Greater Than Rubies, a Novella inspired by the Jewel Trilogy by Hallee A. Bridgeman

believe it. Of course. Of course I will.”
    Tony felt one corner of his mouth creep up. “Ah, well, I think you might have agreed too soon. I had not yet informed you that you will have to walk down the aisle beside Sarah.”
    And so the other shoe finally dropped. Derrick nearly laughed.
     

Greater Than Rubies: CHAPTER 8

     
    OBIN rubbed her hands together then gripped her coffee cup in both hands, trying to warm them. From the window of the little cafe, she could see the river. It looked exactly as cold outside as it felt. Chunks of ice still floated near the shore of the Charles River, but the trees had started budding as spring desperately tried to beat back winter.
    Tony carried two fresh steaming cups of coffee to the table and took his seat across from her. “This is a neat place,” Robin said, admiring the comfortable interior with hard wood floors, couches, leather chairs, and bookshelves lined with eclectic reading selections.
    Tony nodded. “The church runs it. It’s a nonprofit so all receipts and tips support overseas ministries. We have a lot of handmade art and jewelry that are made by girls in a pregnancy crisis center in Africa. Those are sold here, too.”
    Robin looked closer at the decor and noticed the price tags. “Wow. This is incredible.”
    “Coffee houses are in vogue. We’re just leveraging that popularity until it stops meeting with success. It’s all about the right marketing at the right time to the right audience.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Plus, they make excellent coffee and scones.”
    She took a sip of the coffee and nodded. “That is good.”
    “I come here after rowing. I keep my scull in the boat house next door.”
    “It won’t be long until you can be out there.”
    “I think I have another trip to Florida and some more wind surfing to do while that ice out there keeps melting.” He lifted his cup as if in a toast and she laughed.
    She set her cup back down in front of her. “How did the meeting with Derrick go?”
    “It went well. I have a feeling that he thought I was about to hand him a bill for services rendered and was about to ask him to do something terrible. As soon as he realized nothing has changed, he relaxed so much. I hope he trusts me one day.”
    “He comes from a world where you don’t get something for nothing.”
    “It isn’t for nothing. I expect him to work hard and aim for success.”
    Robin laughed. “Tony, you know what I meant.”
    He leaned back as the waitress brought their scones. Steam piped up from them and Robin’s mouth watered at the smell of fresh baked yumminess. “Of course I know what you meant,” he said, breaking the blueberry scone in half and moving half to his plate, then breaking the cranberry scone in half and moving half to her plate.
    “You don’t mind, do you, that I asked him to move into our apartment? I know we’ll be newlyweds.”
    Robin shrugged as she took her first heavenly bite of light, flaky, blueberry flavored scone. She washed it down with the amazing coffee and just let the flavors mingle on her tongue for a moment before answering. “I don’t mind. I guess we could have gotten him some apartment somewhere and done the same for Sarah, but I don’t feel right about doing that. I think we need to just live together, the four of us. Derrick needs the family structure, and I want to get to know Sarah better now that I’m not juggling two jobs and scraping a living.”
    Tony finished off the half of cranberry scone then set his fork down. “I want to talk to you about something.”
    “Okay.” Robin set her own fork down and picked up her cup, sitting back in the chair.
    “About the interview – “
    With a sigh, Robin rubbed her temple with one hand. “You’ve managed to avoid talking to me about that. I was hoping it would go away.”
    “That’s what I wanted to talk about.” He placed his palm flat on the table in front of him. “People dig things up on me. It is inevitable. Who