Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
It was a dismal day. Gray and dreary with the promise of rain; exactly what Keely expected for her riding scene with Ricky. But it was also chilly, sure to make shooting the scene even more uncomfortable.
I’d hoped to witness the scene, had hoped to see Ricky atop a beautiful horse and ride through the storm. But the crew was set up quite a distance from the main house, and I was reluctant to risk getting caught in the heavy downpour were I to venture out there.
Instead, I strolled through the far end of the evergreen garden, catching glimpses of the crew in the distance. Perhaps, if I was lucky, I’d be able to see Ricky as he thundered by, even if it was from afar.
“Psst.”
I looked around for the source of the unexpected sound.
“Psst. Darling,” whispered the mysteriously husky voice.
I smiled and wondered who was trying to get my attention. Could it be Ricky as he headed out to shoot this scene? No. He should already be out there.
Unless... no. He wouldn’t chicken out. He would never let Keely down like that.
“Psst.”
“Who is psst-ing me?” I called out with a laugh.
Suddenly, Matthew jumped out from behind a trimmed cedar.
“There you are,” he said, beaming like I’d never seen him do before. “I’ve been going nuts with anticipation of seeing you.”
Pleased to hear that, I smiled. Was he really that eager to see me? And if so, why? To clear up this fiasco of mix-matched couples? To tell me how he can’t bear to see me with Ricky any longer?
“Come sit down,” he said. “I have something to show you.”
Intrigued, I followed him to a nearby wrought iron bench and sat with him.
“I’m so excited,” he said. “And nervous. I feel like I’m ten years old again.”
“Well, then, tell me now,” I said. “What exactly has you so excited?”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small burgundy box trimmed in gold.
My heart stopped. What was he doing?
He handed me the box. “Open it.”
My hand wanted to trembled, but I willed it to remain steady. I popped it open and found a large and gorgeous pink diamond set on an intricately worked gold ring.
“This is amazing,” I muttered. “Quite beautiful.”
“I hesitated and almost got the chocolate diamond. It really is quite special. Then I looked into a blue diamond but couldn’t really imagine that it would be fitting. If I could, I would have loved to find a red diamond. Being so rare, I simply couldn’t find one, at least, not in a timely manner.”
“I understand,” I muttered, not understanding at all. What were all these colored diamonds about?
“Besides, I actually think the pink one is much prettier than the red one.”
“Right.”
“So. What do you think? Speechless, right?”
“You could say that.”
“Do you think Susie will like it? I mean, I tried to see what type of jewelry she likes. She tends to wear delicate necklaces and small drop earrings. Nothing big and ostentatious.”
I gagged. I really had no idea about Susie’s jewelry likes and dislikes and had no desire to learn about it. I quickly recovered from my desire to throw up and was able to nod and I did my darndest to look happy for him. “She is sure to love it. It really is beautiful. Dainty... elegant.”
“Do you think I should have gone with a traditional diamond? You know, like white, clear... colorless I think they call it. Purity. Clarity. Whatever their terms are.”
“This is very pretty, Matthew. And Susie, while discreet, is still the type of girl who stands out, who stands apart from the rest. The ring is original and the pink diamond... I’m sure she’ll love it.”
“She’d better. This little bauble set me back just over a million pounds.”
I swallowed my shock and fought so hard to hide how truly devastated I was. A million pounds? For a ring?
“Are you alright?” he said, seeing me choke up.
The rain began to fall; a smattering of fat raindrops that splattered as they hit the paving stones. A precursor to the downpour to come.
“Yes,” I said through tears that suddenly flowed despite my staunchest effort.
I tilted my face up to the rain, hoping to dissimulate my tears.
“I’m just so happy for you, Matthew.” I said, turning to look at him.
“You deserve a girl like Susie, and I do hope she’ll accept this ring and that you two will be happy together. ”
I closed the box and handed it back to him, surprised by my steady hand. “I wish you all the best, Matthew. I really do.”
He re-opened the box and stared at the ring inside for a long and thoughtful moment, then clucked his tongue, closed the box again and shoved it in his pocket.
Did he have reservations? Was he unsure he was doing the right thing by proposing to Susie?
Did he not see me sitting right there in front of him, wanting him to see me as more than just a friend?
He nudged me playfully with his elbow. “I’d be willing to bet that Ricky is preparing to pop the big question as well.”
I looked at him, not understanding at first. Ricky? No. We were far, far away from exchanging any rings of any kind. We’d just barely had our first kiss.
“You are quite smitten with him, aren’t you.”
The rain intensified.
“We’d better head inside before the clouds really open up,” I said, happy to have the distraction.
Without waiting for him to answer, I got up and ran to the house, up the stairs and to my room.
*****
THAT EVENING, AFTER finishing with his trotting in the rain scene, Ricky came to find me in the drawing room. Still damp, with his hair plastered to his head, he came to me, laughing. He was clearly pleased with himself.
“Did you have a chance to see me?” he said, excited like a boy who’d hit a homerun during a baseball game.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t. I’d hoped to see you, but I had scenes of my own to work on.”
He shrugged. “That’s okay.”
“How’d it go?”
“Thanks to you, everything went great. I was great. We did a few takes, you know... from this angle and that. Too much rain, not enough rain. My hair’s out of place and looking wonky. Things like that. On one of the takes a splattering of mud came out of nowhere and smacked me in the face.”
I laughed at the visual.
“Needless to say, they had to clean me up a bit then get me back on that horse. Yep. I’m quite proud of myself.”
“As you should be.”
“Keely couldn’t stop complimenting my regal stance atop that horse.
And it wasn’t even Buster. It was a whole new horse.
One I’d never met before. But I kept cool, and everything went as it should.
Even the rain cooperated in the end. Can you believe that it stopped just moments after Keely called ‘cut’? ”
“You seem to be on a winning streak.”
He pulled a chair up close and sat across from me, drying his hair with the small towel in his hands. His damp shirt clung to his skin, his muscles fully on display. He looked better than he ever had.
“Careful not to get a chill,” I warned.
“No chance of that. I’m all heated up inside.”
“Good.”
“Did you hear the great news?” he said as he set the towel down.
“We have an extra week to shoot the movie?”
“Don’t count on that. No. Matthew and Susie.”
The blood drained from my face as I stared at him. I’d seen the ring. I’d felt that initial sting. But I’d also sensed a certain reticence from Matthew, as if something was holding him back from actually giving the ring to Susie.
Despite the million-pound ring, I clung to the faint hope that this proposal simply wouldn’t be.
“They’re getting engaged, Darling. They’re getting engaged.” He seemed disappointed by my lack of enthusiasm. “I thought this was the type of thing girls got all excited about.”
“I’ve seen them together a lot lately. But it still seems rather sudden, don’t you think?”
He shrugged. “I’m happy for Susie. She deserves a guy like Matthew.
She has a certain air about her and marrying a somebody like Matthew, you know, an aristocrat of sorts.
.. as close to royalty as she’ll ever get.
..” He let out an amused snort. “In a way, she’ll become royalty herself. .. at least on a small scale.”
It was one punch in the gut after another. I couldn’t stand it anymore. If he continued to talk, continued to go on and on about the loving couple, I would throw up on him.
“Seeing them so happy together, it really makes me think,” he went on, oblivious to my discomfort. “I’d like to find the same happiness that Susie has found.”
“What are you saying?” I said with a dry smile. “You want to marry Matthew?”
He looked at me with a straight face then burst out laughing. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind. No, I was thinking of you. Of you and me. Susie is happy with her aristocratic Brit, and I’d like to settle down with my own British honey.”
No.
“We’ve been getting on so well.”
No.
“These past days together... they’ve been special. You brought something out of me that I didn’t even know I had.”
“Ricky,” I whispered, wanting to stop him from going on.
“The scene that I just shot wouldn’t have happened without you.”
“Rick.”
“But it’s not just that. It’s the way you have with me. The way you look at me. The way you talk to me. You don’t treat me like some teen idol. You don’t look at me as some Hollywood star. You look at the real me. And you make me feel...”
“Stop, Ricky. Please, just stop.”
His smile faded, and he sat back to look at me. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t, Ricky. I can’t.”
“Can’t what?”
“Whatever it is that this conversation is leading to. I can’t start a serious relationship with you. I can’t keep seeing you as if we were a couple. I can’t... I can’t be with you that way.”
I stood to run out, tears flowing down my cheeks. “I can’t love you,” I mumbled as I ran to the door.
“Darling, wait,” he called as he grabbed my hand and pulled me back inside.
“Ricky. Please let go. I can’t. I can’t be with you. There’s nothing more to say.”
“But you have been with me. We have been together. We’re good together. Darling, we’re great together.”
His eyes were red and filled with pain, but it didn’t change the way I felt about him. I pulled free of his hold and ran away.