Chapter Thirteen #2
He caught her hand and didn’t let go. ‘I promise.’
Amy didn’t remember much about the helicopter flight to the hospital, she just remembered clinging to Leo’s hand as though it were her lifeline.
It was a blur of white ceilings and test after test, but the only one that mattered to her was the ultrasound. The moment when they heard the heartbeat.
‘Do you want to see the baby?’ the doctor asked with a smile.
Leo’s grip turned her fingers white and when she turned to look at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, his were wet too.
‘Mr Romano, I can talk to your partner or—’
‘Together.’ He flashed a look at Amy, who nodded her approval. ‘We will face this together, Doctor.’
‘As you now know, the baby is well, but there are issues.’
‘Is it like last time?’ Amy asked, her voice shaking. ‘I have to know.’
‘From what you’ve told me, that is a possibility.’
‘There was a lot of blood. Are you sure the baby is fine?’
‘A little can look like a lot, Miss Sinclair.’
‘Please call me Amy.’
‘Well, Amy, you have what we call a placenta praevia, which means the placenta has developed low down in the uterus. Sometimes, it can completely block the cervix, but in your case there is a partial blockage. The bleeding you experienced was from a tear in a blood vessel.’
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ Amy said in a shaky voice.
‘Cases of placenta praevia can, and do, resolve themselves as the pregnancy progresses, in which case normal birth is possible. Otherwise, a C-section is advised.’
‘So that’s the positive stuff; what about the scary stuff?’
Leo did not often feel humble, but he did now as he watched Amy face this situation head-on, even though he could feel she was shaking with terror.
She was the strongest person he knew, he thought as possessive pride surged through his body.
‘Well, premature labour is a possibility, especially at this very early stage, and a rupture of a major blood vessel is a danger for mother and baby. However,’ he added quickly to forestall Leo’s interruption, ‘that is the worst-case scenario. Further pregnancies would need to be carefully monitored.’
‘There is a risk to Amy?’ Leo asked hoarsely.
‘Future pregnancies could be perfectly normal,’ the doctor said, with what seemed like unnatural cheer to Leo.
Leo set his jaw firmly. There would not be any more pregnancies. Amy was his family; she was all he needed. Losing her wasn’t a risk worth taking. Would Amy be OK with adoption?
‘Many cases resolve themselves at this stage. Most don’t even require bed rest, just not activity that puts strain on the pelvis. However, in your case, as there’s still a small amount of bleeding, I personally would prescribe bed rest.’
‘That means I have to stay in hospital?’ she faltered, the idea filling her with horror. But she lifted her chin and squared her shoulders; she would do anything to save this baby.
‘Actually, when circumstances allow, we are quite happy for the situation to be managed at home, monitored, obviously…’
‘Yes,’ Leo said immediately, then turned to Amy, who gave a small nod of tentative relief.
‘I’ll leave you to discuss things in private. If you have any questions, I will be available.’
Amy waited until the door closed and they were alone. The room contained one less person but now they were alone it somehow felt smaller, or maybe Leo felt bigger. Ignoring the urge to clutch his hand, she unwrapped her fingers from his and pulled her hand away.
She sighed. ‘You’re being supportive, incredibly supportive, and I appreciate that, I really do.’ Because of the sort of man he was, he’d put his own feelings on the back-burner.
‘I know you won’t believe me, but I really didn’t know about the baby.’
‘I do believe you,’ he shot back.
‘Oh…w…well, that’s good,’ Amy stuttered out, thrown by his swift, unequivocal response. ‘I’m still in shock,’ she admitted. ‘I mean, I think it must have been that first time. I mean, we were in such a rush…’
‘I can identify with shock.’
‘Look, I can see you were in an awkward position there with the consultant, but I understand that you don’t want your life disrupted to this extent. I’ll be fine in hospital.’
He pressed his hands palm down on the bed and leaned in towards her, capturing her tear-filled eyes with his dark, intent stare.
‘Well, I won’t be fine with you staying in hospital. In fact, the only way you’re staying here would be if I moved in with you.’
‘But…’
He placed a finger to her lips and looked at her from under the sweep of his crazily long, dark eyelashes.
‘You are carrying my child, Amy. I wasn’t there for you last time and I will never, ever forgive myself for that, but this time I’m fully on board.
I owe you an apology for the way I reacted when you told me about the first pregnancy.
I didn’t mean any of it, but it was still unforgivable. ’
Her heart fluttered in her chest as she studied his face and saw total sincerity.
‘You have forgiven me for not telling you?’
‘There’s nothing to forgive you for, but I’m not sure I’ve forgiven myself for being so judgemental.’ His lips curled in a grimace of self-disgust. ‘It was my guilt talking and I took it out on you. It seems that being in love does not make me any less a coward or a bastard.’
‘In love?’
‘I never stopped loving you, Amy. I understand now that when you pushed me away you were in an impossible position, all alone. And my response was to block your calls. I’m disgusted with myself.
’ The ring of truth in his voice made her eyes fill.
‘You are brave and strong and never let me get away with a thing. I have been lying to myself about my feelings for you for the past nine years, because I couldn’t own the pain, the hurt.
I never stopped hurting after I lost you. ’
She sniffled and he brushed a tear from her cheek. ‘Please tell me that this means you’re happy?’
‘I am, of course I am, but this can’t work,’ she said sadly. ‘If I lose this baby,’ she said, pressing her hands protectively over her belly. ‘And it could happen—’
‘If it does, there will be no more babies. You will not risk yourself. I will not permit it. If I lost you, I would never recover! And I never want to relive that moment when I saw you lying on the floor.’ He shuddered.
‘But your grandfather wants an heir. I don’t want to come between you and him.’
‘He has me,’ Leo declared, looking and sounding every inch the Italian autocrat. ‘If that is not enough for him, he can reproduce himself! The only thing that matters to me is being enough for you, cara.’
Tears spilling down her face, she nodded and held out her arms. ‘You are very much enough for me, Leo.’ A flicker of a smile curved her lips upwards. ‘In fact, there are times when you are too much for me.’
He kissed her as though she were made of precious glass, gentle but with the sort of tender emotion that made fresh tears spring to her eyes.
‘None of this seems real,’ she said, taking his big hands between her smaller ones. ‘This is so crazy—I’m lying in a hospital bed, terrified more than I can explain, and yet I’m also insanely happy because I love you, Leo. I don’t have the words to tell you just how much.’
‘We will get through this together, my love, and you never need be afraid again, or alone.’