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Sucking in a breath, he sank down next to her. Immediately her evocative scent filled his nostrils. The urge to remain silent, to breathe it in and just drown in her heady essence almost overcame him. He suppressed a grimace.
He clasped his hands to stop their shaking. ‘Celine called this morning but I missed it. I called her back ten minutes ago.’
The fear that entered her eyes chilled his heart. ‘And?’
‘She had the results. Roberto died from Late Onset Tay-Sachs syndrome.’
A shake of her head. ‘I’ve never heard of it.’
‘It’s not a common condition. According to Celine, it is almost always misdiagnosed. Most people only know about it when it affects them.’
‘Is it...did Roberto suffer?’ she asked in a pained whisper.
His breath shuddered through his chest. ‘Sì. It’s a horrible disease.’
When she put her hand on his cheek, he nearly lost it. He greedily absorbed the touch because he knew it would be gone soon, once she knew the whole truth.
‘I’m so sorry, Cesare. For you and for what Roberto went through.’
‘Save your sympathy, cara. I don’t deserve it.’
Her fingers trembled against his cheek. ‘Why would you say that?’
‘Because the condition...it doesn’t begin and end with Roberto. It’s a genetic defect that is passed down from parent to child.’
Her eyes remained blank, then slowly widened, filling with horror as the implications of his words finally sank in. Her hand dropped like a stone and she paled, the freckles dusted along her cheeks standing out against milk-white skin.
With everything inside, he wanted to take the pain away.
Ava fought to breathe. Moments ago, she’d been harbouring hope that they were about to discuss how to find their way back to each other.
Instead, he’d dropped this...this...
‘Are you saying...that...you and Annabelle both have this gene?’ The words scoured her throat.
Pain ripped across his face. ‘Yes. I passed it to her. You called me bringer-of-the-Apocalypse. You were right.’
‘But...she’s perfectly healthy. Other than the odd cold, and what she suffered with the earthquake, she’s never been sick a day in her life. And you’re not sick either.’
‘No, I’m...not.’
Something in his response caught her attention. ‘Cesare, what aren’t you telling me?’
His glance held a wealth of pain that made her heart lurch. ‘Because both my parents carry the gene, what happened to Roberto could happen to me.’
‘Did your parents know?’
‘I’d like to think they wouldn’t deliberately keep something like this from Roberto and me. I saw what losing him did to my mother. I’m guessing they don’t know. Like I said, most people don’t know they have it until they fall ill.’
For one blazing second she was fiercely glad his parents had been ignorant because they’d not only brought Cesare into her life, they’d also given her Annabelle. Then a thought trickled through, further chilling her blood.
‘So what are the repercussions for Annabelle?’
His eyes took on a haunted look that stilled her heart. ‘It could remain dormant all her life, or...the gene could mutate and she could develop complications,’ he replied starkly.
A dark sound tore from her throat. Horror built, overcoming every other emotion as her insides screamed with disbelief at what he was telling her. Her daughter, her lovely daughter who had survived an earthquake, susceptible to a potentially life-threatening disease...
‘Did you suspect something like this? Is that why you kept Roberto’s illness from me?’ The thought made her heart crack with pain. ‘How long had he been seriously sick?’
‘He’d been deteriorating for a year. It worsened in the last six months.’
Shock made her draw back, tears swiftly following as emotions tumbled through her. ‘You knew all that, knew that something was very wrong and you kept it from me?’
He tried to reach for her. ‘These were all second-hand reports. I didn’t know just how bad he was. And I wanted to protect you—’
‘Don’t you dare say you were trying to protect me! You had no right to keep such a thing from me. What if Annabelle had fallen sick and I didn’t know what was wrong?’ Terror clutched her heart. ‘Dear God, Cesare, what if she’d...’ She couldn’t voice the words. When he gripped her arms, she didn’t move because she couldn’t find the strength. Her insides felt numb and the horrific reality gripped her.
