No longer watching them, Emma’s attention had moved to my left hand. She reached for it and turned it from side to side. When she looked up, her blue orbs glistened and her smile grew.
She’d done as I’d asked and signed the certificate.
I’d done as she’d asked, fulfilling one stipulation of her deal.
If I’d had more time, I may have made a different choice. I didn’t have more time.
The ring on my left hand had belonged to my father and spent nearly the last eight years secured in the family safe. The ring was larger than I would choose to wear, made of solid gold with a large black onyx stone and diamond-encrusted signets on each side of it representing the family crest.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ramses, we apologize for this inconvenience,” Ms. Snow said as she slipped the enlarged photograph into a manila envelope.
“Thank you for taking the time to set everything straight,” Emma replied as we all began walking toward the front door.
With my wife at my side, we stood on the front steps as the two officers of the court slipped into the back seat of the marked police car, the iron gate opened, and they drove away. As the iron gates closed, Emma lifted her chin to the evening breeze and sighed.
“I want to change your answer,” I said.
She turned my way. “At this moment, I don’t regret signing or marrying you. I hope you don’t do anything to change that answer.”
“I’m pretty certain I’ll fuck things up again.”
Her lips curled. “A wise man once told me that learning from mistakes was what was important.”
“Sometimes he’s not as wise as he professes to be.” I offered her my arm. “To dinner, Mrs. Ramses.”
Before we walked back into the house, she paused. “Tell me that one day we can walk down those steps and out into the world without worry.”
I covered her hand, now on my arm. “I can’t.”
“What?”
“You want honesty, Emma. I’m giving it to you. Today, it’s Kyle and Jezebel. Tomorrow, it will be someone else. It’s the life you agreed to when you agreed to marry me. But that doesn’t mean you’re trapped. Security will become second nature to you. I never leave the house alone and neither will you.”
Her painted lips pursed as she looked out at the street beyond the iron fence.
“Your safety is my priority.”
I watched as her breasts pushed against the bodice of her dress with each breath. Finally, she turned my way. “I’m glad you keep yourself safe too.”
The one time in over half a decade that I didn’t ensure my safety was for her. Entering that warehouse alone could have been the end to both of us. Thankfully, it was closer to the beginning.
Together we walked into the house as staff closed the doors behind us. The evening sunshine penetrated the leaded-glass panes, sprinkling the foyer in small rainbows. Emma’s eyes grew wide as we walked through the sitting room across from the front office. This was her first sighted journey through these rooms. In her blue orbs I watched the awe for what I took for granted. Our path led through the front sitting room, music room, and another library.
“I love watching you see things for the first time, but I can’t stop thinking about the matching blindfold and how I wish you were wearing it.”
“Everything is so” —she searched for the right word— “opulent.”
It was a good choice.
The fireplace in the front sitting room had an eight-foot-high opening and was made of imported marble. The crystal light fixtures as well as my mother’s portrait over the fireplace all added to the atmosphere that had been created.
“My grandmother made a point of redecorating the house once my great-grandmother passed. According to stories, my great-grandmother felt the old house needed to be modernized. I suppose she was right, regarding utilities and such, but my grandmother wasn’t a fan of the furnishings. Utilizing old photographs and journals, Grandmother Delphine tried to recreate the feel from the late nineteenth century. When my parents married, all four of them lived here together.”
“Sometimes speaking with Miss Guidry, I have a sense of how that felt.”
“I’m sure she could give you more detail, but from what I was told, the search for furnishings was something the two women agreed upon. It was a project that bonded them.”
“I heard it was something else.”