"Stop stressing, it's not good for you.Seabornis fine."
At least, it would be now that Jax wouldn't be undercutting gem prices and driving them out of business.
Sapphire's thumbs stilled. "Then what?"
Despite mentally rehearsing a million ways to break the news to her sister on the way here, Ruby knew there’d be no easy way to say this.
She took a deep breath, blew it out, and blurted, "I'm married."
Sapphire's jaw dropped. "You'rewhat?"
Bracing for the worst once she dropped the rest of her bombshell, Ruby squeezed Sapphire's hands and released her.
"I met someone on that pearl expo trip to Broome, and we've been doing the long-distance thing since then."
Bewilderment warred with hurt in Sapphire's expressive blue eyes.
"Why didn't you say something?" Sapphire shook her head. "For goodness sake, Rubes, we tell each other everything, how could you do something like this without me?"
Not everything.
Her sister had kept their precarious position from her for almost a year and it still stung.
With only eighteen months between them, they'd always been close, and Sapphire lying by omission the past twelve months didn't make it any easier now Ruby had to return the favour.
Pain ripped through her at the thought of the practised lies she'd have to tell many times over the course of her fake marriage.
"It was all about timing. We really wanted to do this now—"
"You're pregnant!"
"No."
Though the rest of what she had to reveal would be more shocking. "You know I'm not the big, fancy wedding type. Registry office is much more my style."
"At least you looked the part." Saph's begrudging admission alleviated some of the tension as she checked out her outfit. Her admiring gaze stalled on the pearls and she blinked rapidly. “You wore Mum's pearls."
Ruby's hand fluttered towards them, stroking the silky smoothness like a good luck talisman. "Wearing them made me feel closer to her."
Sapphire sniffed and reached out a finger to touch one. "She would've been so happy for you."
"Are you?"
Sapphire managed a watery smile. "If you're happy, I'm happy."
"I am."
Happy she'd found a viable solution to saveSeaborn, happy she'd finally shouldered some responsibility for the family business, happy she could fulfil their mother’s dying wish.
Sapphire tweaked her nose, as she'd done countless times growing up, the familiar gesture not helping Ruby’s precarious emotional state. "Who's the lucky guy?"
Ruby curled her fingers into her palm to stop from fiddling, took a deep breath, and blurted, "Jax Maroney."
Sapphire parroted her, silently mouthing his name, the quiet punctuated by warbling magpies and the burbling of the spring spilling over rocks smoothed by time and erosion.
Sapphire didn't move, her utter stillness frightening. With that blank stare and expression, she'd gone into shock.
Ruby grabbed her hand and rubbed it between both of hers. "I know this is a surprise—"
