Bound By Her Ring

by Nicole Flockton

  Her father looked everywhere but at her. Tension between them amplified so much so she could’ve cut it with a carving knife.

  “No answer Father? Could it be because you’re ashamed of what you’ve done? Or are you thinking up some other lie to feed me?”

  “He was cheating on you, did you know that? That is why I did what I did.”

  She didn’t believe for a minute Lukas had cheated on her. Instinct told her he was too honourable for that sort of behaviour.

  “You know what? That’s a stupid reason for your actions. Lukas wouldn’t do that to me. I know it.”

  “Then you are more naive than I thought.”

  “So when did you see him actually committing this offence?” she asked.

  “It was in all the papers the day after you left on your trip. Pictures of him and some other woman sharing a kiss at La Bella Rosa. How much more proof did I need to know he’s not the sort of man I want for my daughter.”

  Jasmine searched her memory and could recall the day she and Lukas had shared lunch with his cousin before she flew back to Italy—at La Bella Rosa.

  “If the photographer had arrived a few minutes later he would have seen me arriving. The other woman was Lukas’s cousin not his mistress.”

  “Well it won’t be long before he does get a mistress. He’s slimy and charming and has you so besotted you can’t see straight. He’s exactly like the man who stole your mother from me.”

  Bitterness laced his voice, he’d hit her with both barrels fully loaded. But his outburst had given her information she hadn’t known before—who her mother had left with.

  She’d returned home from her boarding school for a term break to find her mother and everything she owned had been removed from the house. Her father refused to tell her why and what had happened.

  Part of the truth came out a few days later when the police turned up on their doorstep advising of an accident where her mother and the person she was travelling with had perished.

  There had been a ban on all papers and gossip magazines from being allowed in the house for months. She’d never known, until now, that her mother had left with another man.

  An Italian man.

  “So that’s what this is all about, I fell in love with an Italian? You want to punish me because you can’t punish mother.”

  “No I didn’t want to punish you,” her father pleaded. “I wanted to protect you from the same sort of hurt and humiliation I endured after your mother left me. What sort of father would I be if I didn’t do that?”

  She’d had enough of this conversation—it was going nowhere. Around and around and around in circles all leading back to two words she now found repulsive, protecting you.

  “There’s being protective and there’s being vindictive. Do not use some warped sense of fatherhood to justify your actions.”

  She collected her handbag off the desk and slung it over her shoulder. “You know what Father, you’ve now lost me too.”

  “Jasmine, please don’t go like this. Surely we can sort it out?”

  She sighed, she was hurt and disillusioned. The one man she trusted had betrayed her in the cruellest of ways. It would be a long time before she found it in her heart to forgive him.

  “No, it’s too late. I’m giving you my notice effective immediately. I can’t work with you any longer.”

  Jasmine looked at her father before she walked out the door. The man standing in front of her was a shadow of his former self. “Goodbye father.”

  She heard him call her name again but she continued walking, down the hallway towards the door. Her footsteps echoing eerily around the spacious foyer. Even the house knew the gravity of the situation.

  She swiped at her eyes as she left behind her childhood home. Would she ever return? She didn’t know. Maybe one day.

  As she got into the car she looked up and saw her father standing at the door. Their eyes met. Pain met pain. Anger met anger.

  A chapter closed in her life. She only hoped she would be able to salvage her marriage.

  As she opened the garage door, she noticed Lukas’s car wasn’t there. A quick glance at the car clock gave her a start of surprise. It was only just after nine in the evening but so much had happened she felt sure it should be closer to midnight.

  What should she do? Should she do as he’d asked and pack or should she stay and talk?

  No, she wasn’t going to shy away from facing Lukas. She would wait for him and plead her case. If he didn’t believe then she would leave.

  Jasmine walked into the house and headed straight for the wreckage of the kitchen. She walked over to the pot of food, the congealed mess at the bottom resembling her emotions. All bound so tightly with no escape.

  She scraped the spoiled food into the garbage and stacked the dishes in the dishwasher. It took her less than a half an hour before the kitchen was sparkling, no evidence of a failed meal anywhere.

  She made her way upstairs, her feet dragging the whole way, her heart heavy and she kept one ear cocked to hear if Lukas opened the door.

  She wasn’t going to pack, not yet anyway. Not until she’d had the chance to talk to Lukas, explain to him all that she’d learned from her father. And to tell him her memory had returned. How would he take it, she wondered. Would he believe her? Or would he still think it was all a game.

  Jasmine walked aimlessly around the master suite, touching the cherry wood furniture, remembering just what had gone on in the sumptuous king bed just twenty four hours ago.

  She kept moving and eventually found herself standing in front of the wedding photo of her and Lukas. She remembered the moment clearly now. They’d just been pronounced man and wife and had shared a kiss. Her eyes were full of love and the same emotion was beaming out to her from Lukas’s eyes.

  She wanted to capture that moment again. She wanted to see love shining out of his eyes, not hate.

  She wanted Lukas.

  “I thought I told you I wanted you gone before I returned.”

  She whirled at the sound of his voice. So engrossed in the picture she hadn’t heard his footfall on the steps.

  “I wanted to talk, that’s why I’m still here.”

  “Well I don’t want to talk,” he turned and headed back down the stairs.

  She followed him, determined not to let him disappear again. She’d lost him once she wasn’t going to lose him again.

  She cornered him in the den, he was reaching into a cabinet and extracting a crystal decanter and glass. He poured a generous amount of clear liquid into the glass and tossed it back in one hit.

  “Getting drunk isn’t going to solve anything,” she said as she closed the distance between them.

  “Your wifely concern is touching but,” he poured more liquid into the glass. “Totally unnecessary.”

  He gave her a salute before once again downing the contents.

  “Oh stop being pathetic, will you. I’ve remembered everything about our past, our marriage and the aftermath of my accident.”

  As he quirked his eyebrow she knew she was going to have a hard time convincing him of the truth. “Well now isn’t that convenient. So tell me when did this miraculous recovery occur, just after I left?”

  Jasmine couldn’t help it, her face flushed, the heat starting low in her neck before rising to the tips of her eyebrows.

  “Ahh I see I’m correct. I repeat again, how convenient.”

  “So what, it returned after you walked out, but you unlocked it fully this time by accusing me of having a termination.”

  “I saw the paperwork, Jasmine. The print is etched indelibly on my mind. The words “Foetus terminated” will haunt me forever.” He slammed down the glass with such force; she was surprised to see that it didn’t shatter.

  Her heart broke at the look of total devastation on his face. She wanted nothing more than to comfort him but knew if she made any move he’d shut her out.

  “I’m so sorry you had to be put through that, Lukas.” Sh
e reached out and laid a hand on his arm. The muscles beneath tightened but he didn’t pull away. Maybe there was hope after all. “My father is totally responsible for you seeing that piece of paper. He wanted you out of my life and told me he did what he had to do to achieve that.”

  “Why should I believe anything you have to say, Jasmine? How can I trust you when, for all intents and purposes, you’ve been lying to me. Faking every single emotion?”

  Jasmine knew it would be hard to convince him but she had to try. She had to make him believe she still loved him as much as she ever did, if not more. She had to try and get through that impenetrable shell he’d erected over his heart again.

  “I’m not that good an actress to be able to fake everything we’ve shared recently. The reason I didn’t remember is because I wanted to forget.” She couldn’t help it, the tears started to flow again. She’d thought she was all cried out. “I wanted to forget that because of me and my carelessness I’d killed our baby before we’d even gotten to know him or her. I hated myself and I just wanted to forget.”

  She looked and pleaded with her eyes for him to believe her. His gaze gave nothing away and she knew all hope was lost. There was only one more thing she could do.

  Her fingers of her right hand went to the rings on her left. Jasmine cradled them for a moment before twisting them off. With each millimetre of flesh exposed by the removal of her rings, her heart broke into tiny pieces.

  The gold was warm in her hands but the diamonds seemed to have lost their shine and sparkle.

  Jasmine walked over to his desk and laid them in the middle of the glossy black surface.

  “They were my link to you, but I can’t keep them if you don’t love me the way I love you.” She heard the hitch in his breath but still didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. “Yes, that’s right Lukas, I love you, always have and always will, but if your wish is for us to part then I can do nothing but accept it. Goodbye.”

  Chapter 12

  Jasmine got into her car and wiped the tears away. The last thing she needed was to have an accident again because of tears. Wouldn’t that be ironic the night she gets her memory back, she has another accident. Once again her heart has been broken by a man she loved.

  That thought pulled her up short.

  She’d lost both of the men in her life tonight. Although could she really say she had Lukas back in her life to lose? They’d spent less than two weeks together. Sure she’d thought they had been working towards building a new relationship. Was the relationship real or something created out of her memory loss? It was real to her, but maybe not to Lukas. He believed it all to be an illusion. An elaborate joke.

  Jasmine took a deep breath and closed her eyes, when she opened them again, she felt more in control. She started her car and pulled out of the driveway. Jasmine had no idea which direction to head.

  What she really wanted to do was go back inside and try and talk to Lukas. Make him understand that how she’d acted while they were in Broome was all her, it wasn’t fake and neither was her memory loss. With her memory back she knew that every action, every word she’d spoken was the truth. Her feelings for Lukas had never changed, if anything they’d grown deeper during the time they’d spent together.

  Jasmine knew that she could talk and talk and talk to Lukas but it wouldn’t make a difference. Either he would believe her or he wouldn’t. She suspected it would be the later and she had to prepare herself that her marriage would be over and she’d have to continue on with life without Lukas in it.

  Her heart broke again into a thousand pieces at that thought. Jasmine didn’t want to contemplate spending the rest of her life without Lukas in it. It was just too awful to imagine.

  Jasmine felt the tears welling in her eyes again and pulled over to the side of the road, something she should’ve done months ago. If she had of done that, how different would her life have been? She put her hands on her flat stomach. If she hadn’t had her accident she would’ve now been close to giving birth. Sobs welled up inside of her and she buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t believe that just a few hours ago she was planning a romantic meal, now her world had collapsed around her.

  She didn’t know how long she sat there but a knock on the window had her sitting up in fright. Jasmine looked out of the window and locked eyes with someone she thought she’d never see again—her father. In her emotional state she had driven herself to the one place she had felt secure, her childhood home.

  “Jasmine, honey,” her father stopped, as if he didn’t know what to say, but the look in his eyes told her he was in as much pain as she was.

  Jasmine released her seatbelt and opened her door. Her father moved back as she stepped out of the car. For a heartbeat they looked at each other, misery looking at misery. Regret looking at regret. Then her father opened his arms and she walked straight into them. As he engulfed her in a hug, Jasmine knew that even though forgiving her father for what he’d done had seemed unlikely a few hours ago now it was a possibility. For all his faults Thomas Anderson was her father and she wanted him in her life. They had a ways to go, but she knew that eventually they would get there and their relationship would be mended.

  “Come home, sweetheart,” her father whispered in her ear. “Come home.”

  “Yes.”

  Lucianos’s gaze was centred totally on the two circles of gold lying lost amongst the vast blackness of his desk. He didn’t know how long he sat there looking at them, glinting under the down lighting of his office. He hoped they would provide him with some answers but they remained quiet and he had no answers. He pushed back his chair, picked up his glass with one hand, and with the other scooped up the rings that had meant so much to Jasmine. He clenched his fist around them, the diamond from the engagement ring digging into his hand.

  He wandered over to the window, looking out but not seeing anything. The image that filled his mind completely, was the haunted look in Jasmine’s eyes when she’d laid her rings on his desk. He didn’t think that look would ever leave him.

  He thought back over the night. Her shock and devastation when he had accused her of playing him had seemed so real, it couldn’t have been faked. But her declaration later that her memory had returned after he’d confronted about her supposed abortion still seemed too convenient.

  Had he been too harsh with his accusations?

  For the first time in his life he seemed confused and unsure of what to believe. His heart was telling him to believe Jasmine and her declaration she’d lost the baby in the accident. But his head was telling him not to be a fool and fall for her tricks once again.

  Had Jasmine wanted their baby so much that she’d blocked out the terrible news that her accident had caused the miscarriage? Was the mind that powerful a tool? Could it block their whole relationship because of one incident?

  He opened his hand and looked at the rings resting in his palm. Giving them up spoke volumes. Jasmine had told him that wearing them had felt so right and they were her link to him during her memory loss.

  Her link to her husband.

  Her one true love.

  Him.

  In a blinding flash of insight his heart overrode his mind. He’d been such a fool. He loved Jasmine. Loved her with his whole soul. He’d loved her from the moment when he’d walked into that Anderson’s hotel. From the moment she’d looked up from the reception desk with a welcoming smile on her face. That was all it had taken, one smile and he was lost. He’d even known it when he saw her, for the first time in months, at the opening of the hotel. He just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it. It was easier to believe the worst. But the time they’d spent together in Broome had only deepened his feelings for her. Now he truly couldn’t imagine his life without her. He needed her as much as she needed him.

  And he’d let her walk away.

  He was in no shape to chase after her now, but he would tomorrow. He would find where she’d gone and he would win her back.

  Jasmine spent the n
ight in her childhood room, surrounded by her school sports trophies and dance medals. In all her teenage angst, life had seemed so complicated back then. In reality life had been a breeze.

  She looked over to the clock on her bedside table. It was after nine and she’d lazed about enough in bed. It was time to move forward. She would go back to Lukas’s house and collect her things. Then she would come back here and think about her options. Perhaps she should move to another state. Start over where no one knew her and she could rebuild her shattered heart.

  A knock on the door pulled her away from those thoughts. “Come in,” she called.

  Jasmine looked and saw her father’s housekeeper come in with a tray of breakfast. Her stomach churned, food was the last thing she wanted.

  “Morning love, your father told me to bring you some breakfast.” The housekeeper carried the tray over to the table under the window. “I’ll leave it here and collect it later.”

  The housekeeper walked out and closed the door softly behind her. The aroma of food wafted her way and her stomach grumbled. Perhaps she could fortify herself before walking back into the dream home she and Lukas had worked on together.

  An hour later Jasmine stood at Lukas’s front door and with key in hand, took a deep breath, then inserted the key in the lock. Stillness permeated the house. Relief filled her. As she’d thought and hoped, Lukas must have been at the office. That was a clear sign their relationship was over. Did she really think he’d be at home moping about a lost love?

  She headed towards the stairs, thinking about the last time she’d climbed those stairs. How full of hope, she’d been, for a wonderful night and future with Lukas. No such thoughts crowded her mind now, only blankness.

  “Jasmine? Is that you?”

  Her hand gripped the stair railing and she put her foot back down on the ground. She stood for a few seconds wondering if she’d imagined hearing Lukas’s voice. It sounded gravelly as if he was sick.

  Taking a deep breath she turned to see if it was actually him behind her. She gasped when she saw him. Standing before her was a Lukas she’d never seen before. His clothes were all crumpled and his hair appeared as if he’d been caught in a wind storm. His face was covered in a heavy five o’clock shadow. His eyes were bloodshot, almost like he’d spent a sleepless night. She then noticed that one of his hands was clenched. Was that in anger? Did he still feel nothing but anger towards her?