inside were the most fabulous pearls Meryl had ever seen. Slowly Jarvis lifted them so that they shone in the light, revealing that they were large, perfectly matched, and of a faint pinkish hue.

‘I’ve never seen anything so lovely,’ she breathed. Then a terrible thought came to her. ‘Jarvis, what are they worth?’

‘Enough,’ he said, understanding her at once. ‘Enough to pay off every debt I ever had, but that’s nothing. In New York you said rich men were ten a penny, and you were happier when I was poor and you could give to me. I don’t entirely understand that-when did I ever understand you? When will I ever? But say the word and I’ll toss them into the fire.’

‘You would do that for me?’ she asked in wonder.

‘I would do anything for you,’ he said. And she saw real intent in his eyes.

‘No,’ she put her hand on his quickly. ‘There’s a better way.’

He nodded. ‘That’s what I thought, too.’

Gently he draped the pearls around her neck.

‘Now they’re yours, and I’m a poor man again,’ he said contentedly. Then a change came over him and he took her face gently between his hands. ‘And yet I’ll never be poor. I didn’t know-I never understood-’

‘Nor did I. Not really. But now we have everything. There’s nothing else but this, nothing that matters.’

‘Hold me,’ he said suddenly. ‘I don’t feel safe without you.’

She lay down beside him on the bed, clasping him to her heart. ‘Do you feel safe now?’ she whispered.

‘Always, as long as I’m in your heart. You came just in time to save me.’

‘Yes, a few more minutes-’ She shuddered.

‘I don’t mean the sea. I mean what I would have turned into if you hadn’t come here that night.’

‘Or what I might have turned into,’ she said, trying to prevent his mood growing too dark. That too would be her task in years ahead. ‘When I arrived here I was almost as bad as you thought I was. You saved me, too.’

But he wouldn’t allow that. For his fierce, uncompromising nature there was no middle way. As he had been hard in his resistance, he would be firm in his love and fidelity. He’d seen her as an enemy. Now, in his eyes, she was perfect. And that was how it would always be.