‘Have you got me a present yet?’
‘Enough with the questions! Finish your breakfast and then go and help Aunty Cathy pack.’
The cute, mischievous face pressed right against the screen, a pair of lips kissed the monitor with a slapping noise and then the screen went blank.
Jo’s shoulders rose in a laugh, then she fell quiet.
‘Have you got him a present?’ Theseus asked, breaking the heavy silence that had come over the room.
She shook her head, keeping her gaze fixed on the computer screen. ‘I was going to get him something from the museum gift shop when I’d finished the biography.’
Suddenly she seemed to crumple before him, her head sinking into her hands.
‘God, what are we going to do about the biography?’
With all that had been going on the biography had completely slipped from his mind.
Theos. Right then all he could see was that little face, so like his own—the child he had helped create.
So many emotions were driving through him, filling him so completely that he felt as if his heart might explode out of his chest.
She staggered to her feet. ‘I need to get back to work.’
Her face was white. He could see how much keeping her composure in front of their son had cost her.
‘Now?’
‘Yes. Now. I need to do something.’ Her hands had balled back into fists. ‘We’re turning his life upside down, ripping him away from everything and everyone he knows—’
‘No,’ he cut in. ‘You can’t think of it like that. We’re building him a new, better life.’
‘I am trying to think of it like that. I’m trying not to be selfish and not to think of the personal cost. I’m trying not to think that I’m throwing away my future happiness just so you can secure your heir when your heir is happy exactly as he is!’
The colour on her face had risen to match the raising of her voice.
‘He will be happy here,’ he said with authority. He would ensure it. Whatever it took.
But would she...?
‘We will work together to make him happy,’ he added in a softer tone.
She breathed heavily, then unfurled her fists and gave a long sigh. She nodded almost absently.
He watched her closely to see if she had herself under control.
‘The book needs to be finished. Are you sure you can carry on with it?’
Her face twitched and she looked away, biting into her lip. Then she seemed to shake herself and met his gaze. ‘Your grandfather is our son’s great-grandfather. He is a remarkable man and deserves to have his story told. I will do it for him.’
Those blue-grey eyes held his, and understanding flew between them.
Jo understood.
‘But you’ll need to do the bulk of the childcare when Toby gets here,’ she added, after a beat in which the tension between them had grown thick enough to swim through.
‘I know nothing about childcare.’
She laughed, but there was no humour in the sound. ‘You’re the one insisting on being an instant father. I’ll work until he arrives—the distraction will be good for me—but when he gets here... Trust me, there is nothing like an energetic four-year-old to put the brakes on whatever you’re supposed to be doing.’
‘How much longer do you think you’ll need to get it finished?’
‘I can make the deadline, but I will need help with Toby for the next few days.’
‘I have excellent staff at my home who will happily entertain a child.’ He began to think who amongst them would be best placed for the job.
Jo’s eyes hardened, then sent him a look he was already starting to recognise—it was the mother tiger preparing to appear.
‘You are not turning his life upside down only to palm him off on staff,’ she said steadily. ‘Being a father requires a lot more than marrying the child’s mother, giving him a title and writing him into your will.’
His temperature rose at her implied rebuke, but he spoke coolly. ‘I know exactly what being a father entails, but it is impossible for me to put all my work and duties to one side without prior planning.’
‘Don’t lie to me.’ Her eyes flashed a warning. ‘There have been enough lies between us. Now we draw a line in the sand and tell no more. From now on we speak only the truth. You want Toby here and in your life, so it’s up to you to forge a relationship with him. You’re the adult, so it must come from you. He’s a sociable, gregarious boy and I know that the second he learns you’re his father he’ll be stuck to your side like glue.’