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‘I have,’ Maggie agreed, and she took a breath, wondering what Flo’s reaction would be when she told her why she’d asked her to drop by.
But Flo thought she had already worked things out.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ Flo oh, so, casually said. ‘How would you like me to deliver your baby?’
Maggie blinked. She had been half expecting Flo to offer to be her support person, but Maggie was even struggling with the thought of that.
‘It would be wonderful,’ Flo enthused.
‘Absolutely not.’ Maggie shook her head, appalled at the very thought. ‘No way!’
‘But you can’t be on your own.’
‘I’d prefer to be,’ Maggie said.
Yet her heart did a thump as she felt the baby move again. A deft kick followed by a ripple as if little hummingbirds were fluttering in her stomach.
She didn’t want to be on her own.
But it wasn’t Flo that she wanted there.
It was Ilyas.
‘I thought that was why you asked me here.’ Flo slumped.
‘I asked you here because I’m thinking that I need to tell Ilyas,’ Maggie said. ‘I keep being all self-righteous and telling myself it’s for the sake of the baby, or that he deserves to know, but the truth is I want him to know and I want the chance to speak to him again.’ She took a breath. ‘Even if he cares nothing for me.’
If he cared one iota, surely he’d have made some effort to contact her.
Surely?
Yet he hadn’t.
And no matter how she examined it, there truly was no excuse, not even that he had no idea where she lived.
He was beyond powerful.
Ilyas could have found her if he’d so chosen.
‘Well, it can’t come as a complete surprise to him,’ Flo said, being practical. ‘You used no protection.’
‘We were in thehammam,’ Maggie pointed out.
Yes, Flo had leached out as many details as she possibly could!
‘Standing up!’ Flo rolled her eyes. ‘Please don’t tell me you thought that that would stop you getting pregnant?’
‘I meant that there weren’t exactly condoms handy!’ Only that surely wasn’t true. She thought of Ilyas in the tent, reaching over to one of many little wooden boxes, and she was certain there would be a supply easily accessible all around thehammam. That was, after all, its purpose. She thought about that velvet rope again, and then blushed at Flo’s knowing look.
Somehow protection hadn’t mattered at the time.
Neither had given it a second’s thought.
‘How do you think he’ll take it?’ Flo asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Maggie admitted, and then she thought back. ‘He’s not exactly open. He thinks being cynical is an asset.’
‘You’re like that too.’
