1. Chapter One #2
Rafa felt a soft and reassuring hand take hold of his knee.
Sal… he thought, as though thinking her name would dispel all their sudden troubles.
He immediately took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently, letting her know he was managing, but his stomach still churned.
“Achi is right. Colette has been around for decades,” he said flatly, trying to stifle the frustration rising within him.
“Ten years of audits only show part of it—she must’ve stolen more through the years. ”
He knew he was right the moment his mother hung her head and clenched her fists. He wished, more than anything, that he wasn’t.
SAL
After Iris’s startling announcement over lunch, Rafa excused himself with his mother when the auditor arrived.
Aveline kept Sal company in the orchid room and asked her questions about the art show, but Sal felt her companion’s attention was diverted.
Aveline’s eyes would glaze over each time she answered, and she couldn’t blame her.
A threat to the company meant a threat to their reputation, and if she knew Rafa, he would do everything to protect his family’s reputation.
“Some tea to calm the nerves?” Aveline offered.
Sal nodded and gave a quick grin in response. Aveline called for help, and the maid brought over a tray with a set of fine china teaware. Like her mother, Aveline insisted she pour for both of them instead.
Sal’s future sister-in-law bent over to pour the tea.
She wore her black hair sleekly pulled into a bun, and her plum-colored outfit and yellow diamonds complemented her light and warm-toned skin.
“I love your earrings,” Sal said. Talking about the art show made her nervous, and talking about the family business made Aveline nervous.
So finding something else to talk about was tantamount.
Sal observed Aveline wore a rotation of precious stones and gems in her wardrobe each time they met.
So she presumed it was a more welcome topic of discussion.
Aveline looked up at her. Her hooded eyes slightly widened. “Oh? Thank you,” she said as she sat up straight and gracefully held her teacup on her lap. “I enjoy collecting colorful diamonds, and these are a particular favorite—they’re from my grandmother,” she said and took a sip from her tea.
Sal took a sip from hers too. For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence.
“I loved that ring though,” Aveline said, her eyes focused squarely on Sal’s engagement ring.
Confused, Sal looked at her ring and fiddled with it. The round-cut, pale pink diamond ring shined brightly. “Did Rafa show this to you before proposing?” she asked.
Aveline frowned and tilted her head. “No…” she said, her voice trailing off as if Sal had said something strange.
“Mom had that sourced from Australia and then had it set by our personal jeweler in Hong Kong for Rafa’s future wife.
He was still single then. Sybelle and I called dibs on it after a while,” she said, smiling.
“Sorry to disappoint; it’s mine now,” Sal teased.
Aveline let out an astonished laugh. “No, no! It was fair game. We gained a sister in return.” She raised her teacup to Sal. “Rafa needs an extra set of eyes and ears in the business anyway,” she added before taking another sip.
Sal grinned and took a slow sip of her tea.
She felt no malice or insincerity from Aveline.
But there was a jab in her gut that she couldn’t quite place.
Perhaps it was the last statement Aveline said, or the way she expressed exchanging a rare stone for a sister-in-law.
For the rest of the conversation, Sal contemplated if she had just been compared to something with a predetermined purpose, cultivated and deliberately chosen to suit their needs, like the beautiful orchids that sat in the room.
Rafa finally emerged from his meeting with the auditor and flashed an assuring smile. He sat beside Sal, took her hand and gripped it twice, and joined the conversation as though nothing serious had just been discussed.
“Rafa, I just told Sal the backstory of her engagement ring.” Aveline quipped playfully. “Can’t believe you didn’t tell her.”
He raised his brows and smiled, “It didn’t occur to me to share.”
“It’s okay. I never asked either, so…” Sal shrugged, giving an awkward smile and sipped her tea after.
Aveline gave her a discerning look and put down her teacup, but before she could say anything Rafa interjected.
“That meeting took longer than expected,” he said as his mother joined them. “Sal and I have to get back to the cats. We’ll catch up again soon. Thanks, Ma, for the misua, I missed you.”
“Of course,” Aveline responded. His mother nodded, and they said their warmest goodbyes, promising to return soon.
The car ride on the way back was mostly silent. Rafa’s eyes were on the road, but his mind was elsewhere. After a while, he asked, “Can we listen to music, love?”
“Sure…” Sal responded, and she put on their favorite Spotify tracks.
The silence between them continued until she asked, “So how was the meeting with the auditor?” The sound of Rafa’s hands gripping the wheel tightly made her turn to him.
He stared pensively at the road, but Sal kept her gaze on him, as though urging him to respond.
Rafa’s jaw flexed. “It’s pretty serious…” he said in a low voice. “I’ll need to put all my focus on the business for now and mitigate the damage before I meet my partners.”
Sal looked away. “Does this mean I’ll see less of you at Autumn Town?” she asked, wondering if she should bring it up, and then asked, “or the art show?”
“Yes. But I promise to be at the art show,” he responded. “I also have to review all the payments Colette was handling. She was remitting the monthly payments to support Autumn Town, and I don’t know if she touched that too.”
She wondered what that meant for Autumn Town.
They’d planned the art show because they needed more sustaining capital.
The investment using Claire’s inheritance, Sal’s savings, and Rafa’s capital helped build Autumn Town, but the day-to-day expenses and investment needed to improve it required some buffer.
Organizing the art show during the autumn equinox was meant to raise that buffer, and even if the art show didn’t sell as much as they’d hoped it would, Rafa’s financial support gave them a cushion — but now he couldn’t give her the same assurance.
The art show has to go well, Sal thought, and her breathing became shallow.
Autumn Town’s funds would deplete if it didn’t go well, and she’d be in the red.
Everything she worked hard for to build this new life would be at risk.
But what was life without a little risk?
Sal thought. Her spirit would not be broken.
She had tried so hard to live differently from her life in New York; maybe this was just a test, and she would meet it.
Rafa’s warm, firm hand gripped hers. His touch pulled her from her thoughts, and she instinctively laced her fingers in his. “I’ll be there, I promise, and everything will be fine,” he said, sounding unsure despite his words. It wasn’t like Rafa to sound doubtful about things.
Sal knew that when they got home, they’d talk through their schedules and plan everything out.
She had grown used to that rhythm in St. Stephenshire—the cats, the calm, the quiet, the scheduled visits to Medina, running things at Autumn Town with Rafa.
Those were the parts she looked forward to.
They felt manageable. Predictable. But the parts that demanded something heavier of her—the financial strain of their art center, the looming wedding she had no energy to plan, the unspoken expectations that came with being Rafa’s future wife—those lingered beneath her skin.
They surfaced in sudden waves of anxiety, only to be brushed aside and buried again.
He always said everything would be all right, and most of the time she let herself believe him.
It was easier that way. Yet something serious hung in the air about their situation with his family business, something that required more than reassurance.
Will it all really be okay? She wondered.
This time, no steady voice rose to comfort her—only the weight of knowing she might have to step fully into a role she wasn’t sure she wanted.
1.
Achi is an endearment or honorific in hokkien referring to the eldest sister in a brood of children. It is used by the younger siblings or younger cousins to show warmth and familiarity.