Page 19 of Unintended Love

“We’re parked right over here, Mama.” She led her mother to the Mercedes G-Wagon, running at the curb.

“Wow, this is quite a fancy car. Is it yours?”

“No, it’s one of the Riggs’s fleet vehicles.” Theodora opened the back door for her mother, who grabbed for the front door.

“Baby girl, you know I don’t do well riding in the back,” her mother announced.

Theodora knew no such thing but allowed her mother to take the shotgun position while she awkwardly crawled into the back seat. She heard and felt suitcases being loaded into the trunk before she heard grumbling from Clint. She was embarrassed at how her mother had forced Clint to pay the porter. When they got home, she’d reimburse him.

As soon as Clint climbed behind the steering wheel, he put it in gear and moved into the heavy traffic. They just had to go to the other end of the airport, where the private aircraft were parked. The Riggs family had their own hangar, where the helicopter would have been kept while waiting for everyone before returning to Eden.

“I’m sorry, young man; I haven’t introduced myself.” Her mother patted Clint’s thigh. “I’m Kimberly Parsons. Please call me Kimmy.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am. I’m Clint Riggs.” He moved his leg away. “I’d shake your hand, but as you can see, this traffic is horrendous.”

“Well, Clint Riggs, what is your relationship with my daughter?” Her mother’s question floored Theodora. “I understand you accompanied her to the OB appointment this morning.”

She tried to look at Clint’s eyes in the rearview mirror, but they never left the road. His stone face showed no reaction. Before he could say a word Theodora answered, “Clint was Javier’s team leader.”

“Of course I took her to the doctor’s office.” His voice was curt. “I promised Javier I would take care of Theodora and his baby.”

At that declaration, her mother turned around and looked at her, giving her a thumbs-up that only she could see. She wasn’t sure exactly what that meant.

It only took a few minutes before they were in an upscale part of Addis Ababa, an area Theodora had never been to. But she hadn’t been to a lot of places in the capital city. She and Javier would go to the big grocery store, sometimes the mall, and they’d made several trips to the locally made furniture store. Both she and Javier loved the craftsmanship of local furniture builders and felt good about supporting them rather than buying cheap furniture from one of the box stores. They had purchased a bed and a dining table and had several other things on their wish list.

Clint turned down the side of a building that had three VIP parking spaces. He pulled into the only one available and spun toward the women. “Ladies, I don’t expect to be long. You are welcome to sit here in the comfort of the air-conditioned vehicle or come into the jewelry store and look around. I have an appointment with the owner.”

Her mother perked up. “A jewelry store?” She glanced over her shoulder at Theodora. “Let’s go.”

Internally, Theodora cringed. The only jewelry she wore was the quarter-carat diamond ring that Javier had saved up for months and then bought on sale at the Post Exchange. She wore it next to her gold wedding band. They’d never had extra money to spend on extravagances like jewels. Besides, she didn’t have any place to wear fancy jewelry. They never went to any place where they needed to dress up.

Her mother, on the other hand, loved jewelry and wore lots of it. All fake and costume, of course. She would often wear a ring on every finger and some of them two. Long sparkly earrings were her favorite adornments. She’d never leave home without something large and flashy around her neck and wrists that clinked and clanged, attracting attention. Theodora didn’t want to go in and look at gold and stones that she could never afford, but since her mother wanted to go in, so would she.

When the guard wearing a uniform and a gun unlocked the door and locked it again behind them, Theodora knew she couldn’t afford a single thing in that store. She was afraid they might charge her for the expensive scented air she was breathing. The classical piano music playing softly in the background and the plush carpet that her admittedly ugly walking shoes sank into were more clues that she didn’t dare touch anything.

“Mr. Riggs, please join me over here.” The man in the custom-tailored three-piece charcoal suit, starched white shirt with gold cufflinks embedded with a shiny gray rock, pointed to a seating area with overstuffed chairs and a small coffee table. “I’ll bring your custom order right out to you as soon as I retrieve it from the vault.”

As soon as Clint sat down, a woman who could adorn any fashion magazine strutted out of the back, carrying a tray of drink service she stopped at his chair. Elegantly picking up a fragile cup and saucer she asked in a sultry voice, “Mr. Riggs, how may I prepare your coffee?” She dramatically swept one hand over the tray that seemed to contain everything from white to dark brown sugars to cream.

“Just black, thank you.” Clint reached for the red flowered cup with gold trim that looked tiny in his large hands. Theodora shouldn’t have been surprised at the sophisticatedly way he held the cup and sipped the one strong Ethiopian coffee. His mother was an ambassador, and he was a graduate of West Point. He’d been raised around diplomats and taught impeccable manners.

“Oh, my Lord, Theodora you must come see these.” Her mother spoke way too loudly.” Wanting to cringe, she pasted on a smile and walked to the opposite side of the showroom, where a saleswoman had just brought out a tray of rings.

Theodora was too far away to see what the gentleman had brought to Clint, but she could tell by the smile on his face that he was pleased.

“You’re a woman of excellent taste. Let me show you some of our Welo opals. They are exclusively mined here in Ethiopia,” the saleswoman explained in a low, cultured voice. “These are unique in that they have the ability to absorb water and become translucent, but when they dry out, they return to their exquisite internal fire.”

As she and her mother examined the expensive jewelry, Theodora realized she was only a few feet from the seating area where Clint had his back to them. She couldn’t help overhearing their conversation.

“This is absolutely beautiful, Mr. Rabinowitz,” Clint said. “But I only gave you the center emerald. What do I owe you for all the others? They are so gorgeous, inlaid in the gold.”

“You owe us nothing, Mr. Riggs,” the polished salesman replied.

The very old man who had joined them explained, “They were a gift from Mr. Neberu. He brought all the small emeralds, and the gold from the Queen of Sheba mine, personally writing the authentication certifications. He even insisted on where they were to be placed.”

Her mother and the ever-so-patient saleswoman were on the move again, passing the seating area when she heard the old, wrinkled man declare, “He wanted to give your wife something special.”

Wife? Theodora didn’t believe he was married. She’d never seen him with a woman in the compound. Maybe he intended to get engaged? Using a necklace instead of a ring? That was a new one for her. For the first time, she noticed the gold band on his left ring finger. She’d known men on the Army base who would wear a gold ring on their left hand to ward off unwanted attention, but they’d also take it off when it was convenient.