The taxi stopped outside Sorrento’s hospital all too soon. After settling Aimee into her stroller, Elene moved towards the lift that would take them up to Mattia’s office, tugging their bag behind her. Despite the spring heat, her skin lifted in cold bumps. The time had come. Her hand tightened around the stroller handle. ‘Please say I’m doing the right thing. It’s what your mother wanted but I can’t deny the fear of losing you to him blocking my throat.’ She had to trust all the kind things Danielle said about him.
The lift must have been boosted by a rocket launcher. Ping, floor three. Then the doors slid open so fast she was spilling out into a corridor bustling with medical staff, orderlies pushing beds and patients on crutches. Sucking in her stomach, lifting her chin, she stepped into the office with the sign declaring ‘Dottore Mattia Ricco’ and up to the woman behind the desk and said, ‘My name is Elene Lowe. I am here to see Dr Ricco.’
‘You don’t have an appointment,’ responded the woman in a don’t-fool-with-me voice.
‘I don’t, but I can wait until he is finished for the day.’ Any time soon, surely? The clock outside the door had read eighteen-oh-five.
‘The doctor doesn’t see people without an appointment. He’s a very busy man.’
‘Please tell him I am here and let him decide if he’ll see me.’ Because if he refused she had his home address on her phone, and right about now she’d do whatever it took to find a bed for Aimee.
The woman glanced at the closed door to the side. ‘I can’t do that.’
Just then Aimee let out a shriek and began pummelling her thighs, pushing her little body against the stroller restraints.
‘I think my baby needs changing.’
‘There are public toilets on this floor.’
Elene’s eyes suddenly stung. It was all too much. ‘Please.’
‘Sorry.’
Typical of Mattia to have a heartless lioness guarding his patch. Not that she had any right to complain, but there was no accounting for exhaustion and worry. ‘I am going in to see the doctor now, and taking my child with me.’
The woman rose. ‘You can’t. He’s unavailable right this moment.’
Of course. He’d be with a patient. She lifted Aimee out of the stroller. ‘Then I’ll sit here and wait. I am not going anywhere until I’ve talked to Mattia.’ She wasn’t risking him leaving while she was in a bathroom.
‘I’ll call Security.’
‘That won’t be necessary, Sonia,’ came an annoyed command from behind Elene. ‘I will see to this lady. You can go home. It is late for you to be here.’
‘But—’
‘No buts, Sonia. Please do as I say.’ Mattia might be talking to his secretary but his gaze was fixed on Elene when she twisted around to face him. Those almost black eyes were wide with surprise. ‘Elene.’
So he hadn’t recognised her from behind. Nor her voice. Or he had and hoped he was wrong. ‘Mattia,’ she acknowledged. Let the show begin. Better yet, could it wait twenty-four hours? She might be more prepared.
‘This is an unexpected pleasure.’
‘I’m sure pleasure is the last thing you’re feeling.’ They had rarely got on well enough to have more than a professional relationship, and when he’d dumped her best friend in preparation to swan out of Wellington onto his next adventure they’d drawn battle lines.
‘Still blunt, I see.’
‘Only way to go,’ she snapped, before remembering she was supposed to get on with him or there’d be no hope for her or Aimee. ‘Sorry. It’s been a long and arduous couple of days and my tongue’s getting the better of me.’
His gaze alighted on her mouth, his eyes widening almost imperceptibly. She was hallucinating. Could he be remembering that awkward moment back in Wellington? But why would he? It wasn’t as though he’d have been celibate in the intervening year after leaving Danielle. He asked, ‘You’ve come all this way to see me?’
The disbelief was so tangible she could almost see it hanging in the air between them. She could certainly feel it. Not that she blamed him. Turn the situation around and she’d be reacting exactly the same. ‘Can we talk in private?’ Her arm tightened involuntarily around Aimee. Here we go. The stress expanded, spread through her like wildfire in a pine tree plantation.
The dark gaze that had been focused on her lowered to her precious bundle, and Mattia rocked on his feet. His wide mouth flattened, and all that arrogance she remembered rose to the fore.
‘We should take this somewhere else,’ she managed through a dry mouth.
Mattia raised his head to stare at her, shock beginning to shadow that gaze.
He knows. Without a word being said, he’s seen what’s before him.
Mattia stepped back from them—way back. ‘Congratulations on your child. How old is she?’
Denial to the fore. ‘This is Aimee. She’s twelve months old.’ Do the sums. Believe your gut reaction.
But Mattia wasn’t playing that game. He had one of his own on the go. ‘Twelve months, eh? You kept your relationship quiet. I thought you were sworn to a single life.’
She still was. Which was none of his business. Careful, you have to talk with Mattia about some serious stuff in the coming days. ‘I wasn’t dating anyone when you were with Danielle.’
‘How is Danielle?’ His gaze flicked to Aimee, immediately looked away.
Oh, no. She was about to leap right into the middle of the deepest pool without a lifebelt. Her heart was already diving. Inclining her head towards the door that led into his office, she whispered, ‘Can we?’
‘I think we must.’ He turned to his secretary, who hadn’t done as requested and left. ‘Sonia, I’ll see you tomorrow.’ His tone brooked no argument, yet the woman didn’t leap up to leave. Brave lady. Or did she have something on him?
Could she share it with me? Gathering strength from Sonia’s attitude, Elene stepped past Mattia. Then faltered. He had never seemed so tall, nor his frame so solid and imposing. Not even when he’d held her, been about to kiss her. Then, when the office door clicked shut behind them, the air evaporated, leaving her lungs struggling to do their job. Without invitation, she sank onto the nearest chair and settled Aimee on her lap, an arm around her tiny waist.
Mattia crossed purposefully to his desk but didn’t sit, instead staring down at her. At them.
Too late, Elene realised she should’ve remained on her feet. Down here, she was at a disadvantage. No change then. But, for a moment, under that unnerving gaze locked on her, she’d forgotten how to fight her corner.
Two words cracked across the silence. ‘So? Danielle?’
No easy way to say this. ‘Died. Cancer.’ Two months down the track, it hurt like yesterday. The pain was a rock behind her heart. She missed her friend so much. There was anger at Danielle being taken so young, when she had so much to look forward to and a daughter who needed her and who’d barely got to know her mother.
A breath hissed over Mattia’s lips. ‘That I did not expect.’
‘Who would?’ Danielle had been thirty-four, fit, supposedly healthy, with everything ahead of her.
His fingers raked his dark hair. ‘Can I ask what type?’
‘Cervical. It was rapid.’ And brutal. A familiar nausea soured her mouth. Caring for her best friend in those last months had been the hardest thing she’d ever done.
Aimee