The Sapphire Pendant (54 page)

He looked away and pushed Eddie towards the door. “Let’s go. Ms. Rose called the police and we need to get our story straight.” He spoke to Jessie though he couldn’t look at her. “Stay here,” he said then followed Eddie out the door.

Jessie slid to the ground with her back against the wall and drew her knees up to her chest. Every part of her ached, but she fought back tears of relief. Syrah was safe; she’d succeeded. It was a victory she would never forget. Minutes later Kenneth entered the room. She stared up at him as he stood in the doorway soaking wet with grass and mud smearing his clothes. The tears she had fought so hard against now fell from her eyes.

He knelt down in front of her and tilted her chin with his forefinger. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing when she noticed the first aid kit in his hand.
 

“You’re getting good at patching me up,” she said desperate to fill the silence. He didn’t reply. He looked composed—too composed as though what had just happened was an unfortunate diversion. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

It wasn’t okay and he knew it too, but she didn’t wish to point that out to him. “Where’s Eddie? Did the police take him?”

Kenneth brushed away her tears then gently patched the cut above her eye. “In a way,” he said vaguely.

“What do you mean ‘in a way’?”

He applied antiseptic on a cotton ball. “They called for an ambulance.”

“So he decided to check himself into a program or something?”

Kenneth glanced at her then the cotton ball. “No...um...I lost my temper.”

“You didn’t.”

“I’m afraid I did. I accidentally broke his right hand, maybe his arm too.” He dabbed the scratch marks on her cheek, his voice low. “He hit you with his right hand, didn’t he? It’d be a shame if I accidentally broke the wrong hand.”

She nodded woodenly.
 

He tossed the soiled cotton ball aside then nodded too. Once he finished cleaning her wounds, he sat down beside her, drawing his knees up and rested his arms on them. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I don’t know why you came back, Jasmine. My life is not the same now.” He sat up and looked at her. “You don’t know what it’s like. Although I still have my position at the company, I’m not as admired as before.” He rubbed his chin, trying to make light of the situation though it still hurt. “You could say my value has dropped.” He shrugged. “My value has always been an illusion.” He hung his head then said in a low voice. “I scared you, didn’t I?”

“No.”

His head snapped up. “Don’t lie to me, Jas. I saw the look on your face.” He briefly shut his eyes. “I’ll never forget it. You shouldn’t have come back.”

Jessie wrapped her arms around herself, but she couldn’t stop from trembling. “I had to,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Why?”
 

“Because I love you Kenny Chevalier.”

For a moment he didn’t breathe, he only stared at her. He never thought he’d hear those words. She loved him.
Him
. Kenny Chevalier. Even though right now he was coarse, dirty and wet. She still loved him. It was a joy so painful he couldn’t believe it was real.
 

“Before I was so terrified that I would fail you.” She continued quickly before he could speak. “You had suffered so much and I didn’t want to be another disappointment. I thought you had settled for me because you felt I was all you could get. No, don’t say anything. I know it’s not true, it was just my excuse—my mask. I was focusing too much on myself. But my love for you is unconditional. You don’t have to do or be anything it is always there.” She dug inside her pocket and pulled out a velvet pouch. “BJ wanted me to show you this. Hold out your hand.” He did and she spilled the contents of the pouch into his palm.
 

Kenneth’s eyes widened at the beauty facing him. “The pendant. You got it back.”

Jessie sighed. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain it another time. I just wanted you to hold it. I wanted you to be part of its history.”

He didn’t ask why because he didn’t care. He held the pendant with reverence and ran his fingers over the chain and the sapphire center. He understood her loyalty to it and her father, wishing for a moment that loyalty could be his. Then he glanced up and his heart stopped. She wasn’t looking at the pendant, she was looking at him. In her eyes he saw love.
He
mattered. Her loyalty was his.
 

The rush of emotion he felt was too much—tightening his throat, moistening his eyes. He clasped his hands and rested his forehead against them, the pendant dangling from his fingers. It whispered to him, drowning his father’s voice and his mother’s bitterness and replacing them with a new mantra. He looked at her and the mask shattered, there would never be that barrier between them. There were no more demons to chase away. He held out the pendant and watched as Jessie placed it back in its pouch. She’d seen a side of him he’d been afraid to let anyone see. She knew about his scars, his past and his flaws and yet she still loved him. Just as how though bruised, red eyed, and trembling, he thought she looked beautiful.

“We’ll have a big wedding,” he said. “BJ will walk you down the aisle and you’ll have a beautiful gown and lots of family and friends around us.”

She lifted her chin. “I’m not doing a big wedding. I want something nice and quiet.”

“We’ll have a symphony.”
 

“No we won’t.”

He stared out in the distance lost in thought. “We can hire the Garden catering company and rent an old mansion with a large garden.”

She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. “I’m not doing a big wedding.”

He smiled, one of the special smiles he reserved just for her. “Is that a bet?”

* * *

They had the biggest wedding Randall County had ever seen. It happened on a day when the sun was merciful, the sky clear and everything that could be bright and lovely was. The mansion where the ceremony and reception was held welcomed and echoed the shouts of cheer and good wishes, reverberated with the love of family and friends and also, in rare quiet moments, offered forgiveness to those who could not yet forgive.

And as the evening settled with a gentle darkness, it was said later that the stars had never looked so bright.
 

Epilogue

Late 1800s

Markus Jahne read the note left where his pendant should have been.
I stole your heart
, it said written in Sonya’s bold script. He shook his head, unable to stop a smile. He glanced out at the cool Jamaican morning inhaling the scent of the sea and the ackee and saltfish waiting on his table.
 

He could feel no anger towards the woman who’d left him while he slept. He would always remember her and how she looked at twilight.

He replaced the floorboard and stood. She was right. She’d stolen his heart. He’d left it there for her to find.

The End

Excerpt from

Table for Two

by

Dara Girard

© 2003, 2011 by Dara Girard

Chapter 1

Cassie Graham knew the moment of impact would be painful. She was certain it was impossible to have more than six feet of well-muscled male fall on top of her without suffering a few lasting bruises. She landed with an undignified
ooof!
on the grassy turf of the park with any belief that grass was softer than concrete forgotten. The impact knocked off her glasses, turning her world into an impressionist painting of hazy trees and buildings. She briefly wondered if all the nineteenth-century masters were just myopic.

"Are you all right?" the man asked. His voice was unusually kind, which it had no right to be since she was the cause of the collision. His concern made her feel even more foolish.

Cassie glanced up and two meltingly rich golden brown eyes came into focus, gazing at her like a medieval charm that had the ability to put someone under a spell. She was not sure if it was the expression or the color that brought heat to her face, but something made her cheeks grow very warm. She opened her mouth to say that she was fine and assure the poor man that there was no reason to worry, but words caught in her throat when she glanced down and realized that he was half naked. He was shirtless, proudly displaying his Brazilian nut skin in the summer heat. He hovered above her like a large cat, his solid arms on either side, trapping her as if she were some unfortunate prey. She knew that she was in no danger, but the image of his powerful arms and torso made her wary.

"Is she okay?" an impatient male voice asked.

Another spoke up. "Where did she come from?"

Cassie transferred her gaze to stare at the blurry faces of a small semicircle of mostly half-naked males. She briefly shut her eyes and groaned. Could the day become any more humiliating?

"I'll handle this," the man above her said. He tossed the football to one of the men. "Start without me."