G'Day to Die (22 page)

Nana arched an eyebrow. “Sure, sure.”

“Really! Marion, this is a significant discovery.”

“Right.”

“We need to call someone. The state university. The government. You could become famous!”

“Uh-huh.” Nana grabbed her pocketbook. “You ready, Til’?”

“You can’t ignore this, Marion! You need to do something about it.”

Nana picked up the photos, ripped them into shreds, and threw them in the wastebasket. “How’s that?”

A horrified peep escaped Henry. Nana grabbed Tilly and headed out the door. “See you later, dear.”

Henry stared helplessly at the wastebasket before scooping it off the floor. “Would you mind if I took this back to my room, Imily? I might be able to tape the pieces back togither.”

“Knock yourself out.”

Etienne leaned against the frame of the patio door and toasted me with his juice glass. “Another successful gathering,
bella
.”

“You think?” I collapsed on the sofa. He sat down beside me and gathered me in his arms.

“You gave me the worst fright of my life yesterday, Emily. Please, don’t ever do that again.”

“If you thought
you
were frightened, you should have been in my shoes.”

“I thought you’d drowned. When I grabbed Madelyn, I wanted to tear him apart with my bare hands.” He twined his fingers with mine. “I wanted to kill him. If he had harmed you in any way, I would have.”

I turned his hand over, wincing at his bruised knuckles before feathering a kiss on each one. “Your timing was impeccable.”

“I’m Swiss. How does one live around so many clocks and stay unaffected?”

I felt that familiar hitch in my throat again. “Thank you for being there when I needed you most.”

He kissed me gently. “
Ti amo, bella,
” he whispered against my lips. “
Ti voglio anima e cuore. Voglio restare con te per l’eternita.
”

I sighed. “What does that mean?”

He reached into his pants pocket and presented me with a small drawstringed pouch that was stamped with gold lettering.

“Rees and Benjamin?” I said, perplexed. Untying the strings, I upended the contents and quietly let out my breath, for there in my palm lay an elegant gold band in a lacy filigree pattern, quite the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. “The ring from Sovereign Hill.” My eyes welled with tears. “Oh, Etienne. How did you know?”

“I went back and asked the clerk what you’d been looking at. She showed this to me and said it fit you as if it had been made to order.” He slid it on my finger. “
Sposiamoci,
Emily.” He brought the ring to his lips and kissed it. “Will you marry me?”

Unlike so many of life’s challenging questions, there was only one answer to this one. “Okay!”