AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’d left her phone upstairs, switched off, but she knew Massimo’s number by heart. She gave it to the desk clerk and then lay back as another sharp contraction gripped her. A moment later, the sirens were wailing once more and the ambulance was speeding through the backstreets of Rome.
* * *
“Montebello?” He waited, breath held, needing – more than anything – for it to be Alessia.
It had been a week since she’d left. Six days since he’d found the photo in the attic and made sense of their marriage. Six days since he’d tried to see her, to tell her what he’d learned, and six days of nothing. No response. No call. Nothing.
“Massimo Montebello?” A young man’s voice responded, nervously. Max scowled.
“Yes?” The word was sharp. Impatient. Who the hell was this, calling him at four in the morning?
“My apologies, sir. I’m a clerk at La Travilano hotel.” Max stilled. It was a small boutique hotel, not one of the bigger, more well-known establishments.
“One of our guests, a Signorina – I mean dottore – Anando asked me to call you.”
Max’s breath flew from his body.
“What’s happened? Where is she?”
“On her way to hospital, sir.”
“Hospital?” He was pushing out of bed, grabbing for a pair of jeans and ripping them on.
“I think she’s in labour. She asked me to call you.”
Max hung up without a word of thanks, reaching for a shirt as he stalked through the room. His keys were on the hallstand – beside the photo of Alessia and her mother. He grabbed it without a second thought, exiting the townhouse and slamming the door shut behind him.
His wife was in labour – he needed to be with her.
Chapter Fifteen
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I cannot go in?”
“Your wife is in labour,” the nurse spoke kindly but firmly.
“Exactly. So where else should I be?”
The nurse gestured to the chairs. “I will let her know you’ve arrived.”
Max ground his teeth together. “Tell her –,” What? That he wanted to be there for her? Wasn’t that too little, too late?
“Yes. Tell her I’m here.”
Regrets exploded through him. He stood in the waiting room, staring at the peeling posters, their colours faded by sunlight which would, in daylight, stream in through the windows. This was not where he’d imagined her delivering their child. There was a private hospital not far from his home – he’d expected to drive her there, when the time came.
Half an hour later, the nurse bustled past, carrying blankets in her arms.
“Excuse me,” he moved to intercept her. She looked frazzled.
“Not now, sir.”
“I need to come in.”
“You need to stay here.”
“My wife –,”
“Wishes to do this alone.” Her expression softened for a minute. “It shouldn’t be long.”
