‘You really should get her on a bottle as soon as possible,’ Olivia offered. ‘Then anyone could feed her.’
Ignoring the other woman’s comment, Kelly settled down on the nursing chair, and in minutes Anna was suckling greedily at her breast.
Gianfranco surveyed the mother and child, his black eyes fixed on Kelly’s breast. Astonishingly he felt a stab of something very like jealousy towards his daughter. He wanted to be where Anna was, and his body warned him to get out fast. ‘I must go,’ he said shortly.
Kelly glanced up, but he was already exiting the room. Now that she was left with the baby and only her thoughts, the events of the last half-hour ran through her mind, and warning bells rang loud in her head. What kind of woman had she become? Placating Gianfranco at any cost! Actually apologising to him for his forgetting her birthday! Afraid to speak her mind except on the simplest of topics, in case she offended him or his family. What kind of weak example of womanhood was that to set her precious daughter?
Four weeks later, restless and unable to sleep, Kelly slid out of bed. She glanced briefly at the connecting door to the room Gianfranco occupied and for a moment was tempted to go to him. But he had decreed no sleeping together until she got the all-clear from the doctor at six weeks. He had given her a diamond necklace to match the bracelet as a belated birthday present, also a car for her personal use, and he was good with Anna—when he was around. But he was not around much.
Love was a fearsome emotion, she thought with a sudden shiver. Except for the love of her child—that was totally different. She would do anything for Anna, and with that thought in mind she walked along to the nursery. Her breast milk was drying up, and the nurse had suggested supplementing Anna with formula, but the baby did not seem to like it much. Quietly she opened the nursery door, and shock held her rigid for a second.
Olivia had Anna in her arms and was feeding her with a bottle of formula. ‘What the hell do you think you are doing?’
Olivia looked at Kelly. ‘Practising for when you are gone.’
Snatching the baby from Olivia’s arms, Kelly was shaking with anger. Now she knew why Anna was not feeding well from her. ‘Get out, and keep away from my child,’ she snapped.
‘Your child?’ Olivia sneered. ‘Haven’t you realised yet? Gianfranco is going to dump you as soon as you stop breast-feeding and we are going to be a family. Why do you think your so-called marriage was only a civil ceremony in England? He does not even need to divorce you to marry me in church, you stupid cow.’ And Olivia walked out.
Kelly tried to tell herself it was the ravings of a slightly unhinged woman. But deep inside she didn’t really believe it. She had put up with a lot to stay with Gianfranco, but when it came to her daughter she would fight like a tigress.
CHAPTER NINE
Three years later.
ST AIDEN’S COVE in Cornwall was virtually deserted, although it was early summer. Kelly stood beside the outcrop of rocks on the tiny beach and watched her daughter methodically shovelling sand into a small red bucket; nothing would stop Annalou’s determination to build a sandcastle, and Kelly was vividly reminded of Gianfranco. Annalou had her father’s eyes, and also his confidence. Nothing seemed to bother her.
Unfortunately the same could not be said for her mother, Kelly conceded wryly. It had been a June day, much like this, when she had made her escape from the Casa Maldini.
In the end it had been quite simple, she recalled, her mind going back to that traumatic time. She had told Gianfranco what Olivia had done, and he had told her she was overreacting. They had argued, but for once Kelly had refused to give in.
The night before she was to go to the doctor for her final check Gianfranco had walked into her bedroom. She could see him now in her mind’s eye, looking breathtakingly handsome, wearing only a robe, his long tanned legs slightly splayed as he had stared down at where she lay in the big bed. ‘Tomorrow you see the doctor—I am right?’
His dark eyes, smouldering with a brooding intensity, had caught and held hers, and she had felt every nerve in her body leap to quivering life. As if compelled to, he had sat down on the side of the bed and taken her in his arms. The warm, musky male fragrance had been dizzyingly familiar as he’d covered her mouth with his and kissed her with a hungry, urgent passion.
‘Bella mia,’ he had groaned against her mouth, his supple fingers stroking her breast, his other hand lifting to sweep the soft fall of her hair down her back, his night-black eyes skimming her upturned face, the softly parted lips. ‘Hurry back tomorrow. I am dying of frustration.’ He’d kissed her again.
Fool that she was, two kisses had been all it took to convince her that her fears were groundless and Gianfranco loved her. They were a family, and the future looked rosy. But his parting comment—‘Remember to ask the doctor to give you the Pill—it is the safest birth control’—had dented her euphoria somewhat.
But nothing like the shock she had got the next day. She had returned from the doctor’s, excitement bubbling inside her, and headed straight for Gianfranco’s study, unable to wait to give him the good news.
Even now it still hurt, Kelly thought bitterly. The door had been partially open, and she had seen them together. Gianfranco and Olivia in each other’s arms. Judy’s warning, Olivia’s actions—all had made perfect sense. But it was what her husband and Olivia had said that had horrified her, had prompted her decision to leave immediately.
‘I can assure you, Olivia, Kelly and I will certainly not be having any more children.’
‘So why wait? Get rid of her now, Gianfranco. I can take care of Anna Louise; I love her.’
No way was Olivia getting her hands on Kelly’s child.
Kelly had acted her socks off. Her sad face had been genuine when she’d told Gianfranco later that the doctor had said another week, but not for the reason he had thought. With a little persuasion Gianfranco had agreed Kelly and the baby could visit Judy Bertoni for a few days, while he took the opportunity to clear up some business in New York.
Ironically Gianfranco had provided her means of escape. He had given her a state-of-the-art mobile phone, with instructions to call him any time, so that way he would not disturb her when she was busy with Anna Louise. Raiding his study, she had looked for her passport and by a bizarre stroke of luck she had seen the new one Gianfranco had obtained for her with the baby listed on it. He had said he would take her on holiday, but she couldn’t believe the nerve of the man. Obviously the holiday was to have been her pay-off! Well, he was in for a rude awakening, she had vowed.
The next day she had been on a plane to England, and by the evening she had emptied her bank account—the money from the sale of her house a welcome bonus. She’d made a point of telephoning Gianfranco several times, so as not to arouse suspicion. The final call she had made the next morning, when she’d left the hotel where she had spent the night. She told him she had left the car at Rome Airport and she had left him. Olivia was welcome to him, but not her baby.
He had still been yelling down the telephone when she’d switched it off and thrown it into the road. A black cab had put paid to it.
Remembering her honorary Uncle Tom from her childhood, she had headed for his home in Cornwall, and he had welcomed her and Anna Louise with open arms. After he had heard her story, he had insisted she stay with him in his cottage overlooking the bay. He had introduced her to his neighbours as Kelly Hope, his recently widowed niece, and her baby, and told Kelly all she had to do to stay hidden was to stay off any government computer—Inland Revenue, health and education systems etc.