Forgive me.
21
PRESENT DAY
Georgiaheld the key, closing her palm around it as she stepped into the room, looking at the boxes around her. They were all a dark bronze gold, stretching across three walls from the floor to the ceiling, with an ornate engraving on the front of each one, and she imagined they’d been there for the better part of the last century.
The banking assistant had escorted her into the room, after she’d shown her the key and the requisite paperwork from the bank, and now that she was alone, Georgia wasn’t so certain she wanted to see what was inside the safety deposit box. It would have been different if it had been something left for her personally, but whatever was in there belonged to her grandmother, not her.
Here goes nothing.
She stepped forward and put the key into the keyhole above the number 526, turning it and carefully sliding out the box. It was much heavier than she expected, and Georgia carried it to the table, sitting down as she opened it.
Inside was a black-and-white photo of a man and a woman sitting beside a pool. The woman wore big sunglasses and had a mane of thick dark hair, and the man was equally handsome,but instead of looking at the camera as the woman was, he was gazing at her. Georgia turned it over and found cursive handwriting that stated:1951, Delphine and Florian.
Florian. Florian was the name in the newspaper article. She put down the photo and reached into the box again, finding a letter in an envelope as well as a delicate gold chain necklace with a diamond hanging from it.
Georgia held it in her hand, staring at it as she wove the chain between her fingers, the better to look at it. It was very pretty, and when she put it down, she picked up the photo again and held it closer to her face, squinting at the faded people looking back at her. And there it was: the woman in the photo, Delphine, was wearing the very necklace that was beside her now on the table.
She sat looking at the two new clues in front of her and wondering what it all meant. The fact that this man, Florian, was in the photo, told her that perhaps there was more to his family’s claim over the tiara than Luca or even the lawyers involved had realised.
Georgia turned to the envelope, sliding her finger beneath its flap and carefully taking out the matching cream sheet of paper folded inside. She was taken aback by the weight of it, and even more surprised to find that it was written in English. Georgia sat back, her hands shaking as she began to read the letter.
July 1991
To my darling daughter,
My dark-eyed, raven-haired little girl, whose tiny hands I have never forgotten. My deepest regret is placing you for adoption, and I’ve thought about you every day since we parted. As I sit here, trying to imagine what you look like now, the type of young woman you’ve become, I wish fornothing more than the opportunity to turn back time and make my decision all over again. I was so deeply afraid at the time, grieving the love of my life and terrified of the repercussions if anyone discovered I was pregnant. My only wish is that you’ve lived a wonderful life with the family Hope chose for you, and that you haven’t missed out on anything. Every birthday, every Christmas, every rainbow that shone in the sky, my heart was with you.
When Hope asked me to leave something behind for you, I couldn’t think beyond my grief, for you and for your father. Your father, Florian, was a wonderful man who would have been an even more wonderful father to you, and at the time all I could think was to leave the sapphire that was to be made into an engagement ring for me. But in my haste, I neglected to leave any further information that would help you piece together the past. I wish for you to know why I did what I did, and why there was one solitary pink sapphire left for you. It was always meant to be mine, and because of that, I wanted it to be yours.
If you’re reading this, you will know that the Italian sapphire tiara, not just the single sapphire, is your inheritance. It was the most unique piece in your father’s collection, and I hope that it brings you some peace to know that it belonged to him. You may choose to do with it as you wish—whether you decide to keep it or sell it, the decision is yours alone. Your father told me of his intention before he died, that I was to select a single stone to wear for evermore, and it pains me to think he never lived to see it made into the ring he’d imagined. The tiara’s value diminished greatly without all of the sapphires, but that was Florian’s love language, to show me that I was more important to him than his most prized possession, that there was nothing more precious to him in the world than me. Whatever anyone says, whatever claims are made, you must know that the sapphire I took was always intended for me, andfor any children we had together. It was never to be taken by another, and no matter what you’re told, no matter what happens, you must understand that. Your father would have showered you with love and gifts, you would have been his world, so do not let anyone take this one thing away from you.
I was a married woman at the time of your conception, but you must know that it was a marriage in name only. Please do not think it was a great scandal or that we caused an aggrieved spouse any heartache due to our actions, and if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, it is simply not true. My husband was a man full of his own importance who wasn’t interested in a partnership, and who had already taken a mistress. I was a vessel for his children, our marriage nothing more than a union of convenience for both our families, one that I was simply collateral damage to.
Florian and I planned to spend the rest of our lives together, and the night I told him that I was pregnant with you, the night he died, was the happiest I had ever seen him. I am a woman broken, even after all these years, from the loss first of Florian, and then you. It seems a miracle to me that I am yet to die of a broken heart, although my other children have given me a reason to live, to keep fighting for each day. When someone asks if love at first sight exists, I am the first to say yes, because the moment Florian and I saw each other, we knew that we were destined to be together. Nothing, not our respective marriages or the views of society, not even our children, could stop us.
No one knows of your existence, not my family, nor Florian’s, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to tell them about our romance, about the great love we shared, then that is your decision to make. It was a secret I chose to keep, but not one that you are bound by. I cannot guarantee their reaction, and I fear that they will not be open to the truth of the past, but that is up to you.
My darling, my greatest wish is for you to live the life you want to live, for you to make your own decisions not from fear, as I did, but because you have the ability to follow your heart. I hope the jewels your father and I were able to leave behind for you allow you to live a life on your own terms. My greatest fear is that you will feel the weight of your mistakes in the same way as I have.
You may wonder why I wrote this letter so long after we parted ways, and I regret to tell you that I’m unwell and only have months to live. If there was just one thing I could do before I pass away, it would be to find you, as I have tried to do for so many years, but instead, this letter will have to suffice. I’ve fought this illness for so long, but I know that there’s only so long I can keep fighting.
With all my love, and with my deepest regret, your mother, Delphine.
Georgia wiped tears from her eyes as she stared at the letter in her hand. She’d read it twice now, her heart breaking both times as the pain of this woman, from her own great-grandmother, echoed so loudly from the page. She’d known there would be a story to go with the tiara, but she had never imagined the depths of sadness that would be attached to it, the tragedy that would hit so hard as she read the words of a woman grieving so deeply despite the years that had passed.
So, it had been a scandal of sorts, a pregnancy that had been hidden from one family to protect another. Georgia reached for the necklace and put it around her neck, fumbling with the clasp and then checking to make sure she had the diamond hanging squarely at the front. Perhaps this was why she’d never fallen in love with any of the jewels at the auction she’d been to with Sam? Perhaps it was the universe telling her that she was about tocome into possession of something truly special? That this was the one piece of jewellery that was to be hers.
Georgia stood and put the safety deposit box back in place, turning the key to secure it even though there was nothing left inside. She went back to the table and gathered up the photo and the letter, sliding it back into the envelope before dabbing at her cheeks and letting herself out of the room. It was over. She’d uncovered the mystery, and now it was time to go home.
When she walked back out into the lobby after thanking the assistant who’d helped her, Luca was pacing back and forth, his hands in his pockets and his head down. But he stopped walking and looked up when he heard the click of her heels. She could tell he was as invested in this whole mystery as she was, and that he would be waiting to hear what she’d found. She only wished she had a happier tale to share with him.
Georgia saw the crease in his forehead as he watched her, as if he had a question to ask, but he waited for her to speak first. He’d been insistent that she go into the room alone, and even though at the time she wouldn’t have minded him accompanying her, she was pleased she’d made the discovery by herself.
Luca was silent until he saw her tears.
‘What happened in there?’ he asked, reaching for her and gently touching the back of his fingers to her cheeks. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’
