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Jack didn’t know what the squiggles on his arm were supposed to be until he was fourteen and Captain Grimm sketches him an anatomically correct picture of a human heart. Jack showed him his bicep and Grimm had confirmed it. Whatever it meant, the person in the world best suited to Jack Dawkins was represented on his skin by a drawing of a human heart.
The tuppence piece on Belle’s shoulder perplexed her since the day it appeared. It was not difficult to identify, but its meaning was oblique. What kind of a man did the universe choose to symbolize by a piece of currency, and a small piece at that? Was he consumed by money? If so, why not a bank note, or at least a large coin? Why tuppence?
It was months after her operation that she put it all together. Months after the night when she’d had him listen to her heart and he’d shown her the drawing on his upper arm. Months after they’d lain together desperate and clinging. But only days after her parents had officially accepted his suit and they had officially become engaged. They sat together on the veranda looking out over the beautifully manicured gardens. Belle was quite content reading a book, but Jack got twitchy if asked to sit still for too long. His quick fingers plucked a coin from the pocket of his waistcoat and began tumbling it over his knuckles compulsively. Over and over like waves on a beach.
She’d seen him do it before, but she’d never allowed her eyes to linger. Never allowed herself to admire the way his fingers moved the coin effortlessly over the tanned skin before whisking it around to start the process again.
Fanny called out that tea was served in the adjoining room and Jack flicked the coin up, arching into his other hand and for the first time, Belle was able to identify it—tuppence.
She smiled to herself as she rose from her chair to take Jack’s arm. Tuppence that appeared and disappeared so quickly between this man’s fingers. For the first time, Belle felt that the symbol on her skin was perfectly placed.