His features immediately darkened. “Of course not! I’ve been waiting for the end of the semester so I could enjoy your company in public and introduce you as my girlfriend. And there’s nothing shameful about being a graduate student. Half the people at the banquet will have been graduate students at one time. You’re a grown woman, you’re intelligent and beautiful…”
He grinned wickedly. “I will have to stay close to you in order to keep my rivals at bay. They’ll be circling around you like Etruscan wolves, vying for the attention of the prettiest woman at the party.”
Julia smiled her gratitude and leaned over to kiss him. “Then I would be delighted to accompany you.”
In answer, he pressed his lips to her hand, her palm, and her wrist, moving his lips gently to the sleeve of her dress. He pushed it up her forearm to expose her bare skin to his mouth. Julia’s eyelids fluttered as he began kissing the delicate skin of her arm with wet, unhurried kisses. He dragged his lips to the sensitive space at the inside of her elbow and sucked lightly. For Gabriel knew, as Julia did not, that the inside of a woman’s elbow was a particularly erogenous zone.
The sound of the waiter clearing his throat behind him merely slowed Gabriel’s attentions. Julia blushed a brilliant red at being caught, which prompted him to release her arm reluctantly.
Over a bottle of Tuscan wine and a few antipasti, Gabriel asked about her study-abroad program, where she lived and what she did. When she spoke of how she would visit the Uffizi on an almost daily basis to gaze at Botticelli’s masterpieces, he wondered if there really was such a thing as destiny. And he wondered how he’d ever been fortunate enough to find her not once, but twice.
After they’d finished their main courses and were sitting quietly gazing into one another’s eyes and exchanging chaste kisses, Gabriel released her hand and rummaged in his suit pocket.
“I have something for you.”
“Gabriel, the trip is a gift in itself, and now you want to buy me a dress. I can’t.”
He shook his head. “This is different. Before I give it to you, I want you to promise that you won’t refuse it.”
Julia looked over into serious blue eyes. He wasn’t joking. In fact, he was quite grave. She wondered what was hidden in the palm of his right hand.
“I can’t promise something without knowing more about it.”
He made a face. “Promise that you’ll keep an open mind?”
“Of course.”
“Hold out your hand.”
Julia did as she was bidden, and Gabriel placed a small, black velvet box in her palm. She inhaled sharply.
“It isn’t a ring. So you can start breathing again.” His face was smiling, but his eyes were tense.
She opened the box and was stunned by what she saw. Nestled amongst black silk were two large, round, and perfect diamond solitaire earrings of about a carat each.
“Gabriel, I…” She searched for more words, but couldn’t find any.
“Before you refuse them, I need to tell you their story. Will you listen? For me?”
She nodded, mesmerized by the glittering stones.
“They were Grace’s. Richard gave them to her the first time he told her that he loved her. They weren’t together very long before he fell for her completely. Legend has it that he sold his car to buy those earrings.”
Julia’s mouth hung open. Now she recognized them. Grace wore them almost constantly.
“I want you to have them.”
She shook her head and gently, reverently closed the box. She held it out to him. “I can’t. They were your mother’s. You should keep them.”
“No.”
“Gabriel, please. They should go to Rachel or Scott.”
“Rachel and Scott have other things. Richard gave these to me.” As Gabriel began to panic, all he could do was focus on the small patch of velvet surrounded by her porcelain skin. His eyes narrowed a little. “If you refuse them, you will injure me.” His words were barely above a whisper, but they hit Julia as if he had screamed.
She swallowed and took a minute to gather her thoughts. “I’m so sorry. They’re lovely. And I can’t express how wonderful I feel that you want me to have them, but this is wrong.”
Julia saw that his mood was shifting from hurt to upset, and so she looked down at the tablecloth in front of her, hiding her eyes.
“You misunderstand me, Julianne. I’m not giving them to you because I think you should have something of Grace’s. They aren’t the equivalent of a scarf or a string of pearls.”
She chewed at the inside of her mouth as she waited for him to continue.
He leaned across the table and pressed his palm against her cheek. “I am giving you these to commemorate the fact that I have already given you my heart.” He swallowed thickly as his eyes searched hers. “This is my way of saying that you, Julianne, are the love of my life, and I want something of mine with you always. Don’t you see? These diamonds represent my heart. You can’t refuse them.”