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She made a noise of protest but her feet moved, carrying her to the vehicle of their own volition. He snapped the door open, not meeting her eyes as she slid into the front passenger seat. Her heart was pounding, her mind chaotic, spinning through all the truths and doubts and questions of the past.
He placed the scooter into the boot then swung into the seat beside her. “When does he finish school?” He demanded, the question like granite.
She swallowed, the world exploding around her. She wasn’t ready for this. It was all happening too fast, without giving her a chance to make sense of any of it.
“When?” He repeated through clenched teeth.
She jerked her eyes to his face. “At two.”
“Fine. So we have time.”
He pulled the car into traffic swiftly, thundering down the street with a powerful roar.
Her heart was hammering. “Time for what?”
“To sort this goddamned mess out.” He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles glowed white and she tried not to react to his description of their son as ‘mess’.
“How did you find me?” She whispered, turning to face him, and wishing she hadn’t. His face was like nothing she’d ever seen. His anger was a palpable force.
“Damn it! That’s really what you’re worrying about? How the hell I found you?” He reached behind her seat, then dropped her clutch purse on her lap. “You left this last night. Your drivers licence is inside.”
She swept her eyes shut. She hadn’t even realized.
“He’s mine. Si?”
She let out an unsteady breath and nodded, then, because he was driving, she whispered, “Yes. He’s yours.”
“And were you ever going to tell me?”
“I … probably,” she said, and to her own ears it sounded weak.
“Damn it, Elizabeth!” He pulled the car to a stop at the front of her building – of course there was a parking space despite the fact she could never find one. That was how things worked for Xavier. “How can I believe that? Our son is, what? Three? Almost three and a half?”
She nodded.
“And I knew nothing about him.”
“You were married,” she repeated, staring straight ahead, the moral certainty of her position crumbling all around her, so she was standing on an island that was being steadily eroded by doubt.
“That changes nothing.”
“It changes everything,” she demurred urgently. “You cheated on your fiancé with me and here Joshua is living proof of your infidelity. If I told you about him, it would have ruined your marriage.”
“My marriage was long over!”
“I didn’t know that!” She intoned angrily. “You were engaged and then you were married…”
“And you were pregnant, and you chose to keep it from me, why? As some sick form of payback.”
“No!” She reacted harshly, pushing her car door open and standing, needing to suck in deep gasps of air. “It was never to punish you. Do you have any idea how hard this has been for me? How hard it’s been to raise a child on my own? Thank god for Apollo or I would never have managed…”
“Who the hell is Apollo?” He fired back, dark colour slashing his cheeks. He slammed his car door shut, and pressed a button, bleeping it locked. He stalked towards the door to her townhouse, waiting there impatiently.
“My sister’s husband.” She was numb. “Apollo Heranedes.”
“Heranedes Enterprises?”
“Yes. He’s been wonderful. Very supportive.”
