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‘You’re the one who wanted separate rooms, Merida. Well, I’m going to give you a whole lot more—separate countries. Is that enough space for you?’
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MERIDALIKEDVISITINGJOBE. He was having another round of treatment in the hope of still being around when his grandchild arrived.
‘How are you?’ She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
‘Tired,’ Jobe admitted.
‘Ethan’s calling this evening,’ Merida said. ‘He wants to know...’
‘I just spoke to him online,’ Jobe said. ‘He told me the ultrasound went well.’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you know what you’re having?’
‘No.’ She shook her head, and then looked at Jobe and the grey tinge to his skin. ‘I could ask my OB to come and speak to you, tell you...’
‘You’d do that for me?’
‘Of course I would.’ Merida smiled, but tears were threatening as they both silently admitted that there might not the time to find out. She set about examining his flowers, rather than let Jobe see the glint of tears.
‘These are gorgeous,’ she said, burying her face in a huge bunch of red roses and having a sneaky read of the card.
‘Who’s Chantelle?’
‘An ex.’
‘She doesn’t sound as if she wants to be an ex,’ Merida said. ‘It says here that she’s “desperate to see you”.’
If it had been one of the boys reading his cards Jobe would have snapped at him, but he liked Merida. And he wanted her for his son. He wanted a Devereux marriage to finally work.
And so he told Merida, when he’d told no one else, why he’d ended things with Chantelle. ‘I don’t want any spectators.’
‘Is that what I am?’ Merida checked.
‘Yes, but you’re family.’
And that made her want to cry too.
He called her over, and Merida sat on the bed and held his hand.
‘I worry about the boys. Less about Ethan, now that he has you.’
Merida squeezed his hand. At the wedding she’d been certain Jobe knew it was all a farce. He probably did, she decided. But maybe it was easier for him to think that his youngest son had settled down.
She doubted it was true.
It had been months since the wedding, and it terrified her to think what Ethan might be getting up to in Dubai. She wondered if that was why he’d gone there...
Marriage to a Devereux, Merida had long-ago decided, was hard work indeed.
‘Do you miss Elizabeth?’ Merida asked, inviting him to talk about his late wife, the mother of his sons.
‘Not for a moment,’ Jobe said, and Merida swallowed at this unexpected response.
‘You were happy, though...’
