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This isn’t the first time she’s mentioned this. I’m sure she’s just worried about me and the potential repercussions, but I’m tired of hearing about it already.

“Fine,” she concedes. “I’m just trying to make sure you’re okay and you’re not being taken for a ride by some wannabe from your past who’s after their five minutes of fame.”

“First, I already told you, if Delilah was after five minutes of fame, she could have had that years ago by going to the papers and telling them about our relationship. She could have done a kiss-and-tell story and walked away with enough money to keep her happy. This is nothing like that. I know Delilah. She isn’t like that.”

“Okay, fine. So, tomorrow, did you need somebody to come with you to the hospital? Drive you home after your appointment?”

“Are you offering to run around after me?” I laugh.

“If you need me to,” she offers.

“I appreciate it, but no. I’m fine. I’m meeting Delilah at the hospital, we’re talking things over with the consultants, and then I’m getting tested to see if I would be a suitable match, should she need one.”

“Well, if you need me, you only have to call,” she reminds me.

I know she’s still frustrated about what’s going on, and I know I’m on her shit list for never having confided in her when I found out. She has a few other clients, and I know she’s upfront with each one of them—she’ll give her all, but she expects them to tell her every dirty secret so she can get ahead of any storm.

“Thanks, Pippa. I’ll speak to you as soon as I know more. Maybe we can grab dinner together one night this week?”

“Sure. Somewhere nice and fancy would be fun,” she proclaims.

“Nice, fancy, and expensive,” I tease.

“Ah, you know me so well.” She chuckles. “I’ll speak to you soon, Joseph.”

She hangs up before I can say goodbye, but I don’t feel it’s rude given it’s not unusual for her to do that.

I put my phone down next to the scrapbook and settle back in my seat, unsure what I’m supposed to do now. Since I received the email from Delilah, I’ve been on tenterhooks, coiled tight and muscles stretching under the tension about meeting Maddie and seeing Delilah again. Now that’s over, but I’m not feeling the relief I expected. I’m still wound tightly, wondering when or if ever I’m going to feel normal again.

My mind wanders to Delilah and what it felt like to see her again. I feel like I’ve been in a boxing match, invisible body blow after body blow. The sight of her, the realisation that she’s pregnant, the taunts, arguments, the push and the pull. The fragile agreement to make a truce. I don’t know how long it’ll last, and I know at some point, there will be something that breaks the truce, causes everything to bubble up and explode like a dormant volcano making its presence known. It’ll be volatile and messy, and all I can do is hope that Maddie isn’t caught in the crossfire and we all survive what’s coming.

Chapter seventeen

Delilah

Present Day

“Well, at least he turned up,” Caleb states. He takes the kettle off the boil, pouring the water into the mugs he’s already prepared.

The scent of the coffee wafts towards me when the hot water hits the beans. I’ve tried to avoid caffeine since I decided to carry this baby for my best friends, but right now, I need something to help steady my nerves. Several glasses of espresso martini would be welcomed, but that’s also been off the menu. All I know is that my nerves are shot, and so if all I can have is a mug of coffee to help settle me, I’ll take it.

“I was hoping he might be maimed in some horrible accident on his way here, so I was disappointed to see him with all his limbs and in control of his faculties,” Felix grumbles.

“You are terrible, Felix,” I scold.

He rolls his eyes at me. “You expect something different? Come on, you know I’ll pick up the bat and go to war for you, Dee. He left you the first time and ran off with his other woman, and then—”

“I will remind you that I was the other woman,” I cut in.

“Because he made you be the other woman,” he tuts.

“Fair point,” I concede.

Caleb finishes making the drinks and then brings two of them over to us. Before he can put them down, Felix pushes some coasters across the dining table. It makes me smile because I never thought Felix would be the type of guy who would care about putting a hot mug onto his table, but when it cost as much as he and Caleb spent when setting up their house, maybe I can understand the change in his preferences.

“He also treated you like absolute shit when he left the second time around,” Felix adds.

Caleb puts two mugs down on two of the coasters and then goes back to get the third for himself.