Chapter 13 #2
“Very weird,” he said, grinning, and then, to underscore the unpredictability of it all, he eased himself into the water and held his hands up to her, despite the fact she was still wearing his soft, black t-shirt.
She didn’t hesitate, though, before sliding down into his arms and kissing him, ignoring the persistent alarm bell, that was trying to remind her this was supposed to be occasional, not regular.
“I should go and meet them,” he said, when they finally separated for air, and had moved to look at the setting sun, over the Tuscan countryside.
She was so addled by the kiss, and the way his hands had roamed her body, that it took her a second to catch up. “My parents?”
“Would it help?”
“Probably,” she said, thinking if they were anything like Elodie, they’d take one look at Raf and fall under his spell. “But there’s no rush. We still need to work everything out first, you know? Let’s just…give this time.”
“Does that mean you’d prefer not to get to know my family as well?”
She tilted a glance at him, her heart turning over in her chest as she studied his features—features she now knew as well as her own.
Would their baby look like him, or her, or a mix of both?
“I’m curious about them,” she said, honestly.
“But it’s the same as my parents. I just don’t know if we need to rush things. ”
He didn’t get a chance to reply. Her phone, across the pool, began to ring, the tone cutting through the intensity of their conversation.
And she was glad for that, in a way, because thinking about their families made everything seem so real.
It made her feel as though there were too many other people factoring into their lives, and she just wasn’t ready for that.
“I need more time to get used to it,” she said, with a shake of her head.
“I’ll be right back.” She moved through the water, fully aware she wouldn’t reach her phone in time.
And sure enough, as she put one foot on the steps, it stopped ringing.
She kept moving towards it though, curious about who was calling her, and as she got close to the lounger, it began to ring once more.
Aaron’s face appeared on the screen. A rush of guilt flooded her. Guilt, because she was here with Raf. Guilt, because Aaron was calling her. She felt pulled in two very different directions.
“Problem?” Raf had swum to the same edge of the pool and was resting his arms along the coping in a gesture she just knew to be assumed nonchalance.
“It’s…Aaron,” she said, not meeting his eyes, so missing the way they narrowed, a hint of darkness crossing his features.
“Your ex-fiance?”
She nodded once.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?”
She bit into her lip and shook her head. “I—can call him later,” she said, flicking her phone to silent and placing it screen-side down on the bed. “I have no idea what he wants to talk about, anyway.”
She moved back to the pool and slid into the water, but the easy, relaxed feeling had evaporated completely. A tension was stretching inside of her, and she could feel it emanating from Raf, as well.
Not only had he not heard Elodie swear, he genuinely couldn’t imagine her cursing. But when she stalked into the dining room later that night, her expression was mutinous and a dark word flew from her lips. “You’re not going to believe this.”
He arched a brow, amused despite her obvious storm cloud mood. “Problem?”
“My mother ran into Aaron at the shops, this afternoon. She was apparently so sideswiped by our news that she blurted it out to him.”
“Your ex-fiance,” he repeated, with an appearance of calm he didn’t feel.
“Can you believe it?”
“I don’t know your mother,” he said. “I can’t say if that’s out of character or not.”
That stopped her in her tracks. “She’s not a gossip,” Elodie muttered. “She was probably genuinely shocked. Still…to have told Aaron, not to have given me a chance to do that myself…”
Raf ignored the complexity of emotions he felt at that. In fact, it was further evidence of Elodie’s goodness and considerate temperament. As soon as she said it, Raf realized that he should show Marcia the same courtesy of a heads up, before it became publicly known.
“I just wasn’t ready for him to know yet,” she added. But the concern on her face was pulling at something inside of Raf that he hated. An emotion he wasn’t sure he’d ever experienced before.
He was jealous.
Jealous of the man she’d been supposed to marry.
Jealous of the man she would have been married to now, if Aaron hadn’t cancelled the engagement. And then, he and Elodie would never have met, slept together, conceived a child.
Even though this hadn’t been planned, it was anathema to him to imagine that reality.
Why wouldn’t she have wanted her ex to know? There was no answer to that question that didn’t make the darkness of his mood worse. No answer that he was okay with.
If she was over the guy, and genuinely didn’t care about him, then she would have had no issue with him learning about the baby. A courtesy phone call, because of their relationship, would have been the easiest thing in the world to make.
She dropped her head into her hands then, and he realized for the first time that she was upset. Hurting. His own feelings had clouded his perception, but now, he moved to her, his gut twisting when she sobbed.
“How is this my life?” she asked imploringly, looking up at Raf with a frown on her face, like she barely recognized him.
“What do you need?” he asked, thinking he would do whatever she asked.
“I think—I just need to be alone a while.” She glanced behind him, to where the table had been set for dinner. “Do you mind…”
Her voice was so small that a new kind of anger split through him. “Of course not.” His voice was calm. “But Elodie? I’m here if you want to talk.”
Only, she didn’t want to talk. She wanted to run away. To bury her head in the sand and pretend none of this was happening.
That should be us, Ellie. Our baby. We always talked about that.
The nerve of Aaron, to act as if any of this was her fault, her choosing.
When she’d said that she wasn’t getting married to Raf, Aaron had been furious and relieved, all at once. Marry me. We’ll do this together, just like we always said.
But there was a part of her that hadn’t been able to ignore an awful, creeping suspicion, that the only reason he was suggesting that was because he viewed her baby as some kind of gravy train. She was having a Santoro, and someone like Aaron would definitely see the financial benefits to that.
Sitting on an armchair in the lounge room, with her knees pressed to her chest, she let out a soft groan.
It was dark outside now, and the only light in the room came from a lamp across the way.
She had no idea what time it was, only that she was completely overwhelmed with everything that was happening.
She heard him enter the room, and she didn’t mind. She’d been alone a long time; he’d done what she asked for.
“I thought you might be hungry.” His voice, to Elodie’s now expert ears, showed strain, so she tilted her face, guilt flooding her. Because none of this was his fault. Her baggage was exactly that. Hers.
“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head.
“What for?” He placed a bowl of pasta on the coffee table, then crouched right in front of her.
“I just wasn’t ready for anyone else to know,” she explained.
“It’s all happening so fast. I only found out myself a few days ago.
Now your family knows, my parents, Aaron, his family, God knows who else.
If you’re right, the whole world could find out any day.
I just thought we could have a few weeks to ourselves, ignoring everyone else, you know?
To see if we can make this work. I feel like I’m in a pressure cooker, with steam coming from every direction. ”
“Si,” he agreed. “But we can control that.”
Her laugh was almost a sob. “How, Raf? How?”
He stood then, reaching his hands to hers. “Do you trust me?”
She blinked at Raf, shocked to discover that she did. After her experience with Aaron, she had thought she might never trust again…
“I think I do.”
His eyes shone with intensity. “Then leave it with me.” He leaned down, then pressed a kiss to her forehead, before leaving her alone again, just as she’d asked him to. Only now, it was the last thing she wanted—she just wasn’t brave enough to admit that.