As soon as Lili and her nanny had settled into the town house the next day and Sander had left for the office, Tally went to her father’s hotel. Anatole treated her to sandwiches and tea in his hotel suite and from the minute she walked through the door his discomfiture was plain. He began to speak several times and then fell silent again.
‘What is it?’ Tally finally pressed.
‘I’m not very good at apologising,’ the older man admitted frankly. ‘But I got it wrong with you and Sander. I shouldn’t have interfered. I shouldn’t have used Crystal’s financial difficulties as a means of coercion.’
‘No, you shouldn’t have done,’ Tally agreed with much of his own directness.
‘Obviously, after what’s happened … this child that’s turned up,’ her father specified with a dismissive motion of his hand that made it clear that he had no desire to get any deeper into that touchy subject, ‘I wouldn’t dream of trying to hold you to the terms I insisted on. The money is gone, forget about it. Sander is determined to repay it and won’t take no for an answer. I must say he’s the only one of the Volakis tribe who has any real backbone.’
Involuntarily, Tally smiled at that compliment. ‘Yes, he’s got a lot of that.’
Anatole frowned. ‘But you should never have told him that I was responsible for your decision to return to your marriage. I expect you didn’t think it mattered after that shocking revelation about Oleia Telis and her baby was made public, but no man would deal well with such humiliating news.’
Her brow indented in surprise. ‘Sander’s never mentioned it again since I told him so I don’t think it had that big an impact on him …’
‘For a young man, accustomed to female adulation, the discovery that he owed his wife’s presence to her father’s interference would have been a shattering blow. It never occurred to me that you would tell him what I’d done,’ the older man admitted wryly. ‘That would have torpedoed any reconciliation, Tally.’
And the confidence with which he made that assurance certainly gave Tally pause for thought. At the time when she had admitted that truth, Sander had been very worked up about it, she recalled. It was possible that his silence since that day did not mean that he had simply shrugged off her admission and learned to live with it. In fact, perhaps it was her confession that she had been bribed into coming back to him that was the current biggest stumbling block in their marriage. Could that be why he was so very polite and distant?
‘I have only one awkward question to ask you,’ Tally confided. ‘Were you aware that Sander had got involved with Oleia again?’
Anatole pursed his lips. ‘No, I knew nothing of it. She left Greece to live in London, then Paris, and fell off the radar. I heard whispers about Oleia’s party lifestyle and the child only after she died.’
Before they parted, her father invited her and Sander to his fiftieth birthday party in Athens. When she studied him in surprise, he admitted that he regretted being an absent parent throughout her childhood and that he wanted to put that past behind him. Tally was warmed by that declaration and her first official invitation to his marital home and went off to keep her medical appointment in a thoughtful mood.
The pregnancy test was done very quickly and within minutes Tally was in receipt of the news she had both feared and craved. She had conceived again. She was full of joy when she knew the result but also terrified that something might go wrong again. Her GP was quick to assure her that, with her past history, she would receive an early scan. Tally, however, was already planning to make an appointment with the obstetrician she had consulted before so that she could be confident that every possible resource would be utilised to try and ensure that she gave birth to a healthy child.
On the way back to the town house, Tally took a detour to visit her mother and share her news. Crystal, who had phoned her daughter for the details in the early stages of the shower of publicity that had accompanied Lili’s arrival in London, was delighted. Her mother also informed her that she was in the running for a job as a buyer for a group of fashion boutiques owned by a friend and that she was moving into a place of her own.
‘The clothes are aimed at my age group and I know that market very well. I’m also pretty good at negotiating prices,’ Crystal pointed out with satisfaction. ‘Cross your fingers for me.’
Tally was relieved that the older woman had found somewhere else to live and she’d actually been looking for employment and thought that even if her mother didn’t get the job she had, at least, made a start on turning her life in a new direction.
‘And with a new baby on the way, you and Sander are back on track,’ her mother pronounced with satisfaction. ‘Well, that’s not a surprise.’
Tally raised a brow. ‘Isn’t it?’
‘I’m not stupid, Tally,’ her blonde mother pronounced with pride. ‘You’re mad about kids so you were sure to come round to Lili sooner rather than later. And Sander’s absolutely mad about you, so of course things were sure to work out.’
‘Sander’s mad about me?’
‘Five minutes of being single again and he can think of nothing better to do than get his wife back? That speaks for itself. I’ve never seen a couple happier than the two of you were earlier on in France.’
As she took leave of Crystal Tally nourished that thought and the joyful memories she still had of that period in her life. They had been incredibly happy together until tragedy had struck and grief brought an end to mutual understanding and tolerance, she reflected ruefully. She splayed her hand across her still-flat stomach and prayed that she would not be put through a repeat experience, that roller coaster of anticipation followed by heartbreaking loss during her first pregnancy had broken her in two. In the foyer of the block of apartments where her mother lived, she used her phone to call Sander. Unfortunately, he was in a meeting and she had to leave a message telling him that she needed to see him urgently. This time around there would be nothing apologetic about the manner in which she announced her pregnancy!
Sander entered the drawing room of their London home with all the animation of a man about to be confronted with a hangman’s noose. His lean, bronzed profile pale and taut, he levelled brilliant dark eyes on Tally. ‘My PA should’ve put your call straight through to me. What’s happened?’
A slim figure clad in grey separates, her hair framing her flushed cheekbones, Tally stood up and focused bright green eyes on her husband. ‘I’m pregnant …’
Sander could not hide his surprise because he had feared that another intention lay behind her sudden desire to speak to him, and it was one of those rare occasions when he was very relieved to appreciate that he had jumped to entirely the wrong conclusion. He crossed the room in a sudden movement that took her by surprise and wrapped both arms round her to lift her up against his lean powerful body and hug her tightly to him.
‘Wow …’ he breathed gruffly, his beautiful dark eyes alight with unconcealed satisfaction. ‘That has to be the best news I’ve ever heard!’
Tally was startled by his enthusiasm. ‘I wasn’t sure how you would feel …’
Astonished by the claim, Sander lifted his proud dark head and lowered her slowly back onto her own feet, his eyes mystified. ‘Didn’t we plan this baby together? Isn’t this what we both wanted?’
‘Well, yes, but—’
‘Are you worried about how much support I’ll be?’ Sander interrupted worriedly, gently pressing her down on the sofa and hunkering down to study her anxious face. ‘I’ll be there every step of the way this time. I’m not the same guy I was a couple of years ago. I’ve grown up, learned what I want out of life and what’s important.’
Her heart seemed to swell inside her and her throat tightened, tears prickling the backs of her eyes. ‘Is that true? Is that really, truthfully how you feel now?’
Sander gripped her hand. ‘Tally, when I got that message from you earlier, I was scared witless that you wanted me to come home so that you could tell me that you were leaving me agai
n!’
Her lashes fluttered in bemusement and then she looked at him in shock. ‘But why would you think that?’
‘Why wouldn’t I think that?’ he countered, his voice roughened by an amount of emotion he couldn’t hide. ‘You didn’t choose to come back to live with me. Your father pressured you into doing it.’
‘Oh, my goodness, you were still concerned about that,’ Tally registered uncomfortably.
In answer to that comment, Sander emitted a rueful laugh of disbelief. ‘How could I not be concerned about that?’
‘You didn’t show that you were still worried about it,’ Tally reasoned semi-accusingly.
‘I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve, yineka mou. What was I going to do about it anyway? I didn’t like what you told me, but if I wanted to hang onto you I had to live with it,’ he pointed out ruefully. ‘And, make no mistake, I wanted you to stay. I also realised that even if you were only staying married to me to please your father I was still happier to have you on those terms than to lose you altogether.’
Her eyes went very wide as she absorbed that far-reaching declaration. ‘You didn’t mind?’
‘I minded a great deal,’ Sander contradicted bluntly, his strong jaw-line clenching hard. ‘I have my pride. If you didn’t want to be with me I should have told you that you were free to go. But I couldn’t face doing that. I couldn’t face losing you again.’