Page 87 of An Italian Wedding Adventure

There was an unfamiliar quality to his voice. His face was in shadow, but there was something brewing in him that made her wary – and kept her gaze riveted to his features.

‘You believe I can climb a via ferrata. But I’m talking about life – I’m talking about commitment and what do you know about that?’

‘Nothing.’ This time, his voice shook and he propped a hand on the wall behind her, his eyes bright. ‘But I’m trying to learn – for you.’

Her knees wobbled as she thought for a moment he meant he wanted to learn to commit –toher. But she must have misunderstood. Shaking her head to clear it, she said, ‘Is that what you were doing last night when you asked about Rory? I don’t think that was a good reflection on me – or marriage.’

‘No, that’s not what I mean – and that’s not why I was asking last night.’ He fell silent again, glancing upwards as though the tunnel ceiling could help him find the right words. ‘I thinkourrelationship – relationships, whatever – were a good reflection on you.’

‘What?’

‘I was trying to work out if… you really loved me.’ He said it with a huff of disbelief.

Her throat closed and she blinked frantically to hold back another tear. ‘What am I supposed to say to that? I said it once when it was more a feeling than a conviction and you ran as fast as you could in the opposite direction! You didn’t want to hear it – and you’ve told me a thousand times that you couldn’t return it. Wesaidwe weren’t making the same mistakes again so Idon’t…’ She couldn’t finish the lie.

Andreas straightened, gazing at her. ‘Sophie, I meantIdon’t want to make the same mistake again.’

‘What… mistake are you talking about?’

He took a deep breath and paused to press a kiss to her forehead that made her knees even wobblier. ‘I missed you, reallymissed you, like my keys when I put them down somewhere, except more permanent. No, not like my keys. Ähm…’ He blew out a calming breath. ‘I wasn’t going to attempt this until after the wedding,’ he mumbled. ‘It’s supposed to be about Lily and Roman today.’

‘Don’t worry about it!’ came a voice from where the wedding party was waiting – apparently listening to every word.

Andreas turned with an arch look.

‘You can do it, Andreas!’ called another, which sounded like Lily.

‘You were saying something about losing your keys,’ she prompted him doubtfully.

‘It’s not about my keys! I need to tell you… what happened after I left for Pakistan eight years ago.’

That wasn’t what she expected. ‘When Miro died?’

He shook his head. ‘I told you that part already.’

She nodded tightly.

‘This was before that – and after.’ He licked his lips. ‘Iwasin love, once.’

Sophie swayed on her feet, blinking wildly as she processed the hurt of his confession. He’d been in love before? What was he trying to say?

‘I mean, I realised it was love. It was the only time in my life. The only time I wondered if maybe getting married might be a good idea.’ He glanced at her sheepishly for a moment. ‘I tried to forget again, but I did admit it – to myself at least, and to Miro – at one stage.’

That was another blow that stole Sophie’s breath, but when Andreas glanced at her, his expression twisted with wary hope, a suspicion began to blossom in her stomach. Could he mean?—?

‘Andreas, you don’t believe in?—’

‘I know what I said and now I think I know why I said it. But when the woman I loved was gone – or I was gone, I don’t know which any more – I realised what it meant, that I missed her like a part of myself and I hated that I’d left without telling her, without working things out. I was distracted and I needed to settle my head. Miro and I were in a market getting supplies and a salesman offered to take us to buy gemstones. It happens often. Usually, we just say no, but that time, I thought about… her and I went with the man. I bought this.’

He dug into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small zip-lock bag, holding it in his palm in the light of the headlamp. Sophie frowned again, wondering when he would cease to surprise her. But although the bag wasn’t a small, velvet box from a jeweller, the object inside the zip-lock bag was just as valuable.

It was a glinting emerald, round cut. Three-quarters of a carat, she remembered. Goosebumps rushed up her arms as she waited for him to continue.

‘This emerald has been up Gasherbrum I,’ he said quietly. ‘Aconcagua, too. Erm, and the Matterhorn twice. Denali – but not the top. We didn’t make it. A few others as well.’ He trailed off. ‘Anyway, I wasn’t supposed to keep it and take it up all those summits. It was supposed to be… I don’t know. A ring?’ He shrugged apologetically. ‘A promise, maybe. But when I came back down – with Miro dead – I was a mess and then I thought she’d wisely moved on… To be honest, I was a bit ashamed I’d bought the emerald, that I thought a relationship could work.’

She knew that feeling. ‘What happened next?’ she prompted him, hoping she knew where he was going with this, that he was telling the story in a way that made the feelings bearable, rather than telling her a story about some other love. ‘Did you see her again?’

His gaze rose to hers, his eyes as serious as she’d ever seen him. ‘When I least expected it,’ he rasped. ‘And I didn’t deal with it well when I realised she still meant something to me. I thought I’d been wrong when I bought this – wrong to think I could be…hers. I thought my choices were made, but it turned out I had another chance – ormighthave another chance.’

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