Kate laughed. ‘So I’ll still fit my dress. It was either that or wait until after the baby and… well, neither of us wanted to wait.’
Of course they didn’t. They loved each other and they were excited about becoming parents.
Parents.
‘Oh, God,’ Bella groaned. ‘Mum and Dad will be there, won’t they?’
‘Of course. I was talking to them yesterday. They’re wondering why they haven’t heard from you this week.’
There was gentle admonition in Kate’s voice. ‘They’ll understand, you know. They’ll support you, just as much as Connor and I will.’
The support from Kate and Connor was already a safety net that Bella felt she didn’t deserve. She could live with them if she wanted. For as long as she wanted. They could find a bigger house that could accommodate an extended family and the babies could grow up being almost twins. Bella could mother them both when Kate was ready to go back to work. And, yes, she knew that her parents wouldn’t abandon her but they would, inevitably, be shocked.
‘They’ll be so disappointed that I’m going to be a single mother.’ Another sob escaped and Bella had to sniff loudly. ‘And then they’ll be at the wedding and so will Oliver and… Oh, Kate, howcouldyou? I’m not ready for any of this.’
‘I’m sorry, love.’ Kate sounded contrite. ‘I guess we didn’t think things through enough. You can tell your mum and dad without telling them who the father is and that way they can’t say anything by accident. And maybe Oliver won’t want to come.’
Lady Dorothy would, though.
Unless…
Unlessshedropped the bombshell first? Oliver definitely wouldn’t attend then and she’d be fired from her job and the timing might work quite well because she was planning to cat-sit for Kate and Connor while they went on their honeymoon and…
… and her head was spinning like a top, and the wave of nausea was the strongest yet.
‘I have to go.’ The statement was urgent. ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’
10
The bombshell was impossible to drop.
Lady Dorothy was so excited about attending the wedding that she demanded a more vigorous exercise routine and put her heart and soul into gaining strength and balance so that she could cope with walking on sand.
‘I won’t take my stick,’ she declared. ‘Oliver will be there if I need any support but I want to get dressed up and not look like an invalid.’ Her eyes had held an appeal Bella had no chance of resisting. ‘I want to look like me again.’
How could she have taken that away from the old lady she was so fond of? The outing would be a reward for all the hard work she’d put in over so many weeks since she’d become ill. She wanted to show her son that she could be independent again and rejoin society. Maybe she wanted to show that she wasn’t going to be a burden for him in the years to come. It didn’t matter what she was trying to prove, however. What mattered was that it was so important to her and that she started every day glowing with determination and pride in what she was achieving. The achievements spiralled upwards as the days went by. Life inevitably became busier for Bella and she was slipping away from the Dawson household at increasingly frequent intervals to help Kate and Connor with all the wedding arrangements. That prompted Lady Dorothy to increase her independence even further. She learned to manage testing her blood sugar by herself again and could – almost – manage her insulin injections. She had also agreed to wear a personal alarm around her neck on the occasions that both Bella and Oliver were absent and that way she could call for help if she felt a hypoglycaemic episode coming on or if she lost her balance and fell over.
The changes were a double-edged sword. Not ruining Lady Dorothy’s excited anticipation had the added benefit of letting the Dawsons know that they would be able to cope without Bella in their lives. It would, at least, remove any guilt in having to abandon her private patient if she got fired from her position.
Knowing that she was becoming dispensable didn’t make the prospect of dropping the bombshell any easier, though. If Bella was really honest with herself, the biggest reason she couldn’t do it was the change she was watching in Oliver.
Ever since the day the wedding invitation had arrived and she’d seen that look of concern in his intense gaze. Ever since he’d smiled at her again in that way that made her feel so special, she could sense something happening between them.
He was spending more time in her company. Drawing her into conversations she couldn’t resist, like when he’d talked her through the surgery that Wally had had and brought her up to date with the wonderful progress her old patient was making.
‘He’s missing his line-dancing classes,’ Oliver told her, and there was a gleam of genuine amusement in his eyes. ‘Might be time for me to have another one myself.’
Bella had been gobsmacked. She made some joke about how embarrassing it would be for Oliver if it got around St Pat’s that he was taking line-dancing lessons and nothing more had been said, but it was becoming more and more obvious that Oliver was reaching out. Trying to close the gap between them. Actually trying to make herlaugh?
Like the day he’d told her she didn’t need to prepare dinner on the housekeeper’s day off.Hewould cook, he’d said, and then he’d arrived home laden with paper sacks from the fast-food restaurant.
‘It’s an old family tradition,’ Lady Dorothy explained. ‘Disgusting but delicious. Our little secret.’
If only he knew how much harder he was making everything.
Because it was irresistible. She was being drawn into this family. Made to feel as if she could be an accepted part of it and Oliver was showing her, all over again, the reasons she had fallen in love with him.
The very real love he had for his mother.
