His Final Bargain

‘I’ll try to free up some time,’ he said. ‘It’s hard when I’m trying to juggle a global business. I can’t always be here. I have to rely on others to take care of her.’

‘You could take her with you occasionally,’ she said. ‘It would be good for her.’

‘What would be the point?’ He threw her a frustrated glance. ‘She can’t see anything.’

‘No, but she can feel, and she would be with you more than she is now. You are all she has now. The bond she has with you is what will build her confidence and sustain her through life. Stop feeling guilty. It’s not your fault she’s blind. It wasn’t Giulia’s fault. It’s just what happened. Those were the cards you were dealt. You have to accept that.’

‘You’re not a parent. You know nothing of the guilt a parent feels.’

Her eyes flinched as if he had struck her. ‘I know much more about guilt than you realise. I live with it every day. I agonise over it. But does it change anything? No. That’s life. You have to find a way to deal with it.’ Her gaze fell away from his as she pushed back a strand of her hair off her face.

Leo frowned as he narrowed his gaze to her left hand. ‘Where’s your ring?’

She glanced down at her hand and her face blanched. ‘I don’t know…’ She looked up at him in panic, her eyes wide with alarm. ‘It was there earlier. I have to find it. It’s not mine.’

‘What do you mean, it’s not yours?’

She shifted her gaze again, her demeanour agitated. ‘It’s my fiancé’s mother’s. It’s a family heirloom. I have to find it. It must have slipped off somewhere. It’s a bit loose. I should’ve had it adjusted, but I—’

‘It’s probably in the garden where you were playing with Alessandra,’ he said. ‘I’ll go and have a look.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ she said, almost pushing him out of the way in her haste to get out of the door. ‘I have to find it.’

‘One of the gardeners will pick it up if it’s out there,’ Leo said. ‘Stop panicking. It didn’t look all that valuable.’

She met his gaze with her distressed one. ‘It’s not about the monetary value. Why does everything have to be about money to you? It’s got enormous sentimental value. I can’t lose it. I just can’t. I have to find it.’

‘I trust my staff to hand it in if they find it. You don’t have to worry. No one is going to rush it off to the nearest pawn shop.’

Her brow was a fine map of worried lines. ‘You don’t understand. I have to find it. I don’t feel right without it on my finger.’

He grasped her flailing hand and held it firm. ‘Why? Because you need it there as a reminder, don’t you? Your fiancé is thousands of miles away but without that ring there to prod your conscience you could so easily forget all about him, couldn’t you?’

She pulled out of his hold and dashed out of the room. Leo heard the slapping of her flat shoes along the marbled floor.

He followed at a much slower pace.

He would be perfectly happy if the blasted ring was never found.

Eliza looked everywhere but there was no sign of her ring. She went over every patch of the lawn. She went over the rose beds and the pathways but there was no trace of it anywhere. Her rising panic beat a sickening tattoo in her chest. How would she explain it to Samantha? It was so careless of her to have neglected to get it tightened. How would she ever make it up to her? It wasn’t just any old ring. It was a symbol of Samantha’s lifelong love for her husband Geoff and now she had lost it.

Leo had come out and spoken to the gardener before he joined her. ‘Any sign?’

Eliza shook her head, her stomach still churning in anguish. ‘Samantha will be devastated.’

‘Samantha?’

‘My fiancé’s mother.’ She wrung her hands, her eyes scanning the lawn in the vain hope that the sunlight would pick up the glitter of the ring. ‘I don’t know how I’ll ever tell her. I have to find it. I have to.’

‘The gardener will keep on looking. You should come indoors. You look like you’re beginning to catch the sun.’

Eliza glanced at her bare arms. They were indeed a little pink in spite of the sunscreen she had put on earlier. She suddenly felt utterly exhausted. Losing the ring was the last straw on top of everything else. That telltale ache had started deep inside her chest. The tears were not far away. She could feel them burning like peroxide behind her eyes. She put her hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose to try and stop them from spilling.