Page 108 of Hell Bent

“I thought about it,” her mother said, “and decided it was the right time. You’re thirty.”

“I’m supposed to get them when I marry, though,” Alix said. I couldn’t see what was in the pouch, but I was starting to get an idea. “And they’re too precious. It’s atrailer.What if they’re stolen?”

“First,” Elise said, “as you’ve told me you’ll probably wait ten years to get married, I’d say we’d better break that tradition. And you put them into your box at the bank, of course.”

“Mother,” Alix said, “I do not have a box at the bank.”

“Oh. Of course. Well …” Elise hesitated.

I said, “I have a safe.”

“What?” Alix stared at me. “You do? Why?”

I had to laugh. “Same reason most people do, I imagine. I have things I’d rather lock up.”

“Oh,” she said. “I always forgot how much money you make.” And when I laughed some more, she added, “That’s a good thing. Haven’t you figured out yet that I don’t always like rich people?”

I couldn’t stop grinning. “I have. But if it doesn’t compromise your principles too much, you’re still free to put your present in my safe. What is it, by the way?”

Her mother said, “Maybe we should have a private chat.” Not to me. To Alix.

“Why?” she asked. “Because Sebastian’s going to steal my earrings? Mother. He is not going to steal them. He makes …” She turned to me. “I forget.”

“One point nine this year,” I said. “As it’s a matter of public record, I’m sharing it. No other woman would have forgotten that, though. Just saying.”

“And he’s likely to renegotiate his contract after this season,” Alix told her mother. “Because he’s an amazing kicker.”

“An amazing …” Elise said, and faltered.

“Kicker,” Alix said. “So you see? I found a guy with a physical job who’s also rich. Who knew?”

I said, “I thought you didn’t like that I was … well, notrich,exactly, but …”

“I don’t,” she said. “But my mother will. And don’t be stupid. Of course you’re rich. Oh. This is the present.”

She tipped them out of the pouch so I could see them, and ….Whoa.Those were someearrings.I didn’t ask, “Are they real?” because I already knew. They were part of the parure, and they were spectacular. The pear-shaped emeralds were a good half-inch long, with a clarity and color that dazzled you, and they were surrounded by diamonds. They alsohungfrom diamonds, and none of those diamonds was one bit small. The ones on the earlobe were half a carat at least, set in a flower pattern around yet another not-small emerald.

I said, “I may have to up my insurance policy.”

“I should think so,” Elise said a little stiffly. “I still think a box at the bank would be better. As you won’t speak to meprivately, Alix, I need to be blunt. Having money is no guarantee of honesty. I can add you as the jewelry wearer onmyinsurance policy, but that doesn’t get them back. They’re not replaceable. Surely you know that.”

Alix said, “I trust Sebastian.” With that stubborn set to her chin again. Well,thatdétente hadn’t lasted long.

Her mother sighed. “I didn’t say?—”

I said, “You don’t have to trust me, or not for long. Get one of those boxes at the bank as soon as you can, and put them in there. Meanwhile, you can put them in my safe. Security building,” he told my mother. “Biometric sensors on the doors. And I think I can refrain from theft for a week or two.”

“I work sixty hours a week,” Alix said. “Not bankers’ hours.”

“If you’d just get your degree—” her mother said.

Alix put both hands on the side of her head, because she didn’t have a ponytail to grab tonight, and said,“Aaarrrrgh.No. Stop.”

Her mother said, “Fine,” her mouth tight now. “I thought you’d want to have them. It was meant to be a gesture. If they’re too much trouble, I’ll take them back and give them to you later.”

“Mother,” Alix said. “I want them. I do. This means—it means the world to me, that you see me as an adultnow,as my own womannow,not just when I get married. If ever,” she had to throw in there. “And I love them. I don’t know where I’ll wear them, but?—”

“Oh,” I said, “I think we can find a place for you to wear them.”