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“You’re not. I’m the one who involved myself, encouraging you to talk to him. It’s just—you know I’ve worked for him for a long time. And I’ve grown to be very fond of you, too. I can see what all this is doing to the both of you, and I don’t like it any more than you do. I want to see you two work it out. I want to help you, if I can.”
“I don’t think you can,” Amy said. “I’m more than ready to talk to him, but he’s got to make some kind of effort, Tony. As it is, I don’t think he gives a damn about me or these babies. And I’m not going to go over there and beg him to care.”
“He cares,” Tony said. “He does.”
“Then why hasn’t he been here for us?” She was embarrassed to find that tears were streaking down her face, but she couldn’t hold them back. “He promised me that he would be. I thought he was so ready for fatherhood. And then he just—stopped caring. It feels like he changed his mind, Tony. It feels like as this has gotten closer to being a reality, he has come to realize that he never really wanted it.” She sighed. “I’m thinking about going home to Denver.”
“You can’t,” Tony protested.
“I can if I want to. He can’t hold me prisoner here.”
“No, I mean literally, you can’t,” Tony said. “You can’t fly when you’re this pregnant.”
“I won’t be pregnant for very much longer. Are you saying he’d stop me from leaving the country?”
“I don’t think he’d like it if you left the country with his children.”
“He doesn’t care about these babies. He doesn’t even come to my doctor visits anymore.”
“That’s not true, is it? Didn’t he go with you to the last one?”
“Technically, but he just sat there. He didn’t even look at me or ask the doctor any questions. He paid the bill and then we left. It was like he was my accountant, not the father.” She buried her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, Tony. I shouldn’t be saying these things to you. I know I’m being unfair.”
“You’re not doing anything wrong,” he assured her. “Say anything you want to me. You know I care about you, Amy. I want you and Mr. Canali to figure this out. I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s never been happier than he was when things were good between the two of you. I can’t rightly explain what his problem is right now, but I don’t think it’s your fault. I think it’s his. And I think you should confront him and tell him to start acting like a man who’s about to become a father, because you and these babies are going to need him.”
Amy couldn’t help laughing through her tears. “Can I quote you on that?”
“You can, actually,” he said. “I don’t care if it makes him angry. I care abouthimenough to want what’s best for him, and that means a good relationship with the mother of his children. It means not passing up the opportunity to have a family, which is something you and I both know he’s wanted. If he messes this up, he’s an idiot. And I’m not going to let that happen if there’s anything I can do about it.”
“I just wish I knewwhy,” Amy groaned. “I really thought everything was going to be fine between the two of us, so I wish I knew what I had done to make him pull away. Did he think I was trying to start a relationship? I wasn’t.”
But she felt a strange twinge of guilt and unease as she said it.
It was true that she hadn’t tried to turn their situation romantic. She had known that was off the table. But it was equally true that she had feelings for him. She had thought those feelings were purely physical, but as time had gone by, it had become more apparent to her that she actually cared for him. When they’d gone for the first scan, when he had wrapped his arms around her and comforted her at the realization that they were having four babies, she could have kissed him. She had felt as if the kindness he was capable of must have been there all along, waiting to show itself.
And in the weeks that followed, as he prepared for the babies’ arrival, she’d been so enamored of him. It had been wonderful to watch the joy on his face as he got ready to be a father. She’d felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
Then he’d started to pull away, leaving her feeling as if she didn’t even know who he was.
Maybe hehadnoticed that she was developing feelings for him. Maybe he had decided she was becoming too attached, and that was why he had distanced himself.
It wasn’t as if he would have been the first one of them to pull away for that reason, Amy thought ruefully.
With a sigh, she heaved herself to her feet, went over to the counter, and picked up the medical chart Tony had brought to her.
For a moment, she just stared at it, convinced she was reading it wrong.
“Tony,” she said. “I’m going to need your help. I need to arrange a meeting with Adriano.”
“You’ve changed your mind?” Tony perked up.
“It’s not that.” She turned to face him and held up the chart. “It’s this.”
“Is everything all right?”
“The treatment worked.” She could hardly believe what she was saying, but the test results were conclusive. There was no other way to interpret what she was seeing. “His Barks-Howard’s disease is cured.”
CHAPTER21
