AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So? How could you have known that then? You listened to a man you loved. Better that than going through life cynically disbelieving everyone you meet and everything they say.”
Bella bit down on her lower lip, and leaned back against the sofa. She was exhaus
ted. She’d been sleeping fitfully, just big enough now to feel uncomfortable in bed overnight, her mind too active, so that even when she was bone-weary, she’d drop off to sleep and then wake with a start less than an hour later.
“Why don’t you go take a shower,” Sophia encouraged. “I’ll make some eggnog and we’ll put on carols. Come on. It’s so close to Christmas. Surely that can cheer you up a little bit?”
Bella nodded, but it was a lie – because Christmas just reminded her of Vitalo now, and the tree they’d decorated together, the ornaments she’d put around his bedroom. What a gullible fool she’d been, thinking it would be so simple to start a new life, a happy life, with a man she knew nothing about.
“Okay,” she said, pushing up from the sofa inelegantly.
Sophia followed suit, and wrapped her arms around her older sister. “I love you, Arrie. So much. You’re going to get through this. You know you can move to Abu Faya with me.”
“Oh, yeah, Addan would love that,” Bella laughed. “Having your sister third-wheeling in your marriage.”
“Hey, it’s a big palace,” Sophia shrugged. “You’ve been there. You remember.”
“Yeah,” Bella smiled. “I remember.” And she belatedly recalled that she was the older sister, that she should have been supporting Sophia as well. “Are you okay? You’re happy about the wedding?”
She nodded. “I really am.”
“You love him, right? That’s why you’re marrying him?”
“We’re marrying,” Sophia smiled brilliantly. “Because I will become incredibly rich and powerful, and get a wardrobe stuffed with expensive couture and diamond tiaras,” she said with a wink. “Oh, and, you know, Addan’s my best friend.”
“And the evil brother?” Bella prompted, wiggling her brows.
Sophia laughed, a hint of pink spreading through her cheeks. “Never around, thank God.”
“He’ll come to the ceremony.”
“Yeah, he kind of has to.”
Bella winced. “I’m sorry I won’t be there.”
“Me too, but the inoculations you’d need would be bad for the baby. I asked the country’s chief health advisor. There’s no exceptions.”
“I could stay indoors the whole time…”
“I’m not going to risk it. Not with my first nephew or niece in there.” Sophia kissed Bella’s cheek. “I’ll send pictures. All the pictures. Go shower. You’re looking a little too hobo chic.”
Bella laughed. “I’ve nailed it, right?”
“Yeah. Too well.”
Eggnog was something Sophia had made dozens of times – always with Bella. She pulled the ingredients out from memory, boiling off the rum so all the alcohol was gone, then turning her attention to the custard. She’d just checked the temperature with the candy thermometer when she heard a buzzing noise coming from the corner of the kitchen. Turning the heat off the stove, she moved towards it, pulling Bella’s phone out of her handbag.
Her stomach did a little flip flop when she saw the name on the screen: Vitalo Katrakis.
She threw a look towards the stairs – the shower was still running – and hesitated for the briefest of moments before swiping the phone open and holding it to her ear. “Hello?”
“I know you said not to call,” his voice was gruff and deep. “And I am sorry, agape, but it’s been days and nights and I am worried. I needed to know at least that you are okay. That you are somewhere safe and … I don’t know.” There was a sigh. “I needed to hear your voice. And to tell you that I am sorry and I wish… I could go back and tell you everything sooner, the night I came to you in Edinburgh.”
Sophia held the phone to her ear, trying to balance a natural tendency to sympathy with the anger she was feeling on behalf of her sister.
“Bella’s not here.” The words emerged clipped.
“Sophia,” he said after a beat, and before she could say anything or disconnect the call, he rushed on, “How is she? Please tell me.”
