Unbreak My Heart (Childhood Sweethearts Reunited) by Helen Scott Taylor

said, stepping forward to take Andre's arm. Kate got there first. She may only be a pretend fiancée, but she had her pride. Kate slid her arm firmly through his.
    Elizabeth shot her an irritated glance and turned to indicate the open French doors at the end of the hall. "My grandfather's waiting for you outside. Follow me."
    She sashayed along in front of them. Kate glanced at Andre to see if he was watching Elizabeth's swaying posterior. He wasn't. Tiny lines formed between his eyebrows and he looked down and patted his pockets. "Kat, I forgot to give you the engagement ring," he whispered. "Liz, we just need to use the bathroom," he said louder. "Tell Edmund we'll be out in a moment."
    Elizabeth frowned."Okay then. Don't be long." She smoothed her dress over her hips and walked out.
    Andre opened a door and they slipped into a dining room. Lights outside shone in the windows and reflected off the mirror polish on a walnut table. He closed the door quietly and led Kate across to the window. From his pocket he withdrew a small navy leather box embossed with the words, HARRODS LONDON, S.W. and handed it to her. "If we're going to pull this off, we need to make it look convincing."
    Kate opened the lid and angled the box toward the light. Nestled in fine white velvet was a silver-colored ring. In an old-fashioned setting surrounded by seed pearls, the golden stone sparkled in the darkness like a drop of crystal fire. "Andre…" She pressed a hand to her heart. The ring was so pretty and unexpected her voice trembled. "It's lovely. Where did you get it?"
    "It belonged to my grandmother." He took the ring out and slipped the box back in his pocket. "It's white gold set with a champagne diamond. I thought it was beautiful and a little unusual, just your sort of thing."
    He lifted her left hand and they both stared at the tiger's eye glowing on her third finger. The ring he had given her when they were young and naive enough to think dreams came true. Emotion churned through her. "You've still got it," he said in a gruff whisper.
    Before she could answer, Kate had to swallow the lump in her throat. "I never take it off. They made me stick a Band-Aid over it when I had Keiko."
    Kate tugged on the tiger's eye ring, but it didn't budge. Andre tried to pull it off and her skin burned. "Careful, I like that finger."
    "We need some soap. That's what they use in movies." He grasped her hand and headed for the door.
    They found a bathroom upstairs that was as big as the sitting room in Andre's cottage. Under the window was an old-fashioned sink, which would make a perfect bath for Keiko, and a claw foot bathtub stood against the wall.
    Andre guided her to the sink, squeezed a blob of liquid soap on her finger, and massaged it in. He twisted the ring and it moved. "I think we're getting somewhere." A few seconds later it slipped off. She washed the soap away, rubbing the dent in her finger. She had never told Dan where the tiger's eye came from. The ring was all she had left of Andre and she wouldn't give it up.
    Andre retrieved the engagement ring from his pocket and she presented him with her left hand, biting her lip to hold back the flood of memories. "Let's hope nobody notices your swollen, red finger," he said as he slipped the ring on. "That's good. It fits perfectly." And it did. Almost as if it had been made for her.
    Gold sparks flashed in the diamond as she twisted her hand beneath the light. How would she feel if the engagement were real, if he'd taken her down to the beach at twilight and proposed like he'd done when he was sixteen?
    The night before he left for boarding school, they'd sat on their favorite rock hand in hand and watched the setting sun turn the sea to liquid gold. Andre had pushed the tiger's eye ring on her finger and asked her to marry him when he left school. Then he kissed her on the lips for the first and last time. Unsure how to respond, Kate had burst out laughing and ruined the emotional moment. Later,