Chapter Thirty-One
After a long day of typing reports and tidying and sorting my office, it was a total pleasure to be picked up in Robbie’s car and driven to my mum’s house. We wanted to tell my family our good news in person, so I’d summoned the tribe for the big reveal.
Robbie parked outside my mum’s house and reached into his pocket. ‘I got you this,’ he said casually as he thrust a ring box at me.
I blinked. ‘I didn’t expect a ring. I wasn’t sure if it was a thing in ogre culture.’
‘It isn’t, but it’s a thing in yours. I wanted to do this right, for you.’
‘You don’t need to buy my love,’ I began as I opened the box. ‘I love you for—Holy Mother of God! How freaking big is that rock?’ I gaped. ‘Robbie! I can’t wear that!’
The ring nestled in the box held a blue sapphire the size of my thumbnail and on either side of it were two not-insignificant diamonds. I couldn’t stop staring at the ring. It was beautiful. And wildly impractical.
‘Not ring,’ Loki said, letting out an impressed whistle. ‘Weapon.’ You could bludgeon someone to death with that rock, he snarked into my head.
‘I can’t chase down criminals with this on my finger,’ I said faintly.
‘I thought of that.’ Robbie reached into his pocket and pulled out a larger jewellery box.
I opened it with trepidation and was relieved to find a relatively plain-looking chain.
‘You can wear it on your finger when you want or around your neck if you’re working.’
‘That’s … very thoughtful,’ I managed. I had no idea how much a ring like this went for, but I knew the answer was a lot. ‘This didn’t bankrupt you, did it?’
He burst into laughter, and Loki joined in with such frantic squawks that he lost his balance, sliding off the rear headrest and collapsing onto the back seat in a panting heap.
‘Not even a little,’ Robbie confirmed when he too had finally curbed his laughter. He slid me a glance. ‘We’re rich. You don’t have to work a day in your life if you don’t want to.’
I liked the we, but he was totally wrong. I straightened. ‘I do. Want to work, that is.’
He smiled. ‘I know, but if the bureaucracy and politics ever get to be too much, just know you can tell them to shove it where the sun don’t shine.’
I matched his expression, imagining telling Faraday just that. ‘Just having the option is probably enough.’
He picked the ring up out of the box and slid it onto my finger. It heated and then cooled and resized perfectly to fit me.
‘Seer-spelled?’ I asked faintly.
‘It’s imbued with some protection elements too.’
‘Thank you.’
He kissed me briefly, a mere swipe of the lips that warmed me in all the right places. ‘Shall we?’ he murmured.
‘Right,’ I slid out of the car. ‘Though we’re not going to announce it with me walking in with this on my finger. You can probably see it from the moon.’
‘Don’t you like it?’
The question had a vulnerability to it that smacked right into my heart. ‘I love it,’ I said honestly. ‘It’s stunning. I may have trouble focusing on work for a while with this on my hand. It’s mesmerising. Thank you.’
He smiled. ‘I’m glad.’ He wrapped an arm around me and knocked on the door.
Mum opened it. ‘What’s all this—oh my God!’ She let out a squeal and threw her arms around us both.
‘Stacy’s engaged!’ she hollered into the house, dragging us inside.
‘To who?’ Rupert called back.
‘Haha,’ I said flatly, and Mum cuffed Rupert lightly for his cheek.
‘Oh wow!’ Grant said, eyes wide. ‘Look at that rock.’
‘Look at all of them,’ Jules corrected.
Ava looped her fingers through Rupert’s and looked vaguely hopeful. ‘I don’t need anything that extravagant,’ she told Rupe conversationally. ‘Dad buys me plenty of baubles. When you’re ready to propose, I’ll be good with whatever we can afford.’
Rupert looked uncomfortable. ‘I’m sure I can get you something suitable. Like that.’ He gestured to the ring on my hand.
Ava burst into laughter. ‘Honey, you couldn’t afford a 30-carat Kashmir sapphire, let alone one with those diamonds around it. That has to be six million on her hand.’
Rupert’s jaw dropped, and so did every single other jaw, bar Robbie’s.
‘Six,’ I murmured. ‘Six million?’ My jaw dropped. ‘Fuck, you’d better take it back. What if it gets stolen!’ I started to tug at the ring.
‘Relax,’ Robbie said. ‘It’s insured.’
‘I can’t wear six million to work!’
‘No one else will know how expensive it is. Tell them it’s costume jewellery, if it makes you feel better.’
Ava snickered. ‘No one will believe that for a second. That ring says power, class and money.’
‘I just wanted it to say I love you.’ Robbie shrugged.
‘Oh!’ My mum dabbed at her eyes, and then she pulled Robbie down for a massive hug, complete with a kiss to the forehead. ‘You’re a wonderful man,’ she said. ‘And we’re blessed to have you in the family.’
The happiness in Robbie’s eyes made me want to squeeze my mum until her dentures popped out. This might just about be the happiest I had ever felt.