‘I absolutely demand it, Keira,’ he said. ‘I do not want to live the rest of our lives with the shadow of his presence hanging over us.’
‘I understand…’
‘I am not prepared to let you go a second time,’ he said, his voice tripping over the words. ‘I love you too much.’
Keira took an uneven breath as a little hammer of doubt began to tap inside her head. ‘Are you only saying this now because you know the baby is yours?’ she asked, looking at him with a slightly narrowed gaze.
His brows moved together. ‘Of course not. How can you ask that?’
‘You always insisted you didn’t love me any more,’ she answered. ‘You also insisted you could never forgive me, that I had permanently ruined our marriage.’
He shoved a hand through his already messy hair. ‘I know what I said back then, but the truth is I want you back.’
She plucked at the hem of the sheet again. ‘Because of the baby…’
‘Even if it wasn’t my baby I would have taken you back,’ he insisted. ‘I was about to tell you that last night when Gina and Bruno arrived.’
Keira wanted to believe him but how could she be sure? Things hadn’t really changed between them, in spite of what he said. The fact that he was forbidding her to ever mention Garth’s name suggested he hadn’t and never would forgive her for what she had done.
‘We can make ours a good marriage if we work at it, Keira,’ he said into the silence. ‘Things are different now. My business is well established. I don’t have to travel as much and if I do you and the baby can come with me.’
‘Do you really love me?’ she asked in a tiny voice.
He sat on the edge of the bed and picked up her hand and brought it to his mouth. ‘I adore you, cara. I need you. I have been out of my mind with worry the last few hours, thinking I was going to lose you for ever. It made me realise what lies I have been telling myself. There I was, accusing you of always burying your head in the sand, but I have been doing the very same thing.’
Tears shone in her eyes as he kissed each of her fingertips. ‘I can’t wait to come home and be your wife again,’ she said.
He gave her hand another tender squeeze. ‘I spoke to the doctor while your parents were here. He said you can come home in the morning.’
When Patrizio arrived the next morning to take her home Keira could tell something was wrong. He kissed her perfunctorily and, other than guiding her out to the car with his hand on her elbow, refrained from touching or speaking to her as he pulled out of the hospital car park to begin the journey home.
‘Is something wrong?’ she asked when she could stand the silence no longer.
His hands were white-knuckled around the steering wheel. ‘I take it you did not see this morning’s paper,’ he said through tight lips.
Keira felt a flutter of unease brush over the floor of her stomach. ‘No…I was in the shower when the volunteers’ trolley came around.’
He drew in a breath and, reaching behind him, took the newspaper off the back seat and handed it to her. ‘Did you tell anyone of your earlier suspicions over the paternity of the baby?’ he asked.
She looked down at the incriminating headlines and cringed in despair. ‘Oh, no…’
‘Is that a yes or a no?’ he asked in a clipped tone. ‘Or perhaps it’s an I don’t remember.’
She flinched as if he’d struck her, the colour draining from her face.
‘Damn it, Keira,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘Is this never going to go away?’
She bit her lip until she tasted blood. ‘I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…’
He let out a rusty sigh and reached for one of her trembling hands and brought it up to his mouth, his lips moving against her skin as he spoke. ‘Forget about it, cara. It is what we both have to do now—forget about it.’
‘Marietta has made you some chicken broth,’ Patrizio said once they were inside the house. ‘I will have her bring it up to you in bed.’
‘Thank you…’
‘Until you are feeling better, I will be sleeping in one of the spare rooms,’ he said after a tiny pause. ‘The doctor told me you need to rest.’
Keira felt her chest tighten painfully but didn’t say anything in response. She made a movement of her lips that could have passed for a grateful smile and moved towards the stairs.