The Aristocrat

My chest felt tight. “Was she okay?”

“Yeah, I mean, she wasn’t in tears at the airport or anything. She’s strong. She’s just trying to protect herself from any further harm.”

I nodded. “Thank you for being there for her when I couldn’t.”

“I figured I owed her for all those times I was a complete dick.”

I chuckled. “Well, that’s probably true.”

Sigmund stood and walked over to take something out of his jacket pocket.

“She gave me this to give you.” He held out my grandfather’s ring on the gold chain.

It killed me that she’d felt the need to return it after all this time. It signified the final ending to our story. The diamond sparkled as I took it from him. “Did she say why she gave this back?”

“No. But I think it’s pretty obvious, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” I looked down at the shimmering metal.

It had been a long time since I’d had this in my possession. But I’d never forgotten the day my grandfather gave it to me when I was sixteen, encouraging me to use it as a pillar of strength when I needed it. In that sense, it was ironic to be getting it back now when I probably needed it most. Maybe Felicity knew that. Or maybe it was simply closure for her, the final nail in our coffin.

“You know what you can always count on from someone like me, who’s lost everything?” Sigmund asked.

“What?”

“The truth. I have no fucks left to give.”

I looked up. “Lay it on me, cousin.”

“Nothing else matters, Leo. You’re in love with Felicity. You’re afraid to hurt Darcie, but you know what? You already fucking are. You already fucking did—the moment you ran to Felicity the first chance you got. You think Darcie doesn’t know? You think she’s stupid? But she’s willing to put up with it because she loves you.” He shook his head. “You can’t let her do that.”

All my life I’d been enduring my cousin’s frank advice. But it had never mattered more than this moment. He’d put things in a way I hadn’t considered—that Darcie wanted our marriage to work badly enough to put up with my being in love with someone else.

“I needed to hear that,” I told him.

“Good. That’s what I’m here for.”

Rubbing my temples, I said, “I have a lot to think about.”

“Take your time, Leo, but don’t take too much time. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that time is never guaranteed.”

* * *

Felicity

Track 24: “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston

“I hope she’d be okay with this,” I said, holding one of Mrs. Angelini’s ceramic bunny figurines.

“Come on,” Bailey said. “What are you going to do with a hundred of these things?”

“I know. But I feel like she might have wanted me to keep these.”

“You can’t keep everything, Felicity. She would want you to have space to make this place your own. You’re keeping more than half of her stuff as it is.”

I’d decided to run a yard sale to raise money to replace the roof of Mrs. Angelini’s house. While she’d left me some money to be used for that kind of thing, it wouldn’t last forever. The property taxes were bad enough. And with me not working right now, a yard sale seemed like a reasonable idea. Along with smaller items for sale were some larger antiques.

She held up one of my Hello Kitty T-shirts. “This is yours, right? Why are you getting rid of it? I thought you loved these T-shirts.”

That was true, but the shirt she held was the one I’d brought to England. It had to go. It wasn’t like I didn’t have a dozen others. And in the likely event there were no takers, I’d donate it.

“That one reminds me of Leo, so I’m parting with it,” I told her.

Bailey hesitated. “Have you heard from him?”

“No. He hasn’t called since that one time.”

After I’d landed back in the US three months ago, Leo had called to let me know he fully understood why I’d left, and to make sure I knew there were no hard feelings about my decision. He said my coming to England had made him realize he had a lot of soul searching to do when it came to his marriage and his life, in general. He’d asked if he could contact me again. He said he couldn’t live without knowing how I was doing, that he needed to make sure I was okay.

Now I felt like I’d already experienced the worst of what life had to offer me where Leo was concerned. I’d met his wife, for heaven’s sake. I didn’t think I could hurt any more than I already had. So, I’d agreed that he could reach out from time to time.

But he hadn’t contacted me since that day, and I certainly had no guarantee that I’d ever hear from him again. I was trying my best to move on from what had happened this past August, but not a day went by that I didn’t think of him. I still loved him as much as I ever had. A love that’s interrupted is a love, nevertheless. I just hoped someday the pain and longing would lessen.