And as he held her in his arms, Ethan wondered why the moment felt so surreal, and so.…anticlimactic almost.
Nothing was different. But everything had changed.
Then taking the ring, he slipped it onto the third finger of her left hand, where it should have been from the start.
“Oh,” she said, giggling a little when the ring failed to glide smoothly into place like it was supposed to. “Seems a little tight.” She wedged it more firmly onto her finger, but still it wedged firmly above the knuckle. “Doesn’t matter. I can always get it resized,” she assured him blithely, but Ethan was baffled.
His mind thought back to last night, when the band seemed to fit Rachel’s finger perfectly, a rather strange coincidence given that Tiffany’s had sized it especially for Vanessa.
Once again, his gaze met Daisy’s, and he saw that she was watching the scene with interest. He suspected she was thinking the same thing.
How could it be that the ring didn’t fit Vanessa but was somehow perfect on Rachel?
Chapter 42
Rachel was perplexed. How could she have lost it? And where? She distinctly remembered taking it off on yesterday morning before she went to work. Or had she removed itatwork?
Maybe she’d taken it off when she returned home after dinner with Ethan on Saturday night. She might have been a little tipsy but not so much that she wouldn’t remember taking the ring off.
And if she had, then where else would she have put it other than on the nightstand?
She couldn’t be sure, she admitted, panicking as she checked down the side of the bed and the floor beneath to try and locate it.
After that, she went out into the living room and began turning over all the cushions on her sofa, but to no avail.
She’d first noticed it wasn’t on her finger at the anniversary event they’d catered for last night. The happy couple had been married for forty years, and during the speeches, Rachel instinctively imagined her and Gary’s forthcoming anniversaries, remembered looking down at her engagement finger, only to find that her precious ring wasn’t there. She hadn’t been able to rest until she returned home to find it.
But since there was no sign, she decided now that she must have removed it at work, and it was probably in the kitchen. Surely Justin or Terri had spotted it lying around, hidden under a tea towel or a bag of flour or something, and put it somewhere else for safekeeping?
Rachel took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. That had to be it, she thought, feeling better already. Goodness knows what she’d do if she had to tell Gary she’d misplaced it. He’d go ballistic.
She’d check with the others today, but first she needed to make an appointment with the bridal store to coincide with her day off next week.
She couldn’t wait and still couldn’t quite believe that all this—the New York proposal, huge Tiffany diamond, fairy-tale stuff, really—was truly happening. This time last year, she didn’t even know Gary, and look at her now, running a successful business and planning the wedding of the year. It was everything she’d ever wanted—or at least it would be again, Rachel thought, worriedly caressing her engagement finger, once she’d located her ring.
Looking around her little mews house, she wondered what she and Gary would do about their living situation.
They’d be moving in together obviously, but where? They hadn’t yet discussed these practicalities. No doubt they’d start looking for a house in the future, but what to do in the meantime? His place was too far out of town for her, and her own little one-bedroom place would never be big enough for the two of them.
Not to mention Gary’s beloved bike.
Already he was talking about buying another once the money from the accident came through, and she groaned inwardly, having visions of their future home being strewn with engine parts.
Rachel was of two minds about the lawsuit; once Gary was okay, she didn’t think there was anything to be gained from suing the taxi company, but of course she wasn’t the one who’d ended up with broken ribs and a concussion.
Thank goodness he’d had health insurance though. Who knew what would have happened if he’d had to pay out a fortune for the hospital bills? Her precious ring may well have been making its way straight back to Tiffany’s before she’d even gotten a chance to see it.
But once the idea of legal action had entered his mind, Gary couldn’t be dissuaded, and apparently his solicitor had readily agreed to take a case on his behalf.
Rachel couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor taxi driver, and she hoped the lawsuit wouldn’t get him into trouble with his employers, or worse, cause him to lose his job. Ethan had mentioned that the man seemed incredibly remorseful at the time, and Rachel really couldn’t see the point in punishing him even further, but there was no reasoning with Gary.
“Are you mad?” he’d argued when she’d suggested it might be best to just move on and forget about it. “The fool almost killed me! Anyway, these guys have insurance for this kind of thing.”
She also wished he would spend less time on pursuing a case against the person who’d hurt him and more on showing gratitude to the one who’d helped, thinking again of Ethan.
She wasn’t sure if the two men had since been in touch over the weekend. It was so embarrassing having to make excuses for him, especially when Ethan had gone out of his way to follow up on everything afterward. He was such a gentleman and a kindhearted old soul, considering everything he’d been through.
She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to experience the sorrow of losing the person you knew was “the one.”
