The Accidental Countess (The Aristocrat Diaries 3)

I bought this ring two years ago—two years before I died. I intended it for your mother, but the more I looked at it, the more I realised it wasn’t her style. Something told me this ring was destined for someone else.

It’s an eternity ring, so its meaning is quite simple. I gave your mother her ring after you were born, as is customary.

If you think your wife is the woman this ring is destined for, you have my greatest blessing to give it to her when the time is right.

If not, put it back in this safe, change the code, and piss off your future son by never letting him look inside it.

I laughed and folded the note back up, then reached for the box and opened it.

It was exquisite, as I knew it would be. My father had the greatest taste in jewellery, but he was right—this was not a ring my mum would like. Her simple band with the diamonds set inside was perfect for her, but this one was slightly too…

Antique.

I didn’t know enough about jewellery to say a damn thing about diamond cuts or styles or ages. I just knew it was the perfect eternity ring for Eva.

It wasn’t something I’d considered, given the circumstances we’d gotten married under. As much as I wanted to give her this ring, there was something that needed to be done before that—before the baby came, before everything in our lives turned topsy-turvy.

I was in love with my wife, and I was determined this marriage would not end the way we’d intended it to.

I wanted a do-over. Just she and I, somewhere small and quiet, where we could renew our vows in secret.

And this time, when we said them, we would mean them.

Until then…

I tucked the ring back in the safe, reset it, and put it back in the drawer in the exact spot it’d come from.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

EVA

ME: Adelaide, I have a problem.

I stared at my phone until her response came.

ADELAIDE: Did you vomit in your hair again?

I hated having a twin. Hated it.

ME: I think I’m in love with Matthew.

ADELAIDE: You’re in love???? With your husband??? THE HORROR.

ME: You are not being helpful, Adelaide.

ADELAIDE: I wasn’t trying to be. I’m terribly sorry if I find myself unsurprised by this shocking turn of events.

ME: Do you have to be so sarcastic?

ADELAIDE: Of course you’re in love with him, dummy. You agreed to marry him. You don’t marry a man you have no feelings for, even if you don’t realise it at the time.

ME: I didn’t have feelings for him.

ADELAIDE: Given your track records on this, I don’t believe you or agree with you.

ADELAIDE: You can tell yourself whatever you want, but you love Matthew, and this has not come out of nowhere.

I swallowed, adjusting my sitting position until my legs were crossed under me.

Was she right?

Did I have the benefit of hindsight now? Had I had feelings for him back then? Was that why I’d said yes?

ME: Maybe not, but now I have to figure this out. It’s been a month. How can we rip it up after this?

ADELAIDE: Rip up what? The deal you made? Eva, it’s just a bit of fucking paper. The contract doesn’t mean anything. The only thing you signed that week that matters is your marriage certificate.

Oh.

That one hit me hard.

She was right about that one. I didn’t have to ask myself that. Of the two things I’d signed, which one did I care about the most?

The thing that was supposed to bind us for life, or the one that said we had to part ways in five years?

ME: Oh, God. I’m going to have to tell him I’m in love with him.

ADELAIDE: Excellent idea.

ME: You have not been helpful.

ADELAIDE: You started with a problem. We’ve solved it. I have been helpful, thank you.

ME: Shut up.

I put my phone face down and bent forwards, burying my face in my hands.

This was a disaster.

How the hell was I supposed to tell my husband that I loved him back?

I had not prepared for this eventuality. I really had been so cocky and overconfident when this whole thing had started. I thought for sure there was no way I’d fall for Matthew Bennett, yet here I was.

Pregnant with his baby.

In love with him.

I’d gone against everything I’d told myself. It wasn’t like I’d had a choice, not really. I’d been helpless to it all the moment I’d said “I do,” and ever since then, I’d had to ride the wave of us until I reached this point.

He’d reached the realisation before I had. Much before, I think, but then I was far more stubborn than he was.

“I’m in love with Matthew,” I said softly to the empty room. A laugh bubbled inside my chest, slowly building until it escaped, and I had to clamp my hand over my mouth so nobody heard me up here giggling to myself.