Page 45 of Marriage Bargain with His Innocent
Georgina stared ahead, and started when he said, without looking at her, ‘That gaudy bauble wouldn’t have fooled someone as astute as my mother.’
‘I still think we could have held off actually buying a ring. You could have said we wanted to choose something later, in London.’
‘And deprive her of the pleasure of knowing that we’d found something locally? You know my mother when it comes to keeping it small and local. I have to admit she has a point when it comes to choosing a ring.’ Without taking his eyes off the road he reached for her hand, held it up and glanced at the perfect band of gold. ‘Like it?’
‘It’s fine.’
‘You can keep it when this is all over.’
‘Why would I want to do that?’
‘Call it payment for services rendered.’ He shrugged. ‘But if you find that offensive, then by all means you can give it back to me. At any rate, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.’
Georgina thought that he couldn’t have succeeded better when it came to keeping things on a strictly business level.
She sat on her hand for the remainder of the journey to the house, staring straight ahead. Then it was all go as they took Rose to the hospital, where her consultant was waiting for her.
Her nerves were palpable, barely concealed under a flurry of questions about their choice of ring.
‘It’s going to be fine.’
Georgina continued to reassure the older woman and was pleased to notice, when they eventually reached the hospital, that she automatically reached for Matias’s arm—a real indication of how much their relationship had progressed and confirmation that this make-believe engagement was the right thing to do.
The last thing Rose needed right now was the additional stress of worrying about Matias walking away. Not just walking away fromher, Georgina now realised, but, in Rose’s mind, walking away from the relationship which had slowly been building between herself and her son.
Did she perhaps think that a Matias returning to his former ways—a Matias whose only goal was making money, whose take on relationships was casual and dismissive—would also be a Matias who would no longer want to forge those filial bonds which had been missing for so many years?
Georgina sighed to herself, because it seemed as though by taking this step she and Matias might well have jumped from the frying pan straight into the fire. And, much as she wanted to adopt his approach to the situation, which was to take things one day at a time and only cross bridges when they got to them, she found herself chewing over all the worst-case scenarios that might arise.
While she waited for Matias and Rose to return from the lengthy consultation, she thought about the dangers inherent in this pretend situation that she so badly wanted to be real. She wondered how long they would continue the pretence...how long they would continue sleeping with one another. She felt helpless to end things. She wanted him so badly that she was willing to take whatever was on offer. And she hated herself for becoming so much like all those women who had preceded her.
And then there was the practical question of how they would conduct a long-distance relationship...
For the first time Georgina gave house room to thoughts of moving to London. Of course it was a nonsense, because she would never leave Cornwall to pursue the dream of being more to Matias than a casual affair. But if she were to be close at hand...
She was staring down at the ring on her finger when she heard footsteps and looked up to see Matias and his mother walking towards her.
‘All booked for the day after tomorrow,’ Matias said, looking from the engagement ring on her finger to the delicate bloom of colour in her cheeks.
‘I thought I might as well get it over and done with.’ Rose’s voice was brighter than it had been. ‘I’ve never believed in private healthcare, but I have to admit that it’s a weight off my shoulders knowing that I don’t have to wait weeks to have this operation. And, as Matias says, the sooner it’s done, the sooner I can start enjoying wedding plans. That is, Georgie, if you won’t find a middle-aged woman too intrusive? Of course your parents will be want to fly over as soon as they can... Alison’s going to be beside herself with joy. You’ll have to tell me what she says! I expect you’ll want to phone her as soon as possible. It’s wonderful, isn’t it?’
