She sat in front of him so her back was against his chest, tailbone in the V of his opened legs. Sunshine poured over them, and a fresh, salty breeze came in through the open windows.
“I would love that, but I can’t,” she said, trying to relax into his warmth. “I probably won’t even have a full weekend free until after the show. We have costume fittings coming up and meetings about set design.”
He made a grumbled noise of dismay and draped his forearm across the front of her shoulders.
“I will try not to be impatient while your dancing takes you away from me. I am very proud of you, you know. In fact…” His long arm stretched behind her, to a nearby table, then came back with a velvet box the size of a deck of cards.
“What—? Axel, that’s not necessary.” A pang hit her heart as she looked at the box. It was a glancing blow, the kind that was an elbow in the face, unintentional, but it still hurt like hell.
“To commemorate your achievement.” He opened it to reveal a gold chain of intricate links and a pretty pendant. A freeform pearl was trapped inside a cage of gold where the swirling bars were encrusted with tiny diamonds.
It was beautiful, but… She swallowed.
“You don’t like it?” he asked into the silence.
“I—I’ll wear it if you want me to.” Her voice cracked as she heard how ungrateful she sounded. “I don’t wantthingsfrom you, Axel.” She sat up and moved down the bench, instantly chilled.
“I don’t know what else to give you, Joy. Things are all I have,” he said darkly. He turned on the bench so his own feet hit the floor. He snapped the case closed and dropped it in the yawning space between them. “At least you can sell this if—”
“If what?” she asked with alarm.
“I don’t know. If you’re hungry and don’t have anything else.”
She saw then how deeply his early years of poverty still affected him. This was why he didn’t trust, why he couldn’t offer all of himself. “I would never sell a gift from my husband.”
“Apparently, you’re not even going to accept it.”
She stared into his affronted glare, heart aching, and thought,You didn’t want my love when I offered it.
His phone rang.
He sent an annoyed glance over his shoulder to where he’d left it on the windowsill. They had turned their phones off yesterday, but apparently their second honeymoon was over. He reached to answer it.
Joy tucked her hands under her thighs, staring at the unmade bed with its pillow-top mattress and abundance of pillows and luxury linens.
Look what you have, she scolded herself for the millionth time. Did it really matter that he hadn’t said those words back to her?
Or did it matter doubly because she was settling for less than she deserved again, afraid that if she pushed for what she really wanted, he would reject her and she’d have no one?
“Mira?” he said crisply into his phone.
Joy heard the muffled feminine tones, but couldn’t hear what was said. She didn’t have enough German to follow it anyway. The way Axel went very still, however, pulled her spine and shoulders tight.
He said a few things in a hollow tone, then ended with, “Bis später,” which he said to Joy all the time when he was on his way home.
“What happened?” she asked, stomach pulled into knots of apprehension.
“Otto’s housekeeper just called her. The police and coroner are on their way. Mira’s going there now.”
Not an ambulance. “He’s gone?” Joy’s mind couldn’t even comprehend it.
“They suspect a heart event. It seems to have happened when he was on his way to bed last night.” His voice was low and somber. “I said I’d inform Umberto and the board.”
He was already bringing his phone to his ear, not giving her a chance to say anything. Not giving her a chance to console him.
Did he need consoling? She couldn’t tell.
She rose to dress, thoughts as scattered as the belongings they’d littered about the room. They would have to leave as soon as possible. She began to shake out a shirt to fold it for packing.
