wedding ring?”

“Why do you think?” He pulled off the ring and held it out to her.

She recoiled.

“Read the inscription,” he urged.

Hesitantly, she took the ring and held it up to one of the candles.

Julianne — my Beloved is mine and I am hers.

A sick feeling entered her stomach, and she quickly returned it

to him. He replaced it on his left hand without a word.

“Why are you wearing a ring with my name on it?”

“You said that you didn’t want to talk.” His voice was gently re-

proving. “If you’re al owed to ask me questions, can I ask about Paul?”

She blushed and looked away. “He was there to pick up the

pieces.”

Gabriel closed his eyes. He was perilously close to giving in to his temper and saying something cutting, but that would only succeed

in pushing her further away.

He opened his eyes. “Forgive me. This ring has a mate, smaller

in size. I purchased them at Tiffany in Toronto on the day I bought the silver frame for Maia’s picture.

“I still think of you as my other half. My bashert. Despite what happened, there was never any question of me pursuing someone

else. I have been faithful to you since you told me who you were,

back in October.”

Julia suddenly found it very difficult to speak. “Gabriel — these

past few months, without a word, then tonight…”

He looked at her with compassion, his arms aching to hold her.

But she was too far away. “We don’t have to have this conversation now. Just — if you can stand it, please let me see you tomorrow.” He gave her a look filled with longing.

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Gabriel’s Rapture

She met his gaze briefly. “Okay.”

He exhaled loudly. “Good. I’ll speak to you tomorrow, then.

Rest well.”

She nodded, opening the door.

“Julianne?”

He stood in front of her, far too close. She looked up at him.

“Will you — let me kiss your hand?” His voice was wistful and

small, like a young boy.

She waited for him to kiss the back of her hand, then without

thinking she reached up and pressed her lips to his forehead. Sud-

denly, his arms were around her back, pulling her flush against him.

Although he had trouble thinking of anything other than Julianne

when he was kissing her, Gabriel focused his attention on trying to communicate with lips and mouth that he hadn’t betrayed her. That

he loved her.

When she kissed him back with equal passion, he moaned.

He made sure to be gentle, if not intense, and as her own move-

ments slowed, he began to nibble slightly at the fullness of her lower lip, before pressing closed mouthed kisses to both cheeks and finally, the end of her nose.

When he opened his eyes he saw a flood of emotions pass over

Julia’s pretty face.

He ran his fingers through her damp hair, once, twice, and gazed

down at her longingly. “I love you.”

She was silent as he walked through the door.

P

Gabriel’s kiss did nothing to strengthen Julia’s resolve, but she

would not consider it a mistake. She’d been curious about what it

would be like to kiss him again and was surprised at how familiar it was. In mere seconds he succeeded in causing her pulse to race and her throat to constrict.

She couldn’t deny that he loved her. She’d felt it. Even Gabriel,

with his polished manners and charm, couldn’t lie with his kiss.

321

Sylvain Reynard

There was something different about him. He seemed softer,

somehow, more vulnerable. Yes, there was the occasional show of

temper and the old Professor Emerson, but she knew that Gabriel

had changed. She just didn’t know why.

By the following morning the power had been restored and Julia

was able to recharge her phone. She called the manager at Peet’s and explained that she was under the weather and would be taking the

weekend off. He wasn’t happy about it since it was the fourth of July weekend, but there was little he could do.

After a long hot shower, (a shower spent dreaming about Gabriel’s

lips and old, suppressed memories of the two of them together), Julia felt much, much better. And only a little worse. She sent a quick

email to Rachel, explaining that Gabriel had returned and declared his love for her. An hour later, her phone rang. She expected that it would be Rachel. Surprisingly, it was Dante Alighieri.

“How did you sleep?” Gabriel sounded cheerful.

“Well. And you?”

He paused. “Not as well as I used to — tolerably, I suppose.”

Julia laughed. This was the Professor Emerson she remembered.

“I want to show you my house,” he said.

“What, now?”

“Today, if you’re willing.” He sounded worried she might refuse.

“Where is it?”

“It’s on Foster Place, near Longfellow’s house. Ideal for a commute to Harvard. Not so convenient for BU.”

Julia was puzzled. “If it’s inconvenient for BU, then why did

you buy it?”

Gabriel cleared his throat. “I was thinking that — I was hoping that…” He struggled to find the right words. “It’s small but it has a beautiful garden. I’d like to know what you think of it.” He cleared his throat again, and she swore she could hear him tugging at his

shirt collar. “Of course, I could always move.”

She hummed in response, not sure what to say.

“Now that you’ve had a good night’s sleep, will you talk to me

a little?”

Julia had never heard Gabriel sound so nervous. “Of course. But

it isn’t something we can do over the phone.”

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Gabriel’s Rapture

“I need to pay a visit to campus to see my new office. It won’t

take long.”

“There’s no rush.”

“Yes, there is.” Now Gabriel’s voice was heated.

She sighed heavily. “I could come over later.”

“Come for dinner. I’ll pick you up at six thirty.”

“I’ll take a cab.”

Julia broke the awkward pause that followed with an explanation

that she needed to go.

“Fine,” said Gabriel stiffly. “If you wish to take a cab, that’s your prerogative.”

“I’m going to keep an open mind until we talk, and I’d like to

ask you to do that too.” Her tone was conciliatory.

Gabriel felt as if he were hanging on to his hopes by a very thin

thread. He was far from certain that she would take him back. And

even if she did, the old specter of jealously taunted him. He didn’t know how he would react if she revealed that she’d turned to Paul

in her grief and shared his bed.

God damned Angelfucker.

“Of course,” Gabriel said, his voice strained.

“I’m surprised you called me. Why didn’t you call me while you

were away?”

He was silent for a moment. “That’s a long story.”

“I’m sure it is. I’ll see you tonight.”

She hung up the phone, wondering what his story would include.

P

When Julia arrived at Gabriel’s new home, she surveyed it with

no little puzzlement. It was a two-story frame house with a simple, unadorned front, and it was painted a charcoal gray with darker trim.

There was almost no front yard to speak of and a small, paved car

pad to the house’s right.

In an email that included directions, Gabriel had sent Julia a link to the original real estate listing for the property. The asking price 323

Sylvain Reynard

had been over a million dollars. The house had been built prior to World War II. In fact, the entire street had been a neighborhood of Italian immigrants who built the small, two bedroom houses in the

nineteen twenties. Now the street was populated with old-moneyed

yuppies, Harvard professors, and Gabriel.

As she took in the tidy simplicity of the building, Julia shook her head. So this is what a million dollars can buy you in Harvard Square.

As she prepared to knock on the front door, she was surprised

to find a note on it in Gabriel’s hand.

Julianne,

Please meet me in the garden.

G.

She sighed, and just like that she knew that tonight was going to

be very, very difficult. She walked around the side of the house and down the little paved driveway, gasping when she rounded the corner.

There were flowers and greenery, wisps of sea grass and elegantly

trimmed boxwood, and in the very center of the garden stood what

looked like a Sultan’s tent. A fountain sat on the right side of the green space, featuring a marble statue of Venus. Underneath the fountain was a small pond filled with white and red Koi.

Julia walked toward the tent so she could peer inside. And what

she saw pained her.

In the tent was a low, square bed, exactly like the futon that

graced the terrace of the suite she’d shared with Gabriel in Florence.

In the suite where they’d made love for the first time. On the terrace where he fed her chocolates and strawberries and danced with her to Diana Krall under the Tuscan sky. The futon where he made love to

her the following morning. Gabriel had tried to reproduce the ambience of that terrace down to the very color scheme of the bedclothes.

The voice of Frank Sinatra seemed to float from somewhere

closer to the house, while almost every flat, fireproof surface held a tall, pillar candle. Ornate Moroccan lanterns were suspended from