The Last Option

Excited, Rebecca went to the fountain, where Bernard was waiting for her in front of one of the viewpoints. She was smiling and looked happy. He seemed so too. When she came in front of him, she kissed him briefly. "What are we doing here?"

Bernard took her hand and led her a little further into the viewpoint.

"This is where we met, remember?" he said, watching the huge jets of water. "You were really mean to me."

"Of course I was! I didn't know you!"

"I had a hard time getting you to talk to me. If it hadn't been for Bernadette, I wouldn't have been able to get close to you two. Nor you."

"She is much more sociable than me."

"And speaking of her, we haven't called her to see how she is."

"I'll do it later. Let's continue enjoying the view."

Rebecca was so moved by Bernard's response that she didn't want to think about her friend.

"Okay," Bernard paused briefly before continuing to speak. "You know, I've been thinking about what I left you written in the note."

Rebecca began to worry, thinking that he might be regretting agreeing to marry her.

"I know it was rash to talk about getting married," she said. "I don't want to push you, so it would be okay if you don't want to. We can wait to get to know each other better first."

But Bernard did something she might not have expected.

Or did she expect it?

Bernard stopped in front of her and then knelt down. He searched for something in his suit pocket and when he took it out, she saw that it was a ring box!

Earlier, when he woke up, Bernard left Rebecca's suite and quickly went to his room to take a quick shower. He was a little disgusted to have slept with a woman like that, and he thought that he would do everything possible so that it did not happen again, at least until they were married and the last and decisive part of his plan began. When he was dressed again, he called Phil.

"I did it, Phil," he told him into the phone without much enthusiasm. "I did it."

But Phil caught the mood and got a little worried.

"I'm glad, Bernard, but you don't seem to be happy about it. Are you regretting?"

"It's not that, Phil. It's just that I feel a little bad about some things I've done. That's all."

"Did you do something bad? What happened?"

Bernard wanted to be honest with his friend. At least he owed that to Phil for helping him so much up to that point.

"The thing is, I broke the heart of an innocent woman and I feel a little bad for her. Other than that, I had to do something with Rebecca last night that wasn't very nice to me. You know what I mean."

Phil understood perfectly and was glad to know that Bernard had qualms about thinking that way. He was definitely a good man and he didn't regret helping him with his plan.

"I understand you, Bernard, but it was something necessary for your plans. Don't feel bad about it."

"I was only thinking of Camila and her reaction when she found out. By the way: how is she? How is little Nathan?"

"They're fine, Bernard, don't worry about them. Thomas, Laura and I are taking very good care of them."

"I only have a few days here and I already miss them so much. I want to end all this."

"And what are you going to do now?" Phil did not want Bernard to deviate from his plans and prevented him from becoming melancholy.

"Well, she proposed that we get married and I said yes. I just need to finish convincing her that I have money and that I am a gentleman. So I thought I'd give her an engagement ring. I know I've spent a lot of your money already, Phil, but-" "I'll make a transfer to your account so you can buy the ring," Phil again didn't let him finish. "After you give it to her, you must begin the procedures for the marriage but over there, through the United States embassy. Don't wait until they're back here because Randall could find out everything when he meets you as his cousin's fiancé. You must be quick, and for no reason propose the separation of property. If she wants your supposed fortune she won't propose it either. Once you are married we will have her in our hands."

"Okay, Phil. I will do so. Don't worry."

"Is there a large and luxurious jewelry store over there where you can go to buy the ring?"

"My God, Phil, this place is full of those stores. I've seen Tiffany and Cartier stores."

"Tiffany will be fine. Just make sure she knows you bought the ring there. OK?"

"Okay, Phil. Thank you."

"I'll transfer you fifty thousand for the ring. That will be enough."

Bernard was surprised at the amount of money Phil had told him and was practically shocked. Fifty thousand dollars for a ring?

"Don't make that face, Bernard," Phil saw his surprised expression and smiled slightly. "That's nothing compared to what we'll get for little Nathan. I consider it an investment in the future of the child. Don't worry."

And now, having bought the ring at Tiffany's for that much, Bernard was on his knees in front of Rebecca, proposing the right way.

And she was excited about what was happening. Very excited. Bernard couldn't help but wonder if this emotion she was displaying was genuine about getting married, or about the fact that she was about to add a great fortune to her personal wealth.

Be that as it may, he already had the fish out of the water, now he had to cook it.

"Rebecca Hicks," he told her solemnly, "would you do me the great honor of being my wife?"

She raised her hands to her face, even more excited.

"Yes! Of course I do!" Rebecca tried not to focus so much on the ring, which was really beautiful. She would have time to contemplate it properly.

Bernard got up and took the ring out of the box, putting it on her finger. She hugged him and then gave him a long kiss on the mouth. When she separated from him she fixed her attention, this time, on her ring.

"My God, Bernard, it's so beautiful!" she said still excited. Then she remembered the box where he took it out and wanted to check what she suspected about it. "Am I wrong, or is it a Tiffany?"

"Exactly, it's Tiffany's," he replied. "It looks beautiful on you, I think I was lucky and got the measurement right. Does it suit you? The store manager told me that he can adapt it to your finger if it doesn't fit you.”

"It is really very beautiful and it suits me perfectly. You hit everything, both in taste and measure."

With the ring over, Bernard wanted to take advantage of the time to put an end to all that, and he appealed to his medical condition to speed things up a bit.

"I know it's too soon to talk about this, Rebecca but, you know, I don't have much time and I wanted to know if we can move the wedding up."

She looked at him between surprised and still excited. She couldn't believe that everything was flowing like that.

"What date do you have in mind?" she only managed to ask.

"I don't know, what do you think right now? Here in this great city."

Rebecca couldn't believe she was listening to this. It was true? Wasn't she dreaming?

"Well, I don't think we can today, it is Sunday."

"I'm not saying it's today, I know it is Sunday. Tomorrow we can go to the embassy and find out the necessary procedures."

"I can go to New York with you. Why don't we wait until we're there? That way I can invite what's left of my family and my friends from there."

"There we can do the ceremony for the church. I want to get married here because this is where I met you. What do you think?"

Rebecca pretended to think about it for a few seconds. She actually had nothing to think about.

"Sounds good to me. Let's do it! Tomorrow we will go to the embassy."

"I'm glad you agree. Don't think badly, I just want to take advantage of the time. You know why."

"Don't worry. You'll see how we'll do everything to cure you. We'll consult the best experts in the world if necessary. We won't let the worst happen."

Bernard was listening to Rebecca without paying any attention to her. She was already beginning to make plans to cure him, but he knew that most likely she would delay the matter and the much feared death would come inevitably. He would have to humor her at all times while he finished completing his plan, and by the time she finally realized everything it would be too late for her.

He would have what belonged to little Nathan. That is the most important.