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‘I was just explaining about the situation with your blood type,’ the doctor said to Vito as he crossed to Lily’s side.
‘You didn’t explain.’ Lily flashed her gaze anxiously between the two men. ‘You just told me we needed to find it out, in case something went wrong!’
‘Just a precaution,’ the doctor said, pulling up a chair next to her and placing the equipment he needed to draw a blood sample on a small tray on the table beside them.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about this?’ Lily looked up at Vito accusingly, still keeping her baby out of the doctor’s reach.
He stood as straight as a ramrod with an unreadable expression on his face, but Lily knew the answer to her question. He hadn’t told her because he’d thought it was irrelevant—he didn’t believe the baby was his.
‘I’m sure he just didn’t want to worry you,’ the doctor said. ‘It’s extremely unlikely that the baby will have inherited it.’
‘What if he has?’ Lily asked, fear ripping through her.
‘Well, as you are obviously aware, your husband is as strong as an ox. It only becomes an issue if he needs a blood transfusion.’
‘What happens then?’ Lily pressed.
‘It’s harder to find suitable donor-blood. That’s why we want to be prepared, so we don’t have any surprises at a time we could do without them.’ He reached up gently to ease the blanket away from the infant. ‘If you can hold him steady, we’ll get this over with as painlessly as possible.’
‘But what if you can’t find the right blood to give him?’ Lily asked, feeling increasingly anxious. It all sounded very complicated and worrying.
‘There’s no reason at all to think we’ll need blood for a transfusion,’ the doctor said firmly. ‘But, if for some reason we do, then of course we’ll find it. It’s just that we may have to search further afield.’
Lily took a deep breath and lowered the baby unto her lap. She unwrapped the blanket so that the doctor could take the blood sample.
As the needle pricked his fragile skin he opened his eyes in horrified protest. A moment later he opened his mouth and started crying.
Lily felt her lower lip start to tremble in response, and she hugged her son close to her. It was unbearable to see her baby upset.
‘I’ll get this sample off to the lab,’ the doctor said, taking his leave.
‘Lily…I…’ Vito was standing close to her, but she didn’t look up. For the first time ever, she thought he sounded uncertain—but right then all her attention was on her newborn baby.
‘Leave me alone,’ she said, feeling like she had been punched in the stomach.
She unbuttoned her nightdress and tried to offer the baby up to her breast. But the position wasn’t right, and after a frantic moment of silence as he rooted unsuccessfully for her nipple he started crying again.
Without a saying a word, Vito dropped down on his knees in front of them. He cupped the baby’s head gently and guided it forward to Lily’s breast. Just as the baby opened his mouth as wide as possible to let out a mewling cry, Vito nudged his head forward and he latched onto the nipple successfully.
Lily looked down at her baby suckling contentedly, and took care to keep his position steady. Vito had rocked back on his heels, but his eyes were still locked on the infant.
‘I asked you to leave me alone,’ she said quietly, lifting her eyes to meet his. Vito’s gaze was troubled, but she was too angry with him to give it any thought.
‘But—’
‘I don’t want you here,’ she said, hearing her own voice crackle with ice. ‘Your pride has made you selfish. I can’t believe that you were so arrogant and stubborn that you let your lack of trust in me make you ignore something that could affect our baby’s wellbeing.’
Vito paced up and down his study, looking repeatedly at his fax machine, waiting for it to whir into action.
He’d had a miserable night. The worst night of his life—even harder than when he’d forced Lily to leave Venice back in March. That night he’d been upset, but he’d focussed his anger on what he’d thought of as her betrayal. He hadn’t been forced to look in the mirror at his own decisions and actions.
Now, everything was different. His personal demons were howling round the room with him, unrelenting in their attack on his well-built defences.
What if he’d been wrong?
Wrong about everything?
The thought plagued him, constantly looming up in his mind. He tried to reject it, the way he’d always successfu
