Uncertain Destiny. Carole Mortimer

weeks of marriage hadn’t seen too many changes in her husband. When they made love they were completely attuned, but the rest of the time Justin chose to hold himself aloof, rarely talking about his work to her, only agreeing to socialise with her family because he knew she expected it of him.

      And now he seemed to think she had conducted some sort of experiment with Tony in between his proposal and their wedding, to see if she and Justin really were so unique in their passion for each other, and that the baby she carried was the result of that experiment. She hadn’t needed to make love with another man to be sure of that!

      The baby she carried was Justin’s, no matter what he believed about his being sterile. My God, why hadn’t he told her he believed he could never give her children? It wouldn’t have changed her decision to marry him, but he should have told her, damn it! What sort of man married a woman without telling her something as important as that? A man like Justin, she acknowledged dully. He didn’t want children; why should he bother to explain that he could never give her any?

      Dear God, where did they go from here? What were they going to ‘decide’ about the baby today?

      She sat up straight against the pillows as a soft knock sounded on the door, and forced a tight smile to her lips as Mrs Avery put her head around the door, before entering with a bright smile as she saw Caroline was awake.

      ‘Mr de Wolfe told me to let you sleep this morning.’ She put a tray of coffee down on the bedside table. ‘But I thought I heard you moving around a few minutes ago.’

      Justin’s ‘unobtrusive’ housekeeper had turned out to be this friendly little woman with warm blue eyes. She had confided in Caroline shortly after she moved in as Justin’s wife that the Mrs part of her name was merely a cursory title, that she had never married but felt it was necessary to be a Mrs in the job she chose to do. Mrs Avery was almost sixty, and Caroline sincerely doubted that Justin would ever feel the inclination to chase her around the apartment, but if the other woman felt happier being thought a married woman then she wasn’t about to spoil that for her. The two of them had become firm friends over the weeks, Mrs Avery treating Caroline just like the daughter she had never had. She had no doubt the housekeeper was going to be thrilled when she was told about the baby. But she dared not tell anyone about that yet, not until she had sorted things out with Justin. He had to be convinced that the baby was his!

      ‘I have to be on duty in just over an hour.’ She accepted the coffee gratefully.

      Justin had been very amenable about her continuing with her career, although she had cut down on her hours slightly, knowing Justin wouldn’t appreciate her working late into the evening or during the night. She couldn’t help wondering now, a little bitterly, if he hadn’t encouraged her to continue with her career because he had known she would never have children to occupy her time. Children of his, that was.

      Bitter reproach on her part wasn’t going to help this situation, she inwardly reproved. She had to try and look at this from Justin’s point of view. For years he had believed himself sterile, had probably come to terms with that fact; of course he was going to find it difficult to believe now that she was carrying his child. Perhaps the hours he had spent alone in bed last night, the first time they had slept apart since their marriage, had given him a chance to think, to realise that a mistake just could have been made.

      Yes, she was sure that by the time he got home this evening he would have realised she could never have made love with any other man but him, that the child had to be his. His decision that he didn’t want children had probably been a defence mechanism because he didn’t believe he could ever have any. By the time he got home this evening they would be able to discuss all this rationally.

      Some of the despair left her as she went to work on that happier note, putting her troubles from her mind as for the rest of the day she concentrated on her patients.

      She was going to miss her work on the wards once she had the baby. Being a nurse had been the only thing she had ever wanted to do, all her educational qualifications gained for just that reason. It had been a wonderful five years, but no doubt the baby would help compensate for what she lost. She wanted this baby so much, wanted to give Justin the son he had thought never to have.