Chapter 16
sixteen
CIAR
He was early and asked the waitress for a table in a secluded corner. He also ordered most of the brunch menu for Marie, not willing to have food ordering interrupt them.
He saw her before she noticed him. Her blonde bob was sleek and stylish. Marie was pushing forty but still stunning. Her makeup, clothes, and attitude screamed “affluent woman.”
He got to his feet when she noticed him. He wasn’t happy with the situation, but he was raised to be a gentleman, and this pregnancy took two people to create, and whether he was the father or not, he would respect her as a woman.
“Marie,” he said solemnly as she approached.
She didn’t respond except to dip her head.
When she undid the tie to her Burberry raincoat, he helped slip it from her shoulders and laid it over one of the four chairs at the table where water and juice awaited.
His eyes couldn’t help but rudely stare at the large bump her coat had hidden.
The waitress approached bearing a full tray, unloading the fare at their silent table.
“We won’t need anything else. Thank you,” he tipped his head to the graying waitress who had probably served enough patrons to recognize when they needed less service.
She finished unloading the tray of food without fanfare, nodded, and left them to it.
At Marie’s hesitancy, Ciar said, “Please, fill your plate. I might not have any experience with pregnant women myself, but I’ve heard stories about not letting one go hungry.”
She actually snorted in amusement and relaxed enough to smile before taking his advice and picking through the offerings while he poured them both glasses of orange juice and ice water.
After she’d taken several bites, he decided it was best to speak plainly. “We both know the likelihood of my being this child’s father is small.” He’d used a condom and to his knowledge, it hadn’t been torn when he took it off. Always a chance of course, but the probability…
Heat flared across her cheeks, and the slightest bit of sweat beaded her brow, but still she didn’t speak.
“Marie, please,” he said in Russian, “tell me what this is about.”
She choked and pressed her fist to her mouth, shaking her head in denial.
“You have to know that I won’t sign any papers when this child is born unless you agree to a DNA test immediately. Now. When we leave here,” he added, wanting no misunderstanding of his intention.
Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “This child belongs to you or…oh Jesus, or to a man from an underground sex club three weeks after us. My due date may not be accurate because I didn’t have my first ultrasound until the second trimester, and because I suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome, both of which can alter the date.
“If I go a full forty-two weeks and it’s the other man’s, it can be weeks more,” she moaned in despair, “and I already miss Chris desperately.
“The man from the club was fair and beautiful. I don’t even know his name,” she whispered, shame scorching her admission.
Ciar couldn’t bear to see a woman appear so broken and reached across the table and grasped her hand.
“Marie, I will help you even if I’m not the father, but I need to know what it is you truly want. Anders said you wanted to sign away your rights. Why? You could have ended this pregnancy at any time. You chose not to. Why?”
She placed one of her delicate hands over her stomach, the first sign that she had any connection with the child she was growing. Soon enough, she let her hands rest on the table and sat up, facing him with more determination than she’d shown since entering the diner.
“I grew up attending the Russian Orthodox Church. My parents and their parents and their parents and so on held true to the church’s ban on abortion.
“I may have strayed outside the tenets of marriage, but I would not, could not take the life of a child if someone else would give it a home. It was a step too far outside my family’s beliefs. My beliefs,” she grimaced.
“Chris wanted a young, trophy wife. Before we married, he explained he had limitations in the intimacy department. No one would ever believe me if I told them that I do love my husband. He is my best friend, and he trusted me to live a discreet life.
“It killed me to disappoint him. I never wanted a child. I still don’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want this child to be loved. I knew you would be that person, whether it was yours or not. I’ll take the test and gladly, but I’m still asking you to put your name on the child’s birth certificate.
“Chris and I will place five million pounds directly in your account and twenty million in an account for the child to be used at your discretion.
“I know you didn’t ask for this, Ciar. I know Chris and I are asking the world. There is a chance this child is yours, but I agree, it is unlikely. That night at the club,” she grimaced, “I wasn’t just drinking alcohol. I don’t know if protection was used or compromised.
“I’ve made a commitment to Chris to change the trajectory of the path I’ve been taking. I’m finished catting around. I will devote myself to Chris for the years he has left and strive to be a better woman, a person who leaves this world better than it found me.
“You are a good person, Ciar. No matter what, I believe there is something inside you that this child will heal.”
Ciar stiffened, not liking the direction the conversation was veering. Some things that were dead and buried needed to stay that way.
“I think you would make an amazing mother, and Chris an amazing father. You’re quitting before you try.”
“No. I’m giving this child a chance at family. I’ve done too many things in my past that are so shameful,” she shook her head and clenched her eyes before focusing on him again and continuing. “This child deserves everything. Give it to her. Please.”
If he did this, he could see the life he’s been envisioning with Gray slip through his fingers, but if he didn’t, he could never live with himself.
Children were meant to be loved, never abandoned to chance.
Marie would be going back to Russia. She would never know whether her child was being properly cared for.
He’d lived a childhood of chance. Could he let Marie’s?
“Let’s go to the hospital for testing. That’s all I’ll commit to now. ”
Three hours later, Ciar’s hired car was outside Marie’s leased home. “We’ll discuss the test results when they come in.”
“Fine.” She was staring out the car window, pleating her skirt between her fingers over and over.
“I will consider this…the child, the future, while I wait to hear from you.”
“Okay. Thank you,” she said quietly.
Marie was clearly flagging. “Do you want me to be there? Not after, or in the waiting room, but,” he stuttered, not believing what he was about to say, “with you?”
A lone tear tracked down her pale cheek and rested above her red-stained lips. She wrapped her hand around the door’s handle, about to let herself out, but turned to face him at the last second. “Yes. Please.”