“I believe this is your first visit to the V&A, is that correct, Ms. Forest?” George asked her.

So much so that she hadn’t known it existed before, yes.

“Please, call me Vivian,” she said. “And yes, it’s my first visit here. This is my first trip to England, as a matter of fact.”

The little man gasped like she’d given him a special treat.

“Oh, how wonderful! Well, welcome to England in addition to the museum! I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit?”

She smiled and squeezed Malcolm’s hand.

“Tremendously. Thank you so much.”

George took off past the vacant check-in desk and beckoned them to follow him.

“Well, that’s just glorious. Now, there is so much to see at this museum, but I have orders to take you straight to—” He glanced at Malcolm and then made an exaggerated zipping motion to his lips. “My apologies, my apologies. I don’t want to spoil the surprise! Please, just follow me.”

What could he be taking her straight to? From some of the signs they passed by, it seemed like this place was full of . . . sculptures? Tapestries? Fashion? Where could they be going? Had she said something to Malcolm to make him think she loved any of those things?

They followed George through the gift shop, then through a long walkway with a row of sculptures down the middle. She kind of wanted to stop and ask George about the sculptures and why they were here, and if people ever tried to touch them, like she so desperately wanted to do right now, but she could tell Malcolm wanted to get to the surprise.

They went up two flights of wide stone stairs, the last one with a huge painting of a woman at the top. She started to ask George who it was, but she could tell from the excitement on his face that they were almost there.

“This is a real treat you have ahead of you,” George said. “All by yourselves in here, when it’s usually a mob scene. Just remember, the alarms are all on!”

He chuckled at his joke, and Vivian did, too, even though she had no idea what he was talking about. Just before she followed George through the door, Malcolm leaned down and whispered into her ear.

“I’ll be behind you, so you don’t have to monitor the look on your face on my account, I promise.”

She smiled and stepped inside. She was confused at first. The room was dark, much darker than the rest of the museum. There was no sculpture and no tapestries, just . . .

Oh. My. God.

Jewels.

Everywhere she looked, there were jewels.

She turned in a circle. The room was dark, but there were lights on all of the display cases, and the sparkle was almost blinding. White and red and blue and pink and green and gold, all gleaming out at her.

She looked at Malcolm. He was staring at her and biting his lip.

“You said you hoped to see a tiara in real life.”

He’d planned this whole trip, just because she’d said that.

“I can’t believe you did this,” she said. “You’re making me feel like royalty.”

A huge smile spread across his face.

“That was the goal,” he said. He took her hand. “Come on, George is dying to show you this one.”

They walked over to meet George at a small display case halfway into the room.

“There are maybe only five people in the entire United Kingdom I’d do this for,” he said, “and Malcolm is one of them.”

He carefully put white gloves on and ducked behind the case. Vivian heard a whole series of locks turn. When he came back, the tiara was in his hands.

“This is Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet,” George said. “Her husband Albert designed it for her in 1840. It’s been sold a number of times, and almost left England a few years ago, but we managed to get our hands on it, and my goodness were we thrilled about that. We haven’t had it in our collection very long, and I’m so happy whenever I look at it. Isn’t it a beauty?”

It was a tiny tiara—it almost looked like it had been made for a child—but the jewels in it were huge. The diamonds and sapphires all hit the light and sparkled and shimmered at her.

Vivian tore her eyes away from the tiara and looked at him.

“It’s stunning. Tiny but incredible.”

He beamed at her.

“I’m sorry that I can’t allow you to touch it, but . . .”

Vivian shook her head and clasped her hands behind her back.

“Oh my goodness, you have nothing to apologize for. Just letting me look at it like this . . . wow. Thank you so much, George!”

Though . . . she did wish she could try it on.

George smiled at her again, before he put the tiara back in the case and locked it once more. Vivian read the caption about the tiara out loud.

“ ‘It remains an enduring symbol of their love.’ Wow, it has a beautiful story, too.”

George beamed at her.

“Doesn’t it? That’s one of the many things I love about it.” He looked around and sighed. “Unfortunately, I’ve got some work to do, so I can’t take anything else out of the case, but I’ll leave you two here to peruse the rest of the jewelry exhibit. I’ll be back in about an hour. I wish I could stay to tell you about everything!” He nodded over to the corner. “Don’t mind Lewis over there; he’s used to all the oohs and aahs in this room.”

Vivian glanced into the corner; she hadn’t even noticed the security guard, but of course he’d be there.

George waved at them and disappeared, and she turned to Malcolm.

“I can’t believe that happened,” she said.

He grinned at her.

“Me neither. Getting in after hours was relatively easy, but when I asked him if there was any way he’d be able to take it out of the case, he hemmed and hawed a lot. I had no idea if he was going to do it until I saw him put the gloves on.”

She leaned up and kissed him, security guard be damned.

“I’m so giddy about that, I feel like a little girl going through her princess phase, but I don’t even care,” she said. “There’s so much in this room; I can’t wait to look at it all. What a wonderful surprise. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” he said.

She loved how wide the smile on Malcolm’s face was.

Malcolm bent down and kissed Vivian before they walked on to see more of the jewels in the exhibit. He’d been worried, ever since she’d told that story about her ex-husband, that she’d feel compelled to fake excitement tonight. And he’d been even more worried that he wouldn’t be able to tell if she was excited for real or not. But he’d seen the way her eyes changed when they walked into the museum; he’d been able to tell she was confused and disappointed, even though the smile stayed on her lips. And when they’d walked into this room, he’d seen the wonder and delight and pure joy in them when she realized what surrounded them.

Vivian turned in a circle, her hands still clasped behind her back.

“You always do that with your hands—here, and at Sandringham House, and you did it at Buckingham Palace, too.”

She dropped her hands and laughed.

“Oh, that’s because I always desperately want to touch things in museums! I have to hold my hands together behind my back so I won’t be tempted.”