Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame

Keira felt her whole body begin to tremble. ‘How could you do that to me, Garth? How could you stand by and watch my whole life fall apart over the last few months and not do something to clear my name?’

‘I know it must seem horribly mercenary to you, but I did what I felt was the right thing at the time,’ he said. ‘I realise now it was wrong and I’ve tried to undo the damage. I just hope it’s not too late.’

Tears fell unheeded from her eyes. ‘It is too late, Garth. It’s far too late.’

‘No, it is not,’ Patrizio said, pushing the bedroom door open.

Keira could barely see him for the blur of tears but she saw the way Garth stepped to one side, as if afraid that Patrizio was going to tear him limb from limb.

‘Please leave—’ Patrizio addressed Garth curtly ‘—Marietta will see you out.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Garth said, his throat moving up and down in genuine distress. ‘I am truly sorry. Like Keira, I thought you were having an affair. I thought I was helping her.’

Patrizio’s jaw was tight. ‘Right at this minute I a

m not interested in hearing your apology; I am more interested in delivering my own to my wife. Please leave before I change my mind about rearranging your features for you. I am not a man prone to violence but I can safely say I have never in my entire life been angrier than at this moment.’

‘Come this way, Mr Merrick,’ Marietta said and ushered Garth from the room and discreetly closed the door as they left.

Patrizio came over and sat on the edge of the bed and, using the edge of the sheet, began to gently wipe the tears from Keira’s eyes. His touch was so very tender that she began to cry all over again, her thin shoulders shaking, tiny hiccupping noises coming from deep inside her.

‘Shh, cara,’ he soothed her softly, stroking the back of her head as he pressed her face to his chest. ‘Please do not cry any more. It breaks my heart to see you crying.’

‘I—I can’t help it…’ she said, looking up at him. ‘Oh, Patrizio, what have we done to each other?’

Moisture was bright in his dark eyes as they held hers. ‘We very nearly lost each other, tesoro mio. We allowed other people to destroy what we had. I cannot believe I accused you so vehemently about not trusting me when I did the very same thing to you. I should have questioned Merrick more closely since you didn’t remember what happened that night. It would not have taken much to get him to confess, I am sure of it. Instead I walked away and left you to deal with the vicious attacks from the press when all the time you were innocent. I cannot forgive Merrick for that but, even more, I cannot forgive myself.’

‘We have to forgive each other,’ Keira said. ‘I mean…that is if you want to try again…’

He brought her chin up, his dark eyes pinning hers. ‘What is this? You think I do not want to stay married to you?’

‘I thought you only wanted to take me back because of the baby…You seemed to be struggling with your decision, you seemed distant…and this morning…’

He let out a sigh as he began to stroke her cheek with the pad of his thumb. ‘When you were unconscious in the hospital you called out for Merrick. It was like a knife in my gut. I couldn’t help feeling you would rather be with him than with me.’

‘Oh, God, I can’t believe how close we were to throwing it all away again,’ she said, burying her head into his chest. ‘I was so sad, so lonely at the thought of you leaving me all over again.’

‘I have never stopped loving you, cara,’ he said into the fragrant cloud of her wild hair. ‘I realised it almost as soon as you walked into my office that evening to discuss the boys’ feud. I felt such a rush of feeling for you that I mistook at first for hate but later realised it was the opposite. But I was too proud to let you see what you did to me. I was content to allow you to think it was simply a physical thing but instead it is much more and always will be.’

He eased her away so he could look into her eyes. ‘I am so deeply ashamed of the things I said to you. How you can possibly still love me I will never know. If you were to cast me from your life right here and now it would be no more than I deserve for not trusting you. I can never forgive myself for that. It will be years before I can even think of it without pain, I am sure of it.’

‘I feel such a fool for not realising about Garth,’ she said as he reached for her again. ‘We were so close for so long and yet I never once guessed what he was going through. If only I had known…’

Patrizio’s brows moved together in a frown. ‘You are ready to forgive him for what he has done to us? How can you even think of doing such a thing? He came close to ruining both of our lives.’

‘Yes, but he did what he could to fix it,’ she said. ‘If he hadn’t approached the boys we would be well on our way to being divorced by now. You would never have seen me again and I would have been miserable and alone for the rest of my life.’

He brushed at his eyes with the back of his hand. ‘Do not even mention such things, cara,’ he groaned. ‘I cannot bear the thought of how close we were to losing each other. I am never letting you out of my sight ever again. Do you hear me? No more business trips unless you come with me. And as soon as you are well enough we are going to have that second honeymoon. I am going to treat you like a princess for the rest of our lives.’

‘Oh, Patrizio, I can barely believe this is real,’ she said, smiling up at him. ‘Even my parents have been marvellous. They want us to go around for a barbecue when I’m feeling better. A barbecue instead of one of their interminably boring formal dinner parties! Can you believe that? My dad even told me he loved me.’

He smiled and tucked a springy curl behind her ear. ‘I am glad he has finally realised what a treasure he has in his beautiful daughter,’ he said. ‘I hope that one day very soon we will have a little girl with wild curly black hair and violet-blue eyes, a feisty temper, a little pout of a mouth and a delightfully stubborn chin.’

A smile began to spread like bright sunshine over her face. ‘So you think we’re having a little girl, do you?’ she asked.

He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. ‘I am sure of it, tesoro mio,’ he said and took a coin out of his pocket and began flipping it. ‘Which do you want? Heads or tails?’

Keira caught the coin mid-air and smiled back at him as she clutched it tightly in her palm. ‘There’s no winner or loser this time around. We both have what we want—each other.’