Something from Tiffany’s

by Melissa Hill

  She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to experience the sorrow of losing the person you knew was ‘the One’. And despite not knowing Ethan’s current girlfriend, and soon-to-be fiancée, she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. It must be difficult having to live in the shadow of a past love, a love that obviously still weighed heavily on Ethan’s mind. Even Rachel, who didn’t know him from Adam, could see that, and she hoped the girlfriend was strong enough to deal with it.

  She shook her head. There she was, worrying about complete strangers and trying to imagine what they were or weren’t feeling. How stupid was she? Especially when it was highly unlikely she’d ever come across Ethan Greene – never mind his girlfriend – again.

  ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ the voice on the other end of the line said without preamble when Terri answered the phone at Stromboli on Monday morning.

  ‘Ethan, hi.’

  ‘Why? I’m hugely grateful, of course, but why did you help me?’

  Terri sighed. She still wasn’t sure of the answer to this question herself.

  Already she’d been having second thoughts about intervening, and was feeling worse now that Rachel had realised the ring was missing and was frantic about it.

  What had she been thinking, swiping it like that? It had been crazy and irrational and above all totally foolish, especially given that it was really none of her business.

  Still, Terri couldn’t just sit by and let her friend be made a fool of. And seeing as there was no question that the ring was Ethan’s, and he was too bloody nice to spill the beans, something had to be done.

  So on Sunday afternoon at the bistro, when Rachel’s ring had almost slipped off and she’d subsequently removed it and placed it on a nearby shelf, Terri had seized the opportunity. Rachel had gone out front to the bakery to replace some stock and before Terri knew it she’d slipped the ring in with the dough she was making, and then later passed this on to Ethan.

  Terri realised now that she hadn’t really been thinking at all; if she had she would have considered Rachel’s feelings and how upset she’d be once she realised the ring had gone.

  ‘Because you would have never got it back from Gary,’ she told Ethan now. ‘And you certainly wouldn’t have taken it back from Rachel.’

  ‘Still, it was exceptionally decent of you, especially when you don’t even know me.’

  She knew enough to know he was a good person, though. His reluctance to hurt Rachel demonstrated that. When Terri told him as much, he gave a soft laugh. ‘Too much of a wimpy old sod, you mean.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter. Your intentions were good and ever since I got the truth out of Gary I knew I couldn’t let him get away with it.’

  ‘But what will happen now? With Gary and Rachel, I mean. I take it Gary’s confessed everything?’

  ‘As far as I’m aware Gary doesn’t know it’s missing yet.’ But he soon would, Terri realised, biting her lip.

  ‘Poor Rachel. She’ll be up the wall.’

  ‘I know.’ But it was for the best; Terri was sure of that. ‘It’s not something you have to worry about any more.’

  ‘Thank you again, truly. Although I must admit I do wish you’d told me you’d put it in the bread,’ he said, a slight twinge in his voice that Terri thought sounded like regret.

  She frowned. ‘Well, I couldn’t say it out straight, but I thought I did in so many words. Remember I told you to eat it on your flight back?’ She chuckled. ‘I just hoped you wouldn’t break a tooth or anything.’

  ‘In fact it wasn’t quite like that.’ Ethan went on to tell her about how Vanessa had actually been the one to find it. ‘It rather caught us both by surprise.’

  ‘Oh dear. That ring really does seem to have a mind of its own. So all’s well that ends well for you, then? I guess congratulations are in order.’

  ‘Yes, yes, absolutely,’ he agreed.

  For some reason, this sounded forced to Terri. Crikey, had he gone and fallen that hard for Rachel while he was here?

  She had to admit that Ethan and Rachel would be quite a good match, though. Both dreamers, romantics, afraid to offend and always willing to see the best in people.

  In other words, completely out of touch with reality.

  She breathed a deep sigh. ‘Look, I know that intervening in the way I did might not have been the best strategy, but the truth is that I wasn’t thinking straight. It just made my blood boil to think that Gary’s been stringing Rachel and the rest of us along about that ring, and then when you show up he doesn’t even have the decency to admit to what happened.’

  The problem was that Terri hadn’t thought clearly enough about how Rachel would feel once she realised the ring was missing. Still, once Gary realised, he’d sort things out. He’d have to.

  ‘I know. I must admit that as I went back to the airport I was at a complete loss as to what to do. I was so sure that Gary would acknowledge that it was all a big mistake and . . . well, I suppose I wasn’t prepared for how terrible I felt for Rachel.’

  Hmm. Definitely something going on there, Terri thought. And she wondered now if she should somehow try to act on this knowledge. No, no: she’d interfered enough as it was. If Ethan was interested in Rachel then he could sort it out himself. Anyway, hadn’t the guy just got engaged? Christ, were all men – even the nicer ones – so bloody fickle?

  ‘The truth about this engagement will need to come out sooner or later,’ she said. ‘Rachel’s going to be upset no matter what. But at least you’ve got your ring back – at last.’ She smiled. ‘I’m sure your girlfriend got a lovely surprise. It’s not every day a girl finds something from Tiffany’s in a loaf of bread.’

  ‘Yes, she was very surprised. I rather was too.’

  ‘Well, the best of luck to you both. When’s the wedding?’

  ‘Oh. Not until next year, I would imagine. Plenty of time yet.’

  Again Ethan sounded a million miles away from a loved-up groom-to-be.

  ‘Still you must have been glad to see the ring finally on the right woman’s finger.’

  ‘Well, funnily enough it doesn’t fit Vanessa, which is odd, given that I’d had it sized especially for her.’

  ‘I see.’ Just then, Terri was distracted by Rachel’s appearance in the kitchen, and she knew she’d better end the call. ‘Well, it was nice talking to you again, but I’d better go. Lots to do here.’

  ‘Of course. Thank you again. And give my best to Rachel, will you? Although no, maybe she won’t want that. I’m sure the poor thing will never want to hear my name again once the truth comes out.’

  Whenever that might be, Terri thought, grimacing guiltily.

  Chapter 32

  For Ethan, the following week went by in a daze. He still couldn’t believe that after all the worry, all the hassle of going to Dublin and trying to get the ring back, he’d had it returned to him just like that.

  And although he was hugely grateful to Terri for intervening, in truth he’d rather she’d told him upfront what she was doing; that way, he could have fished out the ring himself and decided what to do with it afterwards.

  Yet what was there to decide? The ring was meant for Vanessa; it was bought with her in mind and with the intention of a proposal. But now, given all that had happened in the meantime, for some reason the whole idea just wasn’t sitting well with him.

  What must Rachel be thinking? She must be going out of her mind, wondering where it was and how she could have lost it. Especially when she already had such an attachment to it. While Ethan knew that what Rachel was and wasn’t feeling was none of his business, still he couldn’t help but feel partly responsible.

  Would this mean that Gary would finally own up to the truth? Based on the conversation they’d had in Dublin, Ethan couldn’t see it. He was sure that guy was the type who’d try to slither his way out of anything.

  He thought again about Vanessa’s delighted reaction to his ‘surprise proposal’.

  ‘Well, I knew you ha
d a great imagination, but even I’m taken aback at this level of creativity!’ she’d teased, after the rather awkward moment when the ring didn’t fit her finger. ‘So this whole going to Dublin for “research” was just an elaborate ruse to throw me off?’

  ‘Yes, absolutely,’ Ethan agreed, still trying to get over the shock of it all himself.

  She laughed lightly. ‘So what did Mum and Dad say?’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘Mum and Dad. What did they say when you told them what you were planning? That’s the real reason you went to Dublin, yes? To officially ask Dad for my hand?’ When his expression revealed his surprise, she raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh I honestly thought . . . Why did you go to Ireland, then?’

  ‘For the ring, of course!’ Daisy piped up, and Ethan looked at her worriedly. ‘We tried to get it at Tiffany’s in New York, but they didn’t have the special one he wanted for you, did they, Dad?’

  Ethan agreed, at this point resigned to just going with the flow. There had been so much drama and palaver surrounding all this that he felt he could no longer keep up.

  ‘I see. So that’s why you two kept disappearing all the time!’ Vanessa seemed delighted to have her suspicions confirmed. ‘Well, I’m even more impressed now. I had no idea you had such specific taste, Ethan. But you couldn’t get it at Tiffany’s on Old Bond Street?’

  ‘No, not that particular setting. But I’m sorry, because of course I should have asked your parents first.’

  ‘Don’t be silly! It’s fine. It was the only reason I could pinpoint for that sudden jaunt to Dublin, and it’s not as though you didn’t put a huge amount of thought into all this in any case!’ She indicated the sourdough, and then reached across the counter for the wrapper. ‘Stromboli,’ she read out loud from the sticker on the front. ‘Do they do this kind of thing on request?’ she added, picking up the ring again. ‘Specialised proposals, I mean. How did you hear about them?’

  ‘Just read something on the internet a while back,’ he mumbled, not wanting to get into any specifics.

  ‘It was a brilliant idea, Dad,’ Daisy chimed in. She met Ethan’s eye and a smile of understanding passed between them. ‘See, I told you he had a great imagination,’ she said to Vanessa.

  That night, Ethan slept better than he had in weeks. The ring was back in his possession; he and Vanessa were back on track and all was once again right with the world.

  Until his new fiancée dropped another bombshell the following morning.

  ‘Don’t get me wrong, the way the proposal happened was so romantic and really original,’ Vanessa said over breakfast. ‘But forgive me if I admit that I’m also rather partial to tradition. What about the little blue box? It would be nice to have it so I can keep the ring safe when I’m not wearing it and it’s silly perhaps, but I’d quite like the whole Tiffany’s package too.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s in my luggage somewhere . . .’ Ethan fudged, knocking back his early morning coffee.

  Bugger Tiffany’s and their little blue box! Of course Terri wouldn’t have been able to return both the ring and its packaging. As it was, he was lucky enough to have got anything back at all. But Ethan’s stomach lurched as he realised another visit to the store beckoned. At this stage, it felt like he should be buying shares in the place.

  He’d head down to Old Bond Street after his last lecture that day and try to pick up something small and inexpensive, perhaps a silver dress ring for Daisy? Then he could give the packaging to Vanessa so that she could have her precious paraphernalia. Sometimes he didn’t understand women at all.

  ‘Don’t worry about it for now. I just thought I’d mention it, in case you decided to throw it away or something.’

  Now Ethan wanted to kick himself, wishing that he’d thought of saying he’d done exactly that. It would be just the kind of thing any man worth his salt would do. Well, at least those who were supposed to have no appreciation of the little things that seemed to mean so much to women.

  At this rate, Ethan would be happy if he never saw a little blue box again in his life.

  Gary was in the middle of his latest building job when he got a call on his mobile from his solicitor.

  ‘Frank, what’s the craic?’ he said, positioning the handset under his chin.

  He hoped it was news on the New York taxi lawsuit. Frank Donnelly was a viper by reputation and Gary suspected he would go all out to ensure his client got a big payout.

  It was no more than he deserved. He’d missed nearly two weeks’ work over it and he’d had to shell out for those extra nights in the New York hotel, as well as the flights home.

  OK, so Rachel had actually taken care of all that, but seeing as they were engaged now, it was practically the same thing. She was the one who’d started talking about opening a joint account to keep track of the wedding expenses, something that put the fear of God into Gary in case she’d put two and two together and figure out what was going on.

  He couldn’t for the life of him understand why she didn’t approve of him going after the cab company, calling it ‘bad karma’ and all that crap. Wasn’t it bad karma that he’d been hit in the first place?

  ‘Just a bit of an update on the cab thing,’ Frank replied and Gary straightened up in anticipation.

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Well, there’s good news and bad news. From our point of view, the CCTV footage looks good.’ Gary recalled that his solicitor had asked the relevant New York authorities to send the CCTV tapes of the area along Fifth Avenue, hoping these would show the incident in its entirety. ‘Looks straightforward enough and it’s easy to make you out on the side of the road trying to hail a cab. Then, out of nowhere – bang, you’re on the ground.’

  Yep, that was exactly the way it had happened. From what little recollection Gary had of it, anyway.

  ‘So what’s the bad news?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, seems the taxi company have a witness to the accident. A passenger in the cab. Seems this guy reckons that you were at fault.’

  ‘What the hell?’ Gary fumed. ‘How could I have been at fault? I was only walking down the street, minding my own bloody business!’

  ‘Their witness is saying you were distracted when you stepped out into the road. The way he saw it, the driver couldn’t have avoided you.’

  Gary remembered how that day he had been distracted, as well as a little flustered by that call that had come through on his mobile. ‘Frank, it all happened so fast it’s hard to remember exactly how things went,’ he told his solicitor quickly.

  ‘Of course. Especially with the concussion and everything. That’s what I told the New York suits. Sure, how are you supposed to know what happened? All you remember is waking up in hospital.’

  ‘Exactly.’ Gary was pleased Frank seemed to understand.

  ‘All right. I’ve requested a copy of the so-called witness report and when I get that, pop into the office here and we can have a chat. Then we can take it from there.’

  ‘Sounds good. Cheers, Frank.’

  ‘And even if it does look like you were caught unawares, we should be able to nail the guy for speeding, or reckless driving, or something like that.’

  ‘Perfect.’ Witness or not, Gary was confident that Frank would interpret the situation in some way that would turn this to his advantage. Although if the issue of fault wasn’t as clear-cut as he’d thought then maybe the payout wouldn’t be as lucrative.

  Well, whatever it was, it would be better than a kick in the arse, and he was sure he’d get the price of a new bike out of it at least.

  Gary grinned. The one good thing about Rachel being so against all this was that she wouldn’t be looking to get her hands on the money to spend on this wedding. Already he had it up to his neck in quotes for hotels and flowers, and soon she’d be shopping for dresses that would no doubt cost half the national debt of a small country.

  That was the problem with bloody expensive engagement rings, Gary thought, getting back to work; they set the b
ar sky high for the rest of the circus.

  Chapter 33

  Sitting in the bridal studio and watching the delight on Rachel’s face as she tried on wedding dresses, Terri sorely wished she’d minded her own business.

  This was supposed to be one of the happiest times in her best friend’s life, and if she thought about it properly Terri knew she’d been just as deceitful as Gary in hiding the truth from Rachel.

  The poor thing had been distraught at the bistro on Monday morning, when she’d confessed to Terri and Justin that her beloved ring had gone astray.

  ‘I can’t remember if I took it off here or at home. You know the way it’s always getting in the way while I’m baking . . . ?’

  Terri still felt sick to her stomach when she thought of how she’d lied barefaced to her best friend as she’d said: ‘Can’t remember the last time I saw it on you. Are you sure you didn’t leave it at home?’

  Rachel had shaken her head, and with obvious distress had confessed she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had it on. ‘Gary will kill me,’ she gasped. ‘How am I supposed to tell him I can’t find it?’

  ‘I’m sure he’ll understand,’ Terri soothed, privately hoping that when Gary realised Rachel’s anguish about losing the ring he would finally come clean. He would surely confess everything once he knew how distraught she was, wouldn’t he?

  But it had been almost a week now and still nothing had changed.

  As it was Terri hated having to go along with this whole wedding charade, not least because of her own deceit. How could she realistically tell her friend that her dream engagement was all a lie? And that the wedding she was so excited about was a complete sham? So much for being a loyal bridesmaid . . .

  Her friend was currently standing in a slinky mermaid-style gown that looked like it was literally made for her curves. She was holding her hair up and examining herself in the mirror. ‘What do you think of this one?’ she asked.