Page 58 of Margins of Love
“Can you pay for this?” he asked with an understanding tone.
“I think so,” Rachel said.
Pavel took a piece of paper and added the rare blue diamonds, the clasps, the pave diamonds for the setting, and the white gold for the setting. Then he slid her the paper.
Her heart sank so deep it must have come out the other side of the globe. “Thirty-two thousand?”
Pavel nodded.
“I don’t have that much.”
A minute of silence passed.
“I could work off the difference,” she offered. “In your shop?”
He chuckled. “How much do you have?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Thousand?”
She nodded.
“Come tomorrow. Pay me in full and the rest is my wedding present.” He gave her a paternal smile.
She held out her hand to shake his.
He laughed and took her hand, turned it and placed a gallant kiss on her knuckles. “You are more man than most,Maidale. Ah Leben ahf dein kop,” he praised her wits in Yiddish. “Consider the stones paid in full and the setting on the house,Maidale.”
And just so, her heartbreak was sealed with a lucky charm to escort her to thechuppah.
* * *
“You should have known better,”Arnold snarled as he strode down Piccadilly two steps ahead of Fave.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Fave shouted as he jostled through the crowds.” You told me—”
“To tup her, not to fall for her!” Arnold stopped. “She tricked you out of our stone!”
“You don’t know that for certain!” Fave refused to let his heartbreak settle in for he feared he could never recover.
“You’re mad!” Arnold said. “And yougaveour stone away! Our chance! Do you know how much this emerald is worth? And you… our chance… you… argh.” Arnold put his fists in front of him and pushed back through the crowds.
Fave could barely keep up with his cousin, who was taller, angrier, and faster. Now Fave had lost Rachel and the competition all in one stroke.
He thought about the texts Rachel had marked in Brockton House. “Wearing an emerald was believed to reveal the truth or falseness of a lover’s oath,” he mumbled.
“What did you say?” Arnold asked. “What oath did you make?” He gave Fave a look of pure shock and rage.
Fave shook his head. “None.”
“Fave, what did you promise her?”
They were in Green Park now, with fewer people around. Fave spotted a bench and suggested they sit down.
“What did you promise her?” Arnold asked again.
“Nothing. What do you keep asking me the same question for?”
