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bsp; ‘Yes. Okay.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GREG IGNORED THE smile from the woman behind the counter at the chemist. She probably had him down as a guy who couldn’t wait to become a father. In truth, if he’d had the first idea about how to be a father he might have had a clue about what he wanted. Currently he had neither.
Jess was sitting up in his bed when he got back, toying with one of the dry crackers he’d got for her, his dressing gown wrapped tightly around her. He laid the paper bag down next to her and she hesitated, then snatched it up and made for the bathroom. He heard the door close and then the click of the lock.
Ten minutes and not a sound had come from the other side of the bathroom door. Jess supposed that she should go out and face him. Not yet.
Not yet.
She stood up from her perch on the side of the bath. She didn’t feel any different. Looked in the mirror. She didn’t look any different either.
‘It’s all right. It’s going to be all right.’ She whispered the words to her own reflection, and received a smile in response. It was going to be all right.
Her hand wandered to her stomach. Still flat, no signs yet. ‘Hey, baby.’ Her first words to her unborn child. ‘Your mother loves you. Everything’s going to be just fine.’ It didn’t seem odd to be talking like this. In the last ten minutes her world had turned upside down, split apart at the seams, and she’d fallen hopelessly and irrevocably in love with the scrap of life inside her.
Would her baby—their baby, she supposed—be like him? Would some accident of genetics mean that it grew into an olive-skinned, dark-eyed charmer? Strong and tall, owing nothing to its mother? She rubbed her stomach, letting the thought percolate for a while. She liked it rather better than she was ready to admit.
What would Greg say? Would he wonder if she’d somehow meant this to happen? He was a rich man, and most women would jump at the chance to snare him. Slowly but surely everything began to unravel. All the promises they’d made in the last few days. Then they’d had the luxury of being able to live with uncertainty. Things were different now.
‘He can keep his money.’ She mouthed the words at the mirror, in case he was outside, listening. ‘We can do without it.’
A tap sounded at the door. ‘Jess?’
She jumped guiltily and whirled round. Another tap, louder this time. ‘Jess? Are you waiting for me to break the door down?’
She couldn’t help smiling. A part of her wanted him to do just that. Pull her into his arms and protect her from all the monsters that were out there in the dark. Take her to live in his gilded castle, where he’d make her his queen and love her always.
She gulped in a breath. ‘Yes. I mean no. Don’t do that, I’ll be out in a minute.’
She pulled the bath robe tighter around her, knotting the tie firmly and took a deep breath. Unlocking the door, she stepped out into the bedroom.
He was perched on edge of the bed, his legs stretched out in front of him. He looked so… He looked like the man she’d always wanted. Jess’s courage failed her.
‘You’re pregnant.’
She supposed that he could hardly fail to come to that conclusion from the amount of time she’d spent in the bathroom. Jess nodded her head.
‘Hey. It’s all right Jess. We’re in this together and we’re going to deal with this. I think we both need you to say it, though.’
The stress lines were back on his face. This was no walk in the park for him either.
‘I’m pregnant. Seven weeks.’
He nodded. ‘How do you feel?’
Jess swallowed hard. ‘Fine. About the same as I did half an hour ago.’ Apart from the fact that everything had changed.
His gaze had never left her face. ‘Seven weeks. I guess its heart will just have started beating by now.’
‘Yes. And its head is forming. Little bumps for its arms and legs.’ Jess almost choked.
‘Hey, there.’ He was on his feet, holding her tight, before she even realised that she was shaking. ‘I told you, we’re in this together. I can provide whatever you need.’ The words sounded hollow, almost like a business deal.
‘I can look after myself.’ However much it cost her, however alone she felt, she couldn’t use this as an excuse to bind him to her.
‘I know. I’ll just tag along, then, while you’re looking after yourself.’ He smoothed a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘I can be your second-in-command. Hold your hair while you’re being sick.’
