The Rarest Treasure

Lawrence let go of the shoe. "OK, That does it. That suit is a gift that I treasure greatly and you, sir, are behaving in a manner that does great harm to this establishment. What do you think you can gain tonight? Even if you win the next hand, and even if you manage to wipe out all my earnings, don't you see that I will still be the richer of the two?"

"What nonsense are you spewing?"

"Look at her!" He pointed to Zooey who instantly became self-conscious and blushed. The entire table listened to him. "She is an amazing woman of heart stopping beauty, she has more talent than you will ever be able to afford and she has enough passion to melt the aluminum of whatever Ferrari you're driving. And when we leave this place, she will look at me like I'm a hero and tell me I love you. Now, I don't know what awaits you at home, but I suggest you try and improve THAT hand instead of pushing your bad luck and losing another 32 000 Euros! Or would you rather bet?"

Carlo seemed suddenly stricken with a migraine headache. Zooey had a gaping mouth.

Carlo Montezemolo rose from his chair and left the table, muttering in Italian what Lawrence guessed were curses on all of his descendants. Zooey briefly clapped her hands. Lawrence exhaled very, very deeply.

He turned towards the croupier and handed him two 500 Euros chips. "I'm sorry, it's been a long voyage and my math is still in Canada. Will this cover the house percentage on our wagers?"

"Absolutely, Monsieur."

He handed out a similar chip to the croupier and one to Flavio. "For you... I'm sorry you had to endure such a spectacle."

"Au contraire, Monsieur, it was quite entertaining... thank you."

"All right... la main passe..." saying that, Lawrence passed the shoe to the player on his right and then he looked at the entire table with a piercing look of warning "... and let's enjoy ourselves tonight, shall we? Oh, and... huh... may I have a Vesper martini, please? Bring one for miss Nummi as well."

Flavio took the order with glee. "Certainly, Monsieur."

Zooey called the next bet, kissed her birthday gift, turned a natural nine and cheered like a little girl at Christmas.

They both played until closing time, and the shoe circled around the table many times. Zooey rewarded Lawrence with her musical laughter the whole night.

"And you said... Sir, this is not metamorphic petrography!" Zooey was bellowing in laughter, slightly tipsy and completely under the influence of happiness. Lawrence had to steady her down the stairs and what their exit lacked in grandeur, it more than made up for in merriment.

Zooey stopped on the boardwalk - Lawrence was relieved it was not in the middle of the street - and she managed to hold her laughter long enough to say something meaningful. They were loosely hugging and their gaze were locked.

"Lawrence Linney, YOU are MY hero... and like a knight of old, you always ride to my rescue... even tonight, of all nights. Thank you very much. I don't know what I've done to deserve you, but you have made my birthday deliriously happy. I love you, baby."

"If I am a knight of old, then you are my Queen Guenevere and that makes me your vassal, your admirer, your worshiper and, hopefully, your lover. And I do love you so very much, darling." They kissed and resumed their walk to the nearby hotel.

"Well, I know for a fact that the worshiper and the lover parts, you master brilliantly... but I do believe you still owe me an explanation... what you called your exit strategy sounds more like a windfall to me! By the looks of things..."

"I did not lie to Mr. Ferrari Jr., honey. Three of our claims turned out to have a different kind of wakefieldite, a kind only exploited in Japan so far. Instead of yttrium, its rare-earth element is neodymium. And it might be present in commercial ore amounts."

"Congratulations, baby. That part does not surprise me. But why did you sell?"

"Because we're in the rocks business, not the mining business: we don't have the resources, the insurances, the permits and whatever else it takes to exploit mineral resources. Dad shopped around for North American mining interests and he got us a very good price."

"And you were willing to risk it all tonight, just for my sake? That's insane!"

"Oh, no... the amount I had tonight was my share only. Believe me, dad is VERY happy with the return he got on his investment. So much so that I had to caution him against spicing up all the portfolios he manages with mining stock."

"Babe, just HOW MUCH did you get?" Lawrence had a silent smile; it remained silent. "Ha, I get it..."

"Thank you."

They had now entered their hotel room. And Zooey could read the desire in her beloved's eyes. "So, honey bunny... do I strip now or do you want me to parade for you, mmm?"

"Zooey, can I ogle at you some more, just as you are, please? You look so... amazing... you're both inviting and forbidden... you're both elegant and supernova hot..."

"... and let's not forget heart-stoppingly beautiful, mmm... for someone who thinks he's running out of words, you're sure good at finding new sources of energy for my ego!" Zooey did parade; catwalks and provocative poses. She then loosened her hair so she could dazzle her hero with her hair swing. Lawrence was absorbing all her beauty to his heart's content.

At the end of her routine, Zooey slowly approached Lawrence and finally gave him the kiss of appreciation she had been wanting to for hours.

"I love you so much, Zooey... thank you for this."

"The pleasure was almost all mine, hi, hi! Now, before we get naked, I believe we have a discussion to finish about forever."

"Must we? I mean, I want today to be about you... it's your birthday, baby!"

"You should check your watch more closely, hon... my birthday's been over for almost four hours."

Lawrence shrugged. "You have me there... aaaaaall right, baby, you start..."

Zooey was in a taunting mood and she acted childish on purpose. "Why do I always start? What if want YOU to start today, huh?"

"You want me to start?"

"YES!" She pulled out her tongue, for good measure.

"OK... rock-paper-scissors, best 2 out of 3: whoever wins chooses who starts, no appeals, agreed?"

Well, Zooey wanted childish. "Agreed!"

"No cheating... 1, 2, 3, now!" Lawrence chose rock, Zooey chose paper. But when Zooey tried to triumphantly wrap the rock with her paper, she felt Lawrence's rock open and place a box in her paper-hand.

"Whaaa..." by the time Zooey realized she was holding a ring box, Lawrence was down on one knee, in front of her.

"Larrryyyy..." her voice had instantly dropped to a terrified whimper.

"Zooey Nummi, I use to think that you had changed my life; I was wrong: you have completely redefined it; I use to have color and sound, I now have beauty and harmony; I use to have solitude, I now have complicity; I use to have hopes for the future, I now have desires for the present; I use to have dreams, I now have fantasies. Zooey, all I want, for the rest of my life, I want to do with you: I want to make love to you, I want to admire you, I want to support you, I want to make a home with you, I want to raise children with you, I want to celebrate birthdays, Christmases, Valentines and anniversaries with you, I want to fuss about grandchildren with you, I want to grow old with you, I want to carry my love for you beyond this life, if there is such a thing, I want you to be my Duchess and I to be your Duke; will you marry me?"

"Huuuuuu..." Zooey was very pale, except her cheeks which were in the same hue as her dress.

Lawrence stayed on his knee. "Zooey?"

"I got to write this down... baby, if I ever write a romance novel, I'm using this... this is amazing... you call me a muse? Wow..."

"Zooey?"

"What, baby?" She noticed Lawrence was still waiting for her answer. She covered her face in embarrassment. "Yes! YESSSS! OF COURSE, BABY LOVE!!! Stand up and kiss me... I'm sorry I'm acting all crazyyyy! This... it's too much!"

Zooey was fidgeting and sobbing, Larry was finding out that his first kiss as Zooey's fiance was not an evident task. But the kiss settled her nerves and Lawrence could now urge her to open the box and try out the ring.

Zooey expected a highly sentimental engagement ring, in the manner that Lawrence had lovingly crafted her bracelet; instead, she was almost blinded by the scintillating brilliance of a solitaire diamond, set on a gold ring.

"Ohhhh...mygodddd!!! Baby! Are you crazyyyy?" Lawrence sighed in the affirmative, with a smile from ear to ear.

"When somebody can sing Diamonds are Forever like you do, her man has to take note..."

"You adorable nerd, you... what is it?"

"What, the diamond?"

"The diamond, the ring, I want all the parameters... come on, out with it!"

"Come on, Zooey, please leave some of the magic untold... besides, it will feel like bragging..."

"You should have thought of that before, mister Nummi. I cannot be the wife of an expert geologist and not know what minerals and metals are in my ring! So there!"

Both of them laughed in unison. "OK, OK! You have a 1.07 carat diamond, conflict-free, excellent cut, H color and VS1 clarity, mounted on an 18K yellow gold ring. There is also a non-scientific but very important parameter engraved in the inside of the ring, beside the certification number of the Jeweler.

Zooey had to make an effort to stop looking at her diamond. She found the inscription, in a magnificent lettering:

ZOOEY AND LAWRENCE FOREVER

Her brain was still overloaded. She did not know if she should kiss her man, put the ring on her finger, or write down his proposal. Lawrence was patiently waiting her out; he had all the time in the world, now.

Zooey placed the ring on her left ring finger. "It's perfect!" She kept looking at her stone, moving her hand at all angles to admire it. "How did you guess the size?"

"You have your mother to thank for that... I refuse any sizing credit."

"I love it... and I will keep on wearing it after the wedding, baby... we'll have to choose a band that allows that, OK?"

"Of course, honey..."

"Zooey and Lawrence forever... I like that... a lot."

"No problem with the choice of word?"

"None whatsoever... so, do we jump into bed now or do we talk about forever?"

Lawrence winced. "Well, as it turns out, we might have to put both of these marvelous ideas on hold, because my rescue mission is not done yet."

Zooey guffawed. "What could possibly trump ALL that you have done for me tonight, baby? I am all ears..." her eyes were still glued to her engagement ring.

"My beautiful darling, I'm sorry if, for a moment, I sound like your mother, but your really should read mainstream media more often."

Zooey was baffled. "Whyyyy???"

"There is an international health crisis about to unravel. A coronavirus for which there is no vaccine and that can spread from human to human. This thing began in China, around Christmas, but it's getting worse. As a matter of fact, Italy has closed its borders to travelers from China this week."

"Isn't that just headlines?"

"Well, to get a second opinion before coming here, I checked with the paramedic who gives us our CPR training. His advice is that we should take this very seriously. He expects the WHO to call this a pandemic sooner than later. So, we are returning to Montreal, today if we can, and it would be wise to place ourselves under quarantine when we arrive."

"Quarantine?" Lawrence expected anxiety, maybe obstinacy, certainly not the smile he was seeing emerge on Zooey.

"Maybe not the full forty days... I suppose health officials will start issuing guidelines soon. The only issue I can't solve is you mother... how do we protect her?"

Zooey was now giggling uncontrollably. "Mom will be fine, babe..."

"Really? What do you propose we do about her?"

Zooey's smile was now more scintillating than her dress. "This is so perfect..."

Lawrence finally ended his thinking out loud and began worrying for his fiance. "Honey, is everything OK?"

"Mmmm, mmmm!" She placed her hands on his shoulders and swiftly shook her head in the affirmative. "We're going to heaven!"

"Well, now, darling... that's a bit somber, don't you think?"

"Not THAT heaven, baby... OUR heaven!!!"

"The apartment in Gatineau?"

"Mmmm, mmmm... forty days, just the two of us... a pre-honeymoon, hi, hi!"

"We could certainly do that! I'll call this morning... I just have to figure the time difference..."

"You don't have to... it's ours for six months..."

"Huh?" Lawrence felt he was being reeled in all over again.

"I signed the lease before leaving... after talking to mom... and after looking myself in the mirror and facing the concept of forever with the man I love... that's you, by the way..." Zooey was crying in joy.

Lawrence was stunned. "Honey... I don't know what to say... that's so amazing... YOU'RE so amazing!!!"

"Of course I am, baby... I'm YOUR rarest treasure... and I will never let you forget it... ever."