Paulina, October 1994
The day Paulina’s “A Diamond Says Love” ads were published in magazines all across the country, she woke up in Liam’s bed filled with dread.
In the months since the gossip item appeared in the New York Post, not a day passed that she didn’t grapple with what was happening. Understandably, Elodie wasn’t speaking to her. But Celeste, too, was angry.
“You dragged me into this, and now Elodie thinks I was colluding with you to keep it from her,” Celeste said.
Her father was irritated that she’d created tabloid drama that threatened to overshadow his marketing of the Electric Rose.
“You go through men like tissues, and your sister was serious about this young man. I hope you’re happy with yourself!” he’d scolded. Her mother, at least, had given her the benefit of the doubt. The only thing she’d asked her was, “Do you love him?”
Paulina could tell her honestly, “Yes.”
“Good morning,” Liam said, walking into the bedroom with a breakfast tray filled with coffee and pastries and a bundle of magazines tucked under one arm. “Coffee, croissants, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair,” he said. “They were out of Town & Country.”
The truth was, she had tried to forget about him. The morning after the photo shoot, she got on a plane and vowed to stay away from New York for as long as possible. But then, three days into her time in Kenya, Liam showed up at her campsite.
“This is madness,” she said, trying to be angry but overwhelmed by happiness at the sight of him.
“It is madness,” he said with a grin. “My first vacation in ten years? I should have done this a long time ago.”
“Liam, I’m serious. You can’t be here. You have to go.”
He looked her in the eyes and said, “Tell me honestly you’re not happy to see me and I’ll leave.”
She couldn’t. “But you have to end things with my sister.”
Still, she resisted her insane lust for him. For about a week. She ultimately gave in on the darkest, hottest night of the trip. They had outrageous, mind-blowing sex in her mosquito-netted bungalow, an experience she hoped would help get him out of her system. But afterward, breathless and spent in his arms, she had the alarming certainty that the night was just the beginning.
She hoped her feelings would fade. She believed they would; she always lost interest in men after a while, be it two weeks or two months. She warned him of this and begged him not to tell anyone about what was going on.
“What if we lose interest in each other once we’re back home, in the real world?” she said. “I don’t want my sister to get hurt for no reason.”
“These feelings started in the real world,” he said. “I’m never going to want her the way I want you, Paulina.”
Still, she’d changed her mind about pushing him to end things. “Please, just wait. You might get things out of your system—we both might. Don’t do something permanent for what could be a temporary . . . fever between us.”
That strategy had been a mistake.
Now Elodie, heartbroken, was becoming a shut-in. Celeste refused to take her calls and didn’t come to the city for their mother’s birthday. Paulina felt such guilt and shame that she and Liam avoided being seen in public together. He’d been patient but it was wearing thin.
He waved a magazine at her. “I want to celebrate with you tonight,” he said, climbing back into bed. “At a restaurant. In public. Like a normal couple.”
“I’m not ready.”
“Paulina, it’s time. I love you. Elodie will get over it, but not if we continue to slink around like criminals.”
He handed her Vanity Fair, the page with her photograph dog-eared. She flipped it open and confronted her own image, her eyes exaggerated with shadow and liner, her lips a deep, vampy matte red. Her face rested in her palm, her bejeweled fingernails splayed along her cheek to present the diamond. The deep, dazzling pink of the Electric Rose popped against her ivory skin.
“I hardly recognize myself,” she said. But really, she wasn’t talking about the photography but rather that she’d never felt so out of control of her own emotions.
Liam moved the tray and the magazines to the floor, kissing her. As always, his touch erased the rest of the world. Paulina gave in to it, melting under him, certain that something that felt so good couldn’t be so bad. He pulled back.
“There’s one more magazine,” he said, reaching for one on the nightstand and passing it to her, his expression mischievous. The magazine was slightly propped open by something in the middle pages.
An enormous, sparkling pink diamond ring was tucked into the crease. The Electric Rose. Paulina gasped.
“Paulina Pavlin,” Liam said, “will you marry me?”
It was the second time he’d stood before her holding that ring. The first had been the photo shoot—not even a year ago, but also, a lifetime.
She loved him. She loved him with all of her heart and there was nothing she could do to change that. And now, even with all the problems their love caused, she didn’t want to.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”
Liam slipped the astonishing ring on her finger, and she saw that his hands were shaking. She threw her arms around him, kissing him the way she’d wanted to that first night at the bar.
The way she would kiss him now for the rest of their lives.