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Dr Vittorio and Rocco were already there. The doctor was formally dressed in a dark suit, in contrast to Rocco, who was wearing a soft, white, short-sleeved cotton top and a pair of clean but slightly faded chinos. His hair looked damp, as though he had recently been in the shower. Her belly cramped, her muscles compressing against the now-familiar ache that accompanied his presence in her thoughts.
Whilst the doctor smiled at her Rocco came forward, taking Josh out of her arms before she could protest.
Apprehension surged through her, leaching the blood from under her skin and leaving it milk-white.
Had the doctor already given Rocco the results of the tests? Had he taken Josh from her because—?
Maria’s entrance with coffee and some of her homemade almond biscuits, plus—thoughtfully—a bottle for Josh, cranked up Julie’s tension.
Maria had poured their coffee and left them before Dr Vittorio reached for his leather case and opened it, saying calmly, ‘Since I know you will both be anxious to hear the results of the tests, I will not delay any longer.’
He looked at Julie, giving her a look that made her heart turn over. It contained compassion and, she thought, regret. She watched him remove some papers from his case and hand them each a set.
‘You will both see for yourselves that the tests show quite clearly that Antonio is not Josh’s father.’
Not his father! Julie’s hand trembled, her whole body going weak with relief. The papers she was holding slipped from her grasp. She had to sit down. Only now could she admit how much she had wanted this result—and not just because she’d wanted to believe that James was Josh’s father. It was for Josh’s own sake that she did not want him to have been fathered by Antonio Leopardi.
And for her own? Because she didn’t think she could trust herself if she had to remain in close proximity to Rocco Leopardi?
Rocco frowned as he saw Julie’s reaction, his frown deepening when Luca helped her to one of the hard-backed satin- covered sofas, urging her to sit down.
Still holding Josh, Rocco went towards them, bending down to pick up the papers she had dropped as he did so. He registered both how much thicker the set she had was, compared with his own, and then the look of concern on Luca’s face as he stepped forward to say, ‘Let me take that for you, Rocco.’ He reached not for Josh, but for the DNA document.
Julie leaned back against the sofa. It was over. Josh was hers and only hers. The relief was making her feel slightly sick, as though it was almost too rich for her to digest.
Ignoring Luca’s words, Rocco flipped over the printed sheets of data. The first one was an exact copy of his own, but the second was different.
He had to read what it said twice before he could rationalise it, then his mouth thinned as he looked first at Luca and then across to where Julie was leaning back against the sofa with her eyes closed.
Luca placed a restraining hand on Rocco’s arm, his expression one of concern and disquiet, but Rocco ignored his silent message, shaking off his hand and striding over to the sofa.
She had nothing to fear from Rocco now, Julie reassured herself, reaching up to take Josh from him, assuming that that was the only reason he had come over to her despite the look of compressed anger he was giving her. But instead of handing Josh to her he sat down beside her, still holding him in the crook of his arm whilst with the other hand he waved the papers he was gripping in front of her.
‘What the hell does this mean?’ he demanded.
Julie looked at him blankly, and Dr Vittorio interceded warningly. ‘Rocco, Julie hasn’t seen the results herself yet.’
‘She doesn’t need to see them, does she? After all, she knows perfectly well already that she isn’t Josh’s mother.’
Julie gasped and looked helplessly at the doctor, who shrugged in apology and told her, ‘I’m sorry—I should have warned you. But I didn’t give Rocco a set of your results. Since I was going to talk to you later about your own health, I had planned to mention it to you then.’
‘So if you aren’t Josh’s mother then who the hell are you?’ Rocco demanded, barely waiting for the doctor to finish speaking before he fired his furious question at her.
Rocco still had Josh cradled in the crook of his
arm. Julie wanted very badly to take her nephew from him, but to do so she would have to reach across Rocco himself.
It was easier to say huskily instead, ‘Please give Josh to me.’
‘Why? He isn’t your child.’
It was as though he wanted to hurt her—his words a deliberate blow, a rejection of her place in Josh’s life. But why? Josh meant nothing to him. He wasn’t Antonio’s child after all. The DNA tests had proved that as conclusively as they had obviously also proved that she wasn’t his mother.
‘Not my child, no,’ Julie agreed, her chin firming with determination as she confronted him. ‘But he is related to me—I am his aunt.’
‘His aunt?’
‘Yes.’
