Page 55 of Margins of Love
“Your father told me that you havea gutn kop’—a good head—‘but I don’t know anotherMaidelwho knows how this lens works.”
Rachel smiled at his compliment and Pavel raised his brow again, clearly skeptical. “What are you looking for in an emerald?”
“An investment.” Rachel shrugged, trying not to give too much of her ignorance away.
“Ah, and what is this investment for, dare I ask?” He had not moved. Neither had his bushy brows. Rachel decided they had a mind of their own.
“My future.” She looked him straight on. “I want to make sure the gems hold their value.”
“And you want to keep them with you at all times?” Pavel got up again and took his keys. “Women usually do not look for a fallback until their second or third husband. But you are a smart girl. Let me see what I can do.”
He returned to the back room again, leaving Rachel alone. She thought about the tray of gems in front of her. Unsecured. This man trusted her and she wanted to trust him, too. But she knew this was her fallback, her only chance if she ever needed to escape. And before she could come to a conclusion about whether to trust him or not, he returned with another tray.
Pavel pushed the first tray away. “This is for show. Sparkles and such”—he waved his arm and leaned in—“this is for investments.” He placed a smaller tray in front of her with one large green gem, two small light blue ones, and a few smaller yellow ones.
“What is this?” she asked, pointing at the light blue stones. They were so clear, almost like the ice crystals back in Lausanne, mesmerizing.
“A set of blue diamonds. From India.” Pavel took a pair of tweezers and removed one of them to hold in the light for Rachel.
She could not take her eyes off them. “I thought diamonds are valued by their color and clarity… How come this shimmers in blue?”
“It’s boron, a mineral in the structure. They’re terribly rare, my dear. I have had them since my wife had our first son. Always kept them for a daughter one day, but we have six boys now and are growing too old.” Pavel sighed. “My oldest… well, I don’t want to bore you. In any case,a Maidalewith akeppale, a smart little head like yours, and eyes like yours… it would make me so happy to fix these into earrings for you.”
Rachel was speechless. She decided to trust Pavel after all.
“I can set these for you, with some clusters around, and lever backs. Nobody will ever know how much you have here, you can always tell people they are aquamarines.”
Rachel nodded.
He gently touched Rachel’s earlobes, taking measurements with his eyes. “A drop-down will be elegant and understated. It will complement you and keep your fortune safe.”
Rachel held his gaze and tilted her head, processing the information he had just presented. Then she nodded timidly.
“May I?” she asked, and Pavel handed her the tweezers. They had a locking hook in the middle and held the blue diamond securely, so Rachel could admire the gem.
Pavel slid a table mirror across and pushed her elbow up so she could place the blue diamond near her earlobe.
She looked at her reflection while Pavel disappeared into the back room with the first tray, the one for show. Rachel heard his keys rustling again and closed her eyes, remembering when the first snow fell back in Lausanne, the other time she’d seen such lovely blue-gray sparkles. Ice crystals had formed on the windows. Her father had always complained that the windows weren’t tight enough, but Rachel had looked at the sunshine refracting in the crystals until her vision had blurred and the background had disappeared. She had spent so much time admiring the crystals and thinking about her Greek goddesses and their adventures, that she used to forget the cold and the noise in the house. In her mindful zone of calm, she loved Lausanne, even though its people had hurt her family so. These beautiful gems reminded her of the beauty in her childhood, the lovely crisp mornings by the lake before—
“I’ll take them.” She smiled at Pavel when he stepped back into the front room.
“Oh no, you will not!” a voice thundered next to her.
She looked to her side and dropped the tweezers. “Fave?”
CHAPTER37
“You know him?” Pavel clearly was not good at faking smiles.
Fave scanned the tray in front of her. It bore the emerald, the 7.3-carat emerald.Hisemerald. This was why she had researched emeralds at the Brockton House library. A spy? His competition for the King’s gem? His mind had suspected but his heart had refused to believe it.
Arnold crossed his arms. Fave knew that while the savvy jeweler had supported Fave when he thought Rachel was just a pretty girl. When it came to business, Arnold had no tolerance for romantic distractions.
Rachel shook her head and looked away from Fave, placing her diamonds back on the tray.
“Come with me.” Fave touched her by the arm, but she shrieked.
He turned and opened the door. She exited Pavel’s store with a scornful mien. It was startingly adorable.
