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‘How is she?’ he demanded.
‘She’s fine—a little shocked and a little scared, but she’s had a scan—’
‘A scan?’ For a second he felt confused. He realised that he’d been thinking in Greek instead of English and the word sounded alien to him.
‘We needed to check that the pregnancy is still viable, and I’m delighted to tell you that it is.’
‘Still viable?’ he repeated stupidly.
‘The baby is fine,’ said the medic gently as if he were speaking to a child. ‘Your wife has had a slight bleed, which is not uncommon in early pregnancy—but she’s going to have to take it easy from now on. That means no more rushing around. No horse riding.’ He smiled gently, as if to prepare him for some kind of blow. ‘And no sex, I’m afraid.’
They took him to Ellie’s room, where she
lay on the narrow hospital bed, looking almost as white as the sheets. Her eyes were closed and her pale fringe was damp with sweat, so that her dark, winged eyebrows looked dramatic against her milky brow.
She didn’t stir and, mindful of the doctor’s words, he sat down noiselessly in the chair beside the bed, his hand reaching out to cover hers. He didn’t know how long he sat there for—only that the rest of the world seemed to have retreated. He measured time by the slow drip of the intravenous bag which was hooked up to her arm. And he must have been looking at that when she eventually woke up, because he turned his head to find her grey eyes fixed steadily on him. He tried to read the expression in them, but he could see nothing.
‘Hi,’ he said.
She didn’t answer, just tugged her hand away from his as she tried to sit up, reaching down to touch her belly, her gaze lifting to his in agonised question.
‘The baby?’
He nodded. ‘It’s okay. The baby’s fine.’
She made a choked kind of sob as she slumped back against the pillows, her mouth trembling in relief. ‘I didn’t dream it, then.’
‘Dream what?’
‘Someone came.’ She licked her lips and paused, as if the effort of speaking was too much. ‘They were putting something cold on my stomach. Circling it round and round. They said it was going to be okay, but I thought...’
He felt completely inadequate as her words tailed off and he thought: You have only yourself to blame. If you hadn’t pushed her away, if you hadn’t tried to impose your own stupid rules, then you would be able to comfort her now. You’d be able take her in your arms and tell her that everything was going to be all right.
But he couldn’t do that, could he? He couldn’t make guarantees he couldn’t possibly keep. Promises she’d never believe. All he could do was to make sure she had everything she needed.
‘Shh,’ he said in as gentle a voice as he’d ever used and she shut her eyes tightly closed, as if she couldn’t bear to meet his gaze any longer. ‘The doctor says you’re going to have to take it easy.’
‘I know,’ she said as tears began to slide from beneath her lashes.
They kept her in overnight and she was discharged into his care the following day. She tried refusing his offer of a wheelchair, telling him that she was perfectly capable of walking to the car.
‘They said to take it easy,’ she told him tartly. ‘Not to spend the next six months behaving like an invalid.’
‘I’m not taking any chances,’ came his even response, but his tone was underpinned with steel. ‘And if you won’t get in the wheelchair, then I shall be forced to pick you up and carry you across the car park—which might cause something of a stir. Up to you, Ellie.’
She glowered but made no further protest as he wheeled her to the car, and she didn’t say anything else until they were back at the apartment, when he’d sat her down on one of the squashy sofas and made her the ginger tea she loved.
She glanced up as he walked in with the tray. Her expression was steady and very calm. She drew a deep breath. ‘So what are you intending to do about your brother?’
His throat constricted. She’d gone straight for the jugular, hadn’t she? ‘My brother?’ he repeated as if it were the first time he’d ever heard that word. As if he hadn’t spent the past twenty-four hours trying to purge his mind of its existence. ‘It’s you and the baby which are on my mind right now.’
‘You’re avoiding the subject,’ she pointed out. ‘Which is par for the course for you. But I’m not going to let this drop, Alek. I’m just not. Before I went into hospital, we discovered something pretty momentous about your—’
‘I don’t have a brother,’ he cut in harshly. ‘Understand?’
Frustratedly, she shook her head. ‘I understand that you’re pig-headed and stubborn! You might not like the journalist, or the message she left—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Why would she lie?’
He clenched his hands into fists and another wave of powerlessness washed over him, only this he could do something about. ‘I’m not prepared to discuss it any further.’
