AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Carlo,” she said breathily. Her nerve endings were stretched tight, as though she might start screaming any moment. When she was eight, she’d gone on a summer camp for foster children. It had largely been a miserable time for Jane, but she’d spent most of the time swimming, away from the other students. And there had been a huge dive board above the pool. Jane had felt awash with anxiety every time she got to the end of it, but she’d dug her fingernails into her palms and forced herself to take that last step. It was easy to balk at the stress of doing something scary. But it still had to be done. “Carlo,” she said again, her mouth dry, her tongue thick and heavy. “I’m pregnant.”
Carlo was the epitome of surprised. His eyes round in his face, he stared down at her uncomprehendingly. His eyes dropped lower, to her still flat stomach.
“It’s still early,” she explained hastily.
“You’re… are you sure?” He asked, lifting a hand and running it through his hair.
She nodded. “Well, I mean, I did four tests, but I haven’t seen a doctor yet.”
“Why not?” He demanded, reaching for his phone and dialling.
Jane lifted her hand and covered his, then pulled the phone away from him. “Stop.”
“I want you to see a doctor. After what happened last time, I am not prepared to take any risks.”
“Nor am I,” she agreed crisply. “That’s why I asked you to come here, instead of me flying to Italy. I didn’t want to do anything like get on an aeroplane until I know it’s safe to do so.”
“We have to go to a hospital. I need to know you’re being looked after.”
He was being so absurdly ridiculous that she laughed. “Stop,” she said again, shaking her head slowly from side to side. “You have to stop barking orders at me.”
He visibly pulled himself together but it took him a minute. Finally, he nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m just…”
“Shocked?” She supplied. “Join the club.”
He narrowed his eyes, scanning her face carefully. “I’m also absolutely delighted.”
Jane’s eyes flew to his. “You are?” She squeaked.
“Of course.”
“Why?”
He frowned. “Are you unhappy, Jane? Do you wish you were not pregnant?”
She hadn’t thought about it in those terms, but her answer was instantaneous. “Of course not,” she responded. “I already love this baby. Or the idea of it, anyway. But our circumstances are hardly ideal to raise a child.”
Carlo’s gaze was businesslike. “Our circumstances can change.”
Jane felt a wave of hope crash through her, but it ebbed away as quickly as it had sprung up. Their relationship was a macabre merry-go-round no baby should be made a party to. “In what way, Carlo?”
Carlo reached out and linked his fingers through hers. “Do you know that I love you?”
The statement blindsided her completely. She shook her head, her eyes wide, her breath caught in her throat. “Don’t do this to me, please. We’ve already gone through this. So many times.” Her heartbreak was obvious in her tone. “I can’t keep going around and around the matter of ‘us’. “
“Then don’t keep going around and around. Stop spinning and worrying and just be. Let yourself be with me and accept that you’re happiest when we’re together.”
“No,” she groaned miserably. “You’re wrong.”
“You have doubted me, and I freely admit I gave you every reason to. But I have loved you, Jane Santini, from the first moment I saw you in that bar. Everything I have done since then has been to protect you.”
Jane’s heart squeezed. “You threw me under a bus by making me spend time with Alessandra.”
His smile was without humour. “I didn’t ‘make’ you spend time with her. I thought she might help you adjust to life in Italy. I realise the error of that decision. I had no idea she had serious feelings for me until you told me, the day you left.”
Jane shook her head in disbelief. “How could you not know?”
