by Nicole Lane
This gown was a gold, one-shouldered number that flowed over her body like the metal was molten. Her eye makeup was fresh, and she was looking determined. “Have we pulled it off, Marcus?” she asked him grimly as he zipped up the gown. “Is my family all gone?”
“Everyone’s gone without a scene, so you can go back out and walk it through to the end. The worst is over.”
“The worst is never over. There are still conversations to be had with Dominic, and I’m sure I’ll hear from my family tomorrow. But—” she let out a breath “—I told the truth, and that’s a relief. I’m sorry for what it did to Issie, but if it gets her away from him…eh, lots of people don’t have the family I have—meaning you. So, I’m lucky. I’ve still got you.”
He kissed her cheek. “Yes, you do. Always,” he agreed. “And you have Tad and his family, who are just lovely people. That’s not a bad family to marry into. Now, don’t start crying again. We’re out of gowns for you to ruin.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder. “Thank you for everything. I love you, Marcus.”
“I love you too, darling. Now, go find your husband and mingle. Try to pretend you’re having a good time. My reputation as a host depends on it.”
“Have you seen him? Where is he?”
“He’s out by the fountain, talking with his father.”
Eve nodded and went back out into the crowded garden, making her way through to where Tad stood, the need to be near him now desperate. He would understand why she’d done what she had, and he’d even encouraged her to do it, so she had no worries with him. She had never felt more secure or relieved by the strength of her relationship and the honesty between them.
He smiled when he saw her, and she smiled back. She knew he would be able to see her upset, but he would prop her up and make any excuses necessary, so she didn’t need to worry about anything else right then. He slipped an arm around her when she stepped up beside him, and they continued to chat with his father for a few more minutes before Tad excused them and led her off to a more secluded space.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, kissing her.
“Not yet. Basics are that I told her, and she’s gone. Marcus had a driver take her to the Ritz, and Patrick’s meeting her there. So, she’s safe and not alone. I think I have about thirty more minutes in me before I can use the pregnant card to get out of here. Then, I’d like to go get pancakes somewhere. Okay? Your parents are invited.”
He nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell them. We can go get pancakes.”
She hugged him, and they stood together for a bit longer before going back into the party. It was another half hour, as she’d noted, before they began saying their goodbyes, Tad making their excuses before escorting her away from the crowd of well-wishers. His parents had declined the invitation, saying they were going back to Tad’s old flat and turning in for the night, but that they would meet them for breakfast the next morning before returning to Birmingham.
Tad and Eve found an all-night diner and went in, heads turning at the couple and their fancy dress, and ordered pancakes for her and coffee for him. Over the course of her meal, she told Tad all that had transpired, brushing off the couple of tears she allowed with a sigh.
“I knew it was coming. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I’m glad it’s over, but damned if I don’t wish I had it to do over again.”
He squeezed her hand. “It was the right thing to do, though I think you might have tried to salvage your relationship with Isabelle a bit more than you did.”
“There was no salvaging. You didn’t see the way she looked at me, Tad. That was the end of it.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “Hopefully, she’ll sort it out in her head at some point and find it in her heart to forgive you.”
“It’s really better for her if she doesn’t,” Eve reasoned. “She’s been in the middle for too long. Be good for her to get out from under all that.”
“You could tell her the whole truth.”
“And what? Ruin what she’s got with Mum? I already took her husband. I’m not going to take her mother, too.”
“Didn’t you say she called your parents and told them off for not coming?”
“Yeah, but she was just reacting to Alora—”
Tad shook his head. “I don’t think so. She’s been defending you and taking your parents, your mother especially, to task for the way they’ve treated you. I think if she knew just how deep that went, she might see things differently.”
She dropped her chin. “There’s no reason for her to know.”
“Eve, you may not, but I actually think you deserve to have a sister. You’re not a monster. You can be a right bitch, but you’re not a monster.”
“It goes deep, Tad.”
“Which is why you should tell her. And besides? What if she has kids one day? You want them safe.”
“Following that logic, I should have told Alora.”
He shrugged. “I think they should all know.”
Eve put her hand over her eyes. “Oh, I can’t think about this right now. Tonight was difficult enough.”
“I know,” Tad soothed. “No one is saying that you need to have this discussion tonight, just that you need to at some point.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just…worn out. Can we go home?”
“Sure,” he agreed, flagging the waitress to pay the check. That done, he helped her from her seat and wrapped an arm around her, then bundled her into the car and headed for their flat.
Chapter 16
IT WAS DAYS LATER when the doorbell woke Eve from the small bit of sleep she had managed to grab on the sofa. She answered the door to Dominic, haloed in the late afternoon sun, and she scowled. “Do I need a restraining order against you?”
“No. I just want to talk. Can I come in?”
“No. We’ll talk in the courtyard.” She brushed past him to take a seat at one of the tables there.
“Afraid you can’t trust yourself with me? Tad not home?”
“Can you blame me for not wanting you in my house, Dominic? What do you want?”
He sat down across from her. “I’m moving to LA. I accepted the offer.”
“Good.”
“But…I haven’t been able to get past the fact that this baby is mine. Don’t say it isn’t. It is. I still want to be involved. One day she’s going to want to know who I am, and I want to be there. I went into this store with Issie…” He choked up on her name, but composed himself. “I want to be part of her life. I want to buy her things and…be there.”
Eve eyed him. “I won’t disagree that one day she’ll want to know who you are, but I want to shut the door, Dominic. I don’t want you having open access to me.”
“You can’t shut the door. When you decided to keep the baby, you locked us in the room together. That’s life.”
“So, what are you talking about?” she asked after a pause.
“Well, obviously, I’m not going to be around much. But I’d like to send things. And when I’m here, I’d like to visit. Maybe when she’s old enough, she can visit me in LA.”
“Are you going to fight me in court for rights?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“I hoped we could work it out together. Write it out and have the agreement authorized, or whatever it is you do.”
“I’ll have to talk to Tad. I’m not saying no, but I have to talk to him.”
It looked like it took a great swallow of pride, but then he answered, “Okay. That’s fair.”
After a few more seconds, she said, “You should leave now.”
“Have you heard from Isabelle?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “What do you think?”
“She came to the house and took all of her stuff, left her rings and the jewelry I gave her,” he replied.
“While you weren’t around?”
“Yeah. I had a race.”
“Are you really surprised, Dominic?” she asked. “You broke her heart. We both did
. I don’t think either of us will be hearing from her again. I can’t say I blame her.”
“I know,” he agreed slowly. “I was a prick.”
“You are a prick.”
“Thanks. It’s getting annulled—the marriage. Fraud.”
“Fraud?”
“Yeah. I knew about the baby before we got married, and you and I were still fucking up until then. So, it’s fraud. I don’t know. It’s legal bullshit that allows her to dissolve it as though it were nothing.”
“Wasn’t it?”
“No! No. It just wasn’t what I thought it would be. Or I wasn’t who I thought I would be. I don’t know. It’s fucked up, is what it is.”
“Yeah. It is.”
“Is she with Patrick now?”
“Dom…how would I know? I just got a letter from the family attorney this morning, telling me ‘as a courtesy,’ that I’ve been removed from the will and informing me that if I attempt to ‘harass’ the family with ‘any contact or communication’ they may take legal action against me.”
“What?”
“Yes. Some inanity about suing me for the cost of the wedding reception and legal fees. I’m sure they can’t really do it. Mum just wants to be sure I stand where I’m stood. So, I’ll bugger off for now. Maybe I’ll send them a Christmas card, maybe not.”
Dominic let out a low whistle. “Your family is—there’s not a word for it. I mean, it’s bad.”
“Tell me! But the good news is that even though they had this long moment of horror, Tad’s family has been great about it.”
“You told them?”
“There wasn’t really much way around it. Now that all the cats are out of the bag, it should be a lot easier to lug around. I kind of like the idea of not having any real secrets to keep.”
“None at all?”
“Everything worth knowing about, someone knows at this point.”
“Good for you.”
“You always liked my honesty.” She smiled at him.
“How’d we get here, Evie?” He held out his hands.
She took them and squeezed his fingers. “We were selfish, and you wouldn’t stay away from my sister. I was selfish. Dominic, it was just wrong. It was wrong, and I’ll be tearing myself apart over it for the rest of my life. I just—I can’t fix anything I did. All I can do is try to live up to being this baby’s mother. I can’t be Isabelle’s sister anymore after what I’ve done. I can’t be anything other than this baby’s mother.”
“I just want the chance to be her father. However I can.”
Eve chewed her bottom lip. “I get that. I understand. Just…let me talk with Tad. We’ll figure something out with the three of us. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, standing up. “I’m leaving for LA next week.”
“I know how to reach you,” she responded, turning back to her home. “Good luck, Dominic.”
“You too, Evie.”
Once inside, she locked the door behind her. Tad was halfway across the world, and Marcus was in Milan. That’s really why she hadn’t let Dominic in. She didn’t want a fight, didn’t want to argue, and didn’t want to have to throw him out if he started pressing any issues. None of her cavalry were there to ride to the rescue if she needed them.
Her low back was hurting again, leaving her in misery, so she filled the tub with hot water and got in to soak. While she lay there, she thought about Isabelle. Marcus had made sure Patrick met her, and he’d reported back that, while they had spent the night, they had left early in the morning. She hoped they were still together. She was more than a little surprised not to have heard from her family. She hadn’t expected anyone to call and ask her side or to check in to see that she was all right, but she had thought they might call to confront her. Or she’d hoped they would. At least a fight would have given her closure. The silence was simply heartbreaking. Now, she was just dead to them.
Eve focused her breathing, the thought that she’d lost Isabelle forever making panic rise in her again. It was a battle she’d been fighting a lot since the party. She could go a few hours without thinking about it, but then it would hit her in the chest, and she couldn’t breathe for agony. More than once, she had started to call her sister, but had stopped herself. Isabelle was better off without her. She had their parents and Alora to care and fuss over her, and they would make sure she was in good stead. What could Eve do but upset her again?
She stayed in the water till it turned cold, and then got out and walked the floor awhile. She’d gotten used to hurting. Something was always hurting. Hips, knees, ankles, back, belly—something was always swollen or creaking or throbbing with pain. It didn’t feel like contractions, so she ignored it, or tried to. She took two ibuprofen tablets and curled up in a ball, trying to rest.
The doctor had said, “If you can sleep, it isn’t labor.”
And she was hazily congratulating herself on not being in labor as she dozed. She woke up with a groan an hour later, low back pulsating with pain. She couldn’t find relief in any position. When it let up after a few minutes, she rang Tad’s cell. It was seven in London and two in Beijing, but he answered blearily after the third ring. When she told him why she’d called, he insisted she phone her doctor and said he would start working on a flight home.
“No,” she begged. “I’d feel awful if this turned out to be nothing and you left this meeting. I’ll call my doctor and ring you back.”
Her next call to Tad was answered before the first ring was finished, and he sounded wide awake. She felt whimpery and alone, but tried to sound convincingly girded up.
“I’m going to go in for a look-see, but the doctor thinks it’s just a false labor. I haven’t broken water or any of the other things that are supposed to be happening first, so it’s probably just those Braxton-Hicks things, but I’m getting them in my back because she’s not in the right position.”
“Okay, I can get a flight at seven a.m.”
“No…no. Don’t do that. If it’s just a false labor…just wait. I’ll ring you.”
Better safe than sorry is what the doctor had said, so when she hung up with Tad, she rang a taxi and trundled out of the apartment with her bag. The evening sky was clear and rather cold. Glancing up at the twilight, she held her breath and took a long look at the stars—dusky pinpricks of light in the semi-darkness—until she exhaled, and the steam of her breath clouded them away. Tad had told her to call his mum, and she knew Samantha would come running, but she didn’t want to bother anyone until she was sure. Another deep breath, and she entered the cab.
By the time they reached the emergency entrance, Eve was sweating and clenching her teeth to keep from crying out. This hurt like nothing she had ever experienced or imagined. She was helped into a waiting wheelchair, and they took her directly up to the maternity ward, where one nurse helped her change into a hospital gown while asking questions and another worked to take her vitals.
It was a flurry of cheerful, rapt activity, and no sooner had the second nurse backed away, than there was an attending doctor three knuckles deep and another nurse at her belly with a sonogram paddle. The next thing she knew, she was under an oxygen mask, being wheeled into an operating room, the doctor explaining things as they hurried down the hallway.
The baby was breech and on her way, whether they liked it or not, but she was far enough along that it wasn’t a real worry. They expected things would be fine. They just needed to move quickly. At least, that’s what they were telling her.
She hardly understood a word. The pain was fierce and she was afraid, just nodding and agreeing. Whatever he thought was best. Just do it.
And half an hour later, she was lying in a recovery room, waiting, staring at the ceiling and hoping while staff bustled around her. A nursing team had whisked the baby away while Eve’s doctor stitched her up, assuring her that everything was going to be fine. They needed to be sure the baby was all right. She had been tangled up and strangling on her umbilical cord, but Eve had heard h
er cry, so she thought that meant good things. She hoped it did.
While she waited for them to return with the baby, and while waiting for her actual doctor to appear, she rang Tad again. “Get the flight, love. We have a baby. She’s six pounds on the button, and that’s all I know right now.” She told him what had happened, and then they hung up so he could make his arrangements and she could rest.
It was an hour later when she could move her legs that they wheeled her from recovery into a private room and brought the baby to her. Healthy and pink and wearing a perfectly round head, having not had to squeeze herself out of the birth canal.
She was entirely perfect, and Eve couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. She slept peacefully in her arms while she watched her, feeling almost overwhelmed by the amount of love that was filling her heart. The nurse helped her settle and told her the specifics of the baby’s birth—her length, her responses—all normal. Eve barely heard more than the fact that she was perfect, caught up in the wonder of the tiny fingers curling around her own.
There wasn’t much downtime. In between the hours it took for Tad and Marcus to arrive, there were nurses and doctors, lactation specialists, and baby experts. Now and then, the baby would open her eyes a slit to fix her mother with a narrow look, seeming to pass judgment on the whole ordeal, and Eve thought her eyes were brown. She wouldn’t open them wide enough to show, though, and Eve wasn’t about to try to open an eyelid. She’d tried to pry a fist from a handful of hair and had been met with a wail that sounded like a car alarm, and she’d been sure that the hospital staff was going to come take the baby away from her. They hadn’t, though, and Tad and Marcus did arrive, along with the Edmundses, filling her room with happy noises and flowers.
When Marcus hugged her, she said, “We did her birth certificate just before you got here.”
“Oh? And? What did you decide on?”