The Vasquez Baby

She looked at him with incredulity. ‘It’s the middle of the night, Raul!’

‘I don’t care,’ he responded in a driven tone. ‘I want a doctor to look at you.’

‘I’m fine—’

‘Stop saying you’re fine. You’re not fine. For a start you’re not behaving like yourself.’

She pulled the covers up to her chin. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

Did he have to spell it out? He rose to his feet and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘This evening—you were upset. About Julieta.’ He saw the sudden wariness in her eyes and his mouth tightened. ‘So why aren’t you trying to talk about it? You always talk if something is upsetting you.’

‘I thought I was supposed to phone a girlfriend for that.’ Her tone was light and Raul tolerated the gentle dig because he was well aware that he deserved it.

He wasn’t good at talking about things.

Even now he didn’t want to have this conversation, but he knew he couldn’t afford not to have it. ‘I had no idea Julieta was pregnant,’ he confessed in a raw tone. ‘Or I would never have invited them to join us.’

‘You can’t protect me from everyone who is pregnant,’ Faith said quietly and he gave a growl of frustration.

‘That is not an answer. I want to know how you’re feeling.’

‘No, you don’t, you know you don’t. You hate it when I try and talk about feelings.’ She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes with a shaking hand. ‘You just thought you ought to ask or I’ll accuse you of not caring.’

His tension levels soaring through the roof, Raul removed his jacket and dropped it over the back of the nearest chair. ‘I do care. The reason I don’t want to know is not because I don’t care but because I feel guilty,’ he confessed and a thick, heavy silence descended on the room.

Now she’d have to question him, he thought grimly and he stared at her in silent expectation, waiting for her to spill everything as she always did. Or probe him for how he felt.

She did neither. ‘You have nothing to feel guilty about, Raul.’

‘How can you say that?’

‘Because it’s true. As you once told me, you were completely up front about not wanting marriage or children. You’re not to blame.’

He was about to respond when there was a knock on the door and two of his staff entered, accompanied by the doctor.

Raul dealt him a glance that would have flattened a man with fragile self-confidence, but the doctor stood his ground and nodded a greeting to Faith.

‘I want you to find out what’s wrong with her,’ Raul commanded. ‘And then I expect you to fix it.’ Faith was young and supposedly healthy. It wasn’t normal for anyone to be as tired as she was.

She no longer even had the energy to argue with him.

What if it was something serious?

Facing that terrifying prospect, a sudden chill of fear slid down his spine and he glared at the doctor. ‘Well? Aren’t you going to examine her or something?’

‘I certainly intend to examine her,’ the doctor said calmly, walking across to the bed and placing his bag on the floor.

‘Well hurry up then.’ Raul’s voice was hoarse and the doctor sighed.

‘If you would leave us alone for a few moments, I’d like to talk to your wife.’

‘Leave you alone?’

‘Yes.’ The doctor opened his bag and removed a stethoscope. ‘I insist that all my consultations are private in the first instance. Later, if your wife chooses to have you in the room, we can call you.’

Raul opened his mouth to refuse but then remembered that Faith had completely clammed up with him. He knew her well enough to know she needed to talk to someone and since it wasn’t him, then it had better be the doctor.

Prepared to make that sacrifice for the greater good of their relationship, Raul turned and left the Beach House in several long, angry strides.