‘Betsy, tell them that you know where you’re going,’ Nik instructed, turning up her face to horrendously bright lights so that she shut her eyes fast again.
‘’Course I do,’ she mumbled, willing to say anything if it meant being left in peace again.
‘My wife can’t help being unwell,’ he breathed, anger in his voice now fracturing his Greek accent as he tightened his arms round her.
Her head was pounding and the familiar weariness settled back over her like a blanketing fog because it had been so many long weeks since she had enjoyed a decent night’s sleep. She blocked the anxious thoughts battering to be heard inside her heavy head; she would think through all the complexities of her marriage and Nik with a clearer head some other day...
* * *
Betsy shifted on the comfortable mattress and a low sigh escaped her as she opened her eyes on the shadowy room. There was a low drone in the background. ‘What’s that noise?’ she mumbled sleepily.
‘Go back to sleep... It’s late,’ Nik advised from the foot of the bed. ‘I shouldn’t have come in but I wanted to check on you... Instead I’m afraid I woke you up.’
Remembering what had happened earlier, Betsy tensed, her gaze darting round what little she could see of the dim and seemingly quite small room. She could only assume she was in one of Nik’s guest rooms in London. Where else would he take her to see a doctor? And why hadn’t she argued, for goodness’ sake? Because arguing with Nik had always been pointless. When Nik was convinced that he was doing something in her best interests he was impossible to shift.
‘Why were you checking up on me?’ she framed.
Unshaven and decidedly tousled with his black hair ruffled and his tie and jacket missing, Nik loomed large as a twenty-storey building, poised beside the bed. ‘You collapsed,’ he reminded her almost accusingly. ‘That’s not normal—’
‘I had a silly little faint...more embarrassing than serious,’ Betsy fielded sleepily, realising that for some reason she felt strangely soothed by his presence.
‘You seem to be incredibly tired—’
‘I haven’t been sleeping well recently,’ Betsy admitted before she could think better of that revealing confession. ‘And fatigue is normal in the early stages of pregnancy.’
‘The doctor will tell us tomorrow what’s normal and what is cause for concern.’
‘It’s not like you to fuss over something trivial—’
‘The state of your health is not a triviality.’
He sounded so serious that a drowsy smile of amusement lit her tired face before she shut her eyes again.
Betsy wakened to light flooding through a porthole window and blinked in confusion. She clambered slowly out of bed and, even before she reached the window to get a good view of the clouds beyond it, she knew she was on board a plane. The lights that had blinded her the night before, the questions Nik had been angrily parrying, must have taken place at airport security the night before. How stupid am I? she asked herself in consternation. Why am I on a plane? Why did he put me on a plane without mentioning it? But then why did Nik do anything?
The clothes she had been wearing were in the wardrobe but she was relieved to find that a selection of other items had evidently been packed for her and she yanked out fresh underwear before rushing impatiently into the en suite to freshen up. The discovery of her toiletries and her make-up bag did nothing to mollify her. She felt like Alice in Wonderland, only, instead of her falling, Nik had thrown her down the rabbit hole. The bright blue sky beyond the porthole persuaded her to choose a light floral skirt and tee from the sparse selection of clothing and, dressed, she walked out into the main cabin with the light of battle in her eyes.
Nik was working at a laptop for all the world as though he were in an office. He glanced up through lush black lashes, green eyes gleaming. ‘I heard you get up. Breakfast should be here soon—’
‘Where on earth are we?’
‘In thirty minutes we’ll be landing in Athens—’
‘Athens?’ Betsy yelled.
‘I told you that I was taking you to a doctor. Mikis Xenophon is the world’s leading authority on pregnant women,’ Nik informed her with distinct satisfaction. ‘And you have an appointment with him this morning—’
‘I don’t care who the heck he is!’ Betsy shot back at him, out of all patience. ‘I was willing to see a doctor but I wasn’t willing to fly to Greece to do it!’
‘Xenophon is the best. I want you to see the best,’ Nik countered stubbornly. ‘His research is first class and his patients speak very highly of him—’
‘But bringing me to Greece without asking me,’ Betsy began half an octave higher.
‘You fell very deeply asleep. You must’ve badly needed the rest. I was determined not to disturb you,’ Nik assured her tautly.
At that point a knock sounded on the door and the breakfast he had ordered arrived. Expelling her pent-up breath in a rush, Betsy sat down because, having missed dinner the night before, she was truly hungry. But as she nibbled she quietly seethed in frustration. He had done it again, taken over, steamrollering over her options and wishes as if only he knew best. The one and only occasion when he had ever let her choose anything had been the time when he had finally agreed that she could try for a baby if she wanted to. Of course that had been a safe choice from his point of view when he had known that his vasectomy had meant that there was then no prospect of her falling pregnant.
‘Why on earth did you ever agree to me trying to get pregnant last year?’ Betsy found herself asking him abruptly. ‘I mean, when you knew it couldn’t happen, why did you give way?’
Unprepared for the question, Nik stared fixedly back at her. ‘I thought it would satisfy you. I...incorrectly, perhaps even foolishly, assumed you’d go off the idea again... After all, you didn’t want children when we got married and somehow I never expected that to change—’
‘Unfortunately, people do change. I thought I didn’t want children because my parents never really wanted me—that was a major turn-off. I also spent a lot of time helping to look after the younger kids when I was a teenager in the foster system and I saw kids back then as nothing more than a time-consuming responsibility who stole away your freedom,’ Betsy explained ruefully. ‘I genuinely didn’t ever expect to start wanting a baby, but I was too young when I made that decision and shared it with you.’
Nik nodded grimly. ‘I will give you that. So, what changed?’
Her small face stiffened. ‘You were away on business so much. I was bored, lonely, and then one day I woke up and somehow I believed a baby would be the best thing that ever happened to me and that everything would be improved with a child in the picture.’
‘But you became obsessed by your desire for a child.’ Nik sighed. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t understand how important having a baby had come to mean to you...that it was as much an emotional as a physical desire.’
Betsy tore her croissant into at least ten pieces and then began buttering each one while deciding that nothing less than honesty would suffice. ‘Yes, I was obsessed,’ she agreed, thinking back to the vitamins she had taken, the temperature charts to check when she was ovulating, the acupuncture and yoga sessions, the state of mind and pure desperation that had persuaded her that she would do literally anything to become pregnant.
Nik hadn’t expected her to admit that. ‘I felt shut out and extremely uncomfortable because I knew that no matter what you did it would be in vain.’
‘Obviously,’ Betsy conceded, glad to hear that guilt had afflicted him even if he didn’t have the right word to quantify the feeling.
‘I assumed you would