The Marakaios Baby (The Marakaios Brides 2)

Leo didn’t think past his overwhelming need to comfort her. He leaned over and put his arms around and she buried her face in his shoulder as her whole body shook and trembled.

Quietly the doctor turned the machine off and wiped the gel from Margo’s bump. ‘She should stay overnight—just for observation,’ she told Leo. ‘Tomorrow we can do another scan to see how the bleeding looks and if the placenta has moved any more.’

Leo nodded wordlessly. He’d have to process all that later; the only thing he could think about now was Margo.

Eventually she eased back from him and wiped the tears from her face, managing the wobbliest of smiles. A nurse came to transfer her to a room, and Leo called his sisters while Margo showered and changed into a hospital gown. When he came back into the room she was lying in bed, her hair brushed and her face washed, but her eyes still looked puffy and red from crying.

He sat on the edge of her bed and took her hand. ‘The doctor said you have a partial placenta praevia,’ he said. ‘To be honest, I can’t remember what that means, exactly, but I’ll arrange for a doctor who speaks English to talk to you about it.’

‘I know what it means,’ Margo said.

She sounded exhausted, emotionally spent, and Leo squeezed her fingers. ‘The important thing is the baby is okay.’

‘Yes. For now.’

She bit her lip, and Leo saw her eyes glisten with the sheen of new tears.

‘There’s no reason to be afraid, Margo—’

‘Oh, Leo, there’s every reason.’ She leaned her head back against the starchy white pillow and closed her eyes. ‘Every reason.’

‘I don’t understand...’

He thought once more of how she’d said she didn’t want this to happen again. He wanted to ask her what she’d meant, but he knew Margo was feeling too fragile now for such an emotional conversation.

‘Is there something you’re not telling me?’ he asked instead, needing to know that much.

She opened her eyes and shook her head. ‘Nothing that really matters.’

‘Then why—?’

‘I’m just so afraid.’ She bit her lip. ‘I’m always so afraid. That’s why I didn’t want to have children.’

He stared at her in confusion, trying to understand what she meant. He thought of when he’d met her in that hotel bar, looking sassy and smart in a black wrap cocktail dress, her long legs encased in sheer tights, a stiletto dangling from one slim foot. She’d looked like the most fearless person he’d ever met, and she’d always seemed that way to him: breezing into hotel rooms, giving him a naughty smile, shrugging out of her dress with confidence and ease.

He’d liked that about her, had enjoyed her sense of confidence. But now he wondered. Since Margo had come back into his life he’d wondered what she’d been hiding, what secrets she had. Had that breezy confidence all been an act?

‘You don’t need to be afraid,’ he said, squeezing her fingers.

But, withdrawing her hand from his, Margo just turned away and said nothing.

Frustration bit hard but he forced himself not to demand answers or explanations. Once again he was being kept in the dark about something. It felt like another kind of rejection, because Margo obviously didn’t trust him with whatever truth she was keeping from him. But he wouldn’t press. He wouldn’t beg.

Reluctantly he eased himself off the bed. ‘Is there anything I can get you?’ he asked. ‘Something to drink or eat? Or something from the villa? Your own pyjamas or clothes?’

She was still looking away from him, her hair brushing her cheek. ‘No, thank you.’

He hated how formal she was being, even though that morning he’d decided that was just how he wanted it. Things had changed. Both their conversation in the olive grove and the terrifying events afterwards had changed him. And they’d changed Margo too—but not in a way he liked or wanted.

Everything about her, from her brittle voice to the way she wouldn’t look at him, made him think she wanted him to go. But he wasn’t going to leave her here alone, whatever she wanted, so he settled himself into a chair opposite the bed and waited.

Neither of them spoke for a very long time, and eventually Margo drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Margo awoke the room was dark, and panic doused her in an icy wave. She struggled upright, one hand going to her middle, curving over the reassuring bump even as the remnants of the nightmare she’d been having clung to her consciousness.

‘Leo—’

‘I’m here.’

In the darkness she couldn’t see him, but she felt his hand come and close over hers. Even so she couldn’t stop shivering.