‘OF COURSE, YOU must leave right away, Leah,’ Seth said quietly. ‘But we’re really going to miss you.’
Leah nodded; her throat had tightened too much to answer.
Her boss sent her a smile that was both encouraging and sad before he turned to Theo. ‘There really was no need for you to give us such a generous donation...’
‘Leah was concerned about leaving you so quickly without a replacement organised,’ Theo said. ‘But with my grandfather the way he is...’
‘Of course. We understand.’ Seth glanced back to Leah. ‘But we are sad to see you go.’
Leah looked to the floor to hide her emotion. This was the first job she’d loved and the first job she’d totally nailed. There’d been no massive list of qualifications required, just the ability to put people at ease. Her life had blossomed here—she was going to miss it too.
‘I need a quick moment,’ she murmured to Theo and walked down the corridor before he had a chance to respond.
She stopped at Maeve’s open door and lightly rapped her fingers on the frame.
‘You’re leaving us.’ Maeve pushed out of her plush armchair and held her arms out.
‘Yes.’ Leah stepped in and gave the tiny woman a tight hug. ‘But I have something I wanted to give you.’ She stepped back, blinking quickly and pulling out the small knee blanket she’d put in her handbag.
‘It’s the purple, with that rib I can’t manage with my arthritic old hands.’ Maeve took it from her with a smile.
‘Yes.’ Leah smiled past the lump in her throat. ‘I thought it would help keep those draughts out.’ Maeve couldn’t knit the complex patterns she used to, and Leah knew she felt the cold.
‘I have something for you too.’ Maeve picked up a clear bag from her table and held it out to Leah. ‘I decided on white, seeing you weren’t sure...’
Leah’s heart melted as she lifted out a tiny woollen baby jacket. ‘Maeve, it’s just beautiful. Thank you so much.’ Her throat closed. It would have taken a lot of effort for Maeve to get it finished in time and Leah would treasure it always.
Maeve clasped Leah’s fingers with her shaking hands. ‘You’re going to be a wonderful mother, Leah.’
Leah blinked, warmth flooding her. This relationship was so precious to her. ‘I’ll come and visit you when I’m in town again.’ Her throat tightened. She didn’t want to say goodbye. She was going to miss her. She was going to miss all the people she’d been working with.
‘Leah,’ Theo called quietly from the doorway. ‘I’m sorry. We need to go.’
‘Is that him?’ Maeve asked.
‘Yes.’ Leah half chuckled as she saw the shrewd assessment in Maeve’s eyes as she craned her neck to take stock of Theo.
‘You’ll take care of her, won’t you?’ Maeve questioned him pointedly.
As embarrassed as she was, warm amusement and appreciation trickled through Leah. It touched her that Maeve cared. She cared about her too.
Theo smiled his most charming smile. ‘Yes.’
Ten minutes later Leah stared out of the window as the car sped out of central London, her pulse accelerating at the same pace. The driver had closed the partition, giving them a level of privacy she didn’t really want. When she was alone with Theo, her thoughts went a little wild.
‘I can’t believe you used your money and your grandfather to get me out of my contract,’ she muttered.
‘I wasn’t using my grandfather. I told the truth,’ Theo answered calmly.
‘Well, you certainly used your money,’ she murmured, submitting to the niggling need to provoke him.
‘Leah.’ He reached out and covered her clenched fist with his hand.
His touch stilled her antagonism but she couldn’t rid herself of all her anxiety. She knew they would resolve this situation and, while he was annoyingly decisive, he was at least trying. She should do the same.
‘Your grandfather is really that unwell?’ she asked.
‘He had heart surgery recently.’ Theo’s tone grew reserved. ‘But he’s getting better.’
She wondered why he was reticent about him. ‘How’s he going to feel about this?’
His expression hardened and he released her hand. ‘It’ll be fine.’
Leah watched him closely. ‘He’s just going to be okay with you turning up engaged to a woman you barely know, who’s four months along already?’
‘Dimitri doesn’t need to know every detail—or lack thereof—of our relationship.’
‘You’re going to lie to him?’
‘I’ll tell him the important facts and that’s enough. His well-being is paramount.’
Would he be upset by some of the ‘less important’ facts?
She paused, sensing his reluctance to talk, but she was unable to resist probing further. He’d asked about her family—couldn’t she do the same? ‘You’re close?’
His hesitation made her senses even more acute.
‘I’ve lived with him since I was ten.’ His voice was so low it was hard to hear over the purr of the engine. ‘I owe him everything.’
‘Why did you go to live with him?’
‘My father passed away.’
‘I’m sorry.’ She gazed at him. His emotionless countenance was unsettling.
‘I went to live with Dimitri. That is why I’m not going to abandon my child now.’ He drew in a sharp breath. ‘We can do better...’
Because he’d felt abandoned? Leah swallowed back the deeply personal questions that sprang to mind. He’d not mentioned his mother and she was wary of asking more because there was pain in his expressionlessness. Her heart ached as her apprehension rose. ‘What’s your grandfather—Dimitri—like?’
He sighed, but the faintest smile softened his mouth. ‘Authoritarian, old and unwell. I won’t let him be upset by anything or anyone.’
‘Do you think he’ll be upset by me?’ She bit her lip, anxious about the answer.
He glanced at her, his eyes flaring with something before his lashes lowered. ‘No one could be upset by you.’
Somehow it wasn’t the answer she’d wanted. Somehow it skittled the little emotional self-control she’d restored. ‘Because I’m just a harmless little thing who couldn’t possibly hurt anyone?’ she aske
d.
Because she was powerless and inconsequential? As useless as her parents had made her feel? The parents she was about to face and confess her life-changing mistake to?
‘Because you’re a kind person who’d never be deliberately rude to anyone.’ He held her gaze solemnly. ‘But you shouldn’t have to put up with him either. You won’t see him much.’
She blinked. ‘I don’t have to put up with him? Is he scary?’
‘He used to be.’ A whisker of a smile flashed on his face. ‘But then I grew up. He only wants what he thinks is best for me.’
‘He was tough on you when you were younger?’
Another hesitation made her lean closer to listen.
‘He had exacting standards and I needed to prove myself to him. But I’m grateful for them. We get on well. As I said, I owe him everything.’
Leah knew all about exacting standards but, unlike her, Theo would have surpassed them all.
The car ate up the miles to Cambridge and her nerves ratcheted. The research institute was so familiar—the white walls and bright lights beneath which she’d faded, invisible and insignificant. She’d eventually realised that restocking the chemicals cupboard wasn’t the job for her. She needed a job where she was around people more. And she’d needed to get away from the triple eclipse of her family.
Drawing a deep breath, she knocked on the door of her parents’ office. They’d both be there. They always were.
‘Leah?’ Her father looked up from his desk. ‘This is a surprise. Is everything all right?’
Of course he’d immediately assume things might not be all right. Leah tried not to let that bitterness rise. It wasn’t their fault that, for super-smart people, they couldn’t understand her.
‘Everything is...’ she drew breath ‘...really great. Is Mum here too?’
‘Of course.’ It was her mother who replied.
Leah took satisfaction at the swiftly concealed surprise on Theo’s face as her mother appeared from the next room. While her father was like her—tall, thin and dark-haired—her mother was the absolute opposite. Short, blonde, beautiful and brilliant enough to earn her double PhD in half the time it normally took, Leah’s mum adored challenging stereotypes—insisting women didn’t need to meet societal expectations of beauty or brilliance. She’d rejected make-up, dresses, high heels and insisted Leah never wear them either. Only her mother wasn’t angular and un-pretty like Leah—she had no idea what it was like not to be wildly attractive naturally.