Chapter 13
He hadn’t called. Calista stared out the window of the dining room, her fingers cold as she contemplated the next few hours in the company of Rachel and Astir. For the past several weeks, she’d endured their pitying glances, knew that Rachel and Astir sometimes held hands under the table and she had walked in on the two of them too many times in each other’s arms. They were in a cocoon of nauseating happiness and…!
That wasn’t fair. Rationally, Calista was very happy for Astir. He deserved to have found happiness with Rachel. It wasn’t that she disliked Rachel. Calista just hated that she wasn’t happy.
And now…now…now she knew that she was pregnant. It wasn’t really a mystery as to how that had happened. She simply hadn’t…calculated the dates correctly. It must have happened that first time. It had been so magical, so passionate. Neither of them had even thought about contraception until afterwards.
But now she was two weeks late.
“’Ahlan.”
Calista turned to find Ayla standing a few feet away from her. “’Ahlan,” she replied, trying to force a smile. Unfortunately, the pain was too deep for even a pretend smile.
“What’s wrong?” Ayla asked softly, coming to stand closer. “Something happened during your kidnapping, didn’t it?
Calista tilted her head. “You mean, besides falling in love with the man I was supposed to marry, only to find myself ignored now that we’re safe?”
Ayla’s beautiful eyes widened and she stepped closer, taking Calista’s free hand. “Oh, Calista!”
Calista sighed, leaning her head against Ayla’s. “Thank you for giving me some space over the past couple of weeks since I came back.” She blinked back tears. “I know that you were scared for me, and then confused when I came back and didn’t…”
“Hush!” Ayla whispered. “You don’t have to apologize to me. I could see the confusion in your eyes.” They stood like that for a while until Calista sniffed.
“I need to be strong,” she told Ayla. “But I’ll be okay.”
“What’s wrong?” a deep, masculine voice demanded, interrupting their conversation.
Calista and Ayla jerked apart, turning to look at their older brother.
“Wrong?” she asked, trying to pull herself together. She pasted a smile on her features and pulled her shoulders back. “Nothing is wrong.”
Ayla hugged Calista. “I’ll give you two some privacy,” and then she was gone, leaving Calista to face her brother alone.
Astir glared at her, barely waiting for Ayla to close the door on her departure before he shook his head. “You’re lying. And I don’t know if you’re doing it to protect me or if you’re genuinely trying to convince yourself.” He moved closer. “Either way, I can see that you’re miserable. Why don’t you just tell me what’s on your mind?”
Calista set the untouched glass of wine on the table. She couldn’t drink wine any longer. Not with her pregnancy. Besides, the wine didn’t taste right. That was probably another sign of her pregnancy, but she’d been too oblivious lately to realize that nothing tasted right. Nothing felt right either. Her clothes were too tight. Her body felt…off in so many ways.
“I’m fine,” she told her older brother. Calista stood up and looked around. “Where’s Rachel?”
Astir’s hands fisted on his hips as he glared down at her. “You’re not fine. I asked Rachel to give me some time alone with you so I could find out what is going on.” He moved closer, his eyes shifting from furious to concerned. “Is it Goran? Did he do something to hurt you?”
Pain lashed her with his words and Calista briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Astir was still staring at her. “I’m fine,” she told him, then laid her hand on his arm, trying to reassure him even though she didn’t feel very reassuring. “I think I’m going to pass on dinner tonight. I’m tired.”
“Calista, what the hell happened to you last month?”
She stopped, her shoulders tightening with dread. “I’ve told you, Astir. Nothing happened. We were kidnapped. But the guards didn’t hurt me in any way. Other than being drugged that first night, we escaped and were pretty much alone and safe for the rest of the time until they found us at the resort.” She smiled at the memory. “You should know that since it was your guards who picked them up.”
“I know that. But I still want to know if something else happened. You were with Goran for several days. Alone. What happened?”
“We cooked. We did a lot of swimming. We went for a hike through the jungle.” She smiled slightly, ignoring the shaft of pain. “We saw a beautiful waterfall. We went to the local market every day to buy food and the resort delivered the other meals to us.” She shrugged. “Basically, we kept to ourselves and…talked.” That last word was spoken with a slight quiver. It was the truth. She and Goran had talked. A lot! And she’d fallen in love with the man.
Then…they’d come back to reality. After walking off the plane on his arm, she hadn’t seen or spoken to Goran.
Her brother looked at her carefully. “There was a time, before you and he were taken, that I thought you were going to break off your engagement with him. I was wrong, wasn’t I?”
Calista shook her head. “No. Before that incident, I…” she hesitated. Had she hated Goran? No. She’d disliked him. “Before that week in Costa Rica, we were strangers. We didn’t really know each other then. And I haven’t heard from him since.”
“I think there’s more to his silence, Calista,” Astir replied. “There’s something going on and I suspect that…well, I’m not sure. And I think it would be better coming from Goran.” He put a hand on her shoulder, his dark eyes looking down into hers. “Don’t give up on him. He’s coming back to you.”