‘Let’s just say that it’s a good job the morning sickness really did finally pass at twelve weeks.’ She shuddered, trying to imagine that flight with the constant nausea that had accompanied her through the pregnancy so far.
Ash froze, halfway through plumping a pillow. ‘I didn’t even think about that. I should have done. I shouldn’t have asked you to fly all this way when you’re pregnant. I just—’
‘Ash.’ She placed a hand over his and pulled him to sit down next to her on the sofa. ‘I know why you wanted me to come out here.’
‘You do?’ He sounded surprised.
Zoey smiled. ‘Of course I do.’ She’d had a lengthy flight alone to think about it, on one of the Carmichael’s private planes. ‘It’s where it all started for us. And if we want to move forward as parents and friends, we have to go back and fix everything we got wrong between here and there.’
She should have known that Ash wouldn’t give up their friendship, just because she was an idiot. And it wasn’t as if he’d been in love with her anyway, so leaving him at the altar wouldn’t have broken his heart or anything.
They could fix this. They might never be together again, and that hurt. But at least she knew they’d make things right for their child.
‘Yeah, I guess that’s pretty much it,’ Ash admitted. ‘So, where do we start?’
Zoey took a deep breath. She’d practised what she wanted to say on the plane, over and over. But saying it to his face, when he was watching her so carefully, felt like a whole different challenge.
‘With an apology. And an explanation.’
‘I think you said everything you needed to at the registry office,’ Ash said. ‘Well, apart from the apology.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Zoey said automatically. ‘I should have talked to you, not run.’
‘You should. But I’m sorry too.’
‘What for? I was the one who tried to escape through a window. Again.’
‘But I was the one who railroaded you into marriage. I should have known better.’ Ash shook his head. ‘I knew you were still looking for your true love, your happy ending. And as far as you were concerned I was asking you to give up all that to marry me.’
‘I guess,’ Zoey said, a large lump forming in her throat. She forced the words out around it. ‘You’re right—all I’ve ever wanted was a loving, happy marriage and maybe a family, one day. I wanted to do it all right—the way my parents didn’t. I wanted what you and Grace had—and you already told me you couldn’t give me that.’
‘I did say that,’ Ash admitted. ‘Because I am an idiot.’
‘I couldn’t steal the future Grace was meant to have and lost,’ Zoey went on, ignoring him. Then his words caught up with her. ‘What?’
Ash moved across from her so his gaze could meet hers. He stared deep into her eyes, as if he was searching for the truth behind her words. Zoey made herself hold his gaze and let him look.
After all, her truths were already lying between them.
‘Did you mean what you said? At the registry office?’ he asked.
‘Which part?’
‘The part where you’re in love with me?’
Zoey looked away. ‘A bit. Sorry.’
Ash laughed, a low, husky chuckle. ‘Love, don’t be sorry. Hearing those words from you woke me up.’
Zoey blinked. ‘What?’
‘You made me realise how much I’d given up on. I’d tried to move forward, replacing what I’d lost—but I hadn’t ever opened myself up fully to the future. I hadn’t given myself the chance of finding something new. A different future for me—and for you.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Then I realised that all your previous fiancés had something in common,’ Ash went on, adding to her confusion.
‘Yes. I ran out on them. Every time,’ Zoey pointed out.
‘With good reason.’ Ash shuddered. ‘I am so glad you didn’t marry any of them. Not least because it would make it much harder for you to marry me.’
‘I thought we agreed we weren’t doing that?’