Alex placed his hand on her slight bump, a look of wonder on his face. ‘And lasting for ever.’
EPILOGUE
Six months later
‘IT’S A GIRL!’
Alex let out an incredulous laugh as the doctor lifted the squalling, red-faced baby onto Milly’s chest. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she touched the damp, dark ringlets of their infant daughter. ‘She’s perfect.’
‘She looks like you,’ Alex said as he dropped a kiss onto her forehead. It had been an intense twenty hours of labour, and Milly had been amazing throughout, as brave as he’d ever seen her be.
‘Like me?’ Milly scoffed as the nurse placed her daughter in her arms. ‘She looks like you. Dark hair and blue eyes. Beautiful.’
‘Her eye colour might change,’ the nurse said with a smile.
‘Either way, she’s perfect,’ Alex stated definitively. ‘Because she’s ours.’
‘Yes.’ Milly cooed down at her daughter. They hadn’t talked too much about names, not daring to hope so much. It had been a difficult pregnancy, and Milly had gone into preterm labour several times before the doctors had been able to stop it. She’d been on bed-rest for four months, and their daughter had finally been born at a healthy thirty-eight weeks, to both of their relief. They’d both been afraid they might never reach this moment, but they had. And while the last six months had been scary, they’d also been wonderful, for the uncertainty of their situation had brought them together, stronger and more in love than ever.
They’d learned to turn towards each other when they were frightened or worried, rather than away. They’d come to depend on each other utterly, and for that they were both thankful, as well as for the miracle lying in Milly’s arms.
‘Have you thought of a name?’ Alex asked softly as he gazed down at the Madonna-like picture of his wife holding their child.
‘I have,’ Milly admitted, her gaze on their daughter. ‘If it was all right with you, I was thinking of Daphne.’
Alex blinked rapidly, moved by her suggestion. ‘If you really mean it...’
‘Of course I do.’ Milly looked up at him, her beautiful face suffused with love and tenderness. ‘Would you like to hold her, Alex? Would you like to hold your daughter?’
Wordlessly, unable to frame the words, he nodded. Gently Milly transferred their daughter to him and Alex cradled her tiny form, amazed and humbled by the slight and yet overwhelming weight of her. His daughter. Daphne.
As Milly had told him all those months ago, the past could not be changed, but it could be redeemed. He could be redeemed, and the proof of it was here in his arms, by his side. His daughter. His wife. His family. For ever.
Turning back to Milly, Alex reached for her hand. In that moment, they needed no words, nothing but the joining of their fingers, their hearts. Together. Always. Her eyes full of love, Milly smiled at him, and with his heart overflowing, everything in him singing with joy, Alex smiled back.
* * * * *
Coming next month
DEMANDING HIS HIDDEN HEIR
Jackie Ashenden
‘Buono notte, Mrs St George,’ Enzo said in that deep voice she knew so well, the one that had once been full of heat and yet now was so cold. ‘I think you and I need to have a little chat.’
‘A chat?’ she said huskily, her chin firming, the shock and fear in her gaze quickly masked. ‘A chat about what?’
With an effort, Enzo dragged his gaze from her throat.
So, she was going to pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about, was she? Well, unfortunately for her, he wasn’t having it.
‘I’m not here to play games with you, Summer,’ he said coldly. ‘Or should I say Matilda. I’m here to talk about my son.’
Another burst of quicksilver emotion flashed in her eyes, then it was gone, nothing but a cool wall of grey in its place. ‘Yes, that’s my name. You don’t have to say it like a pantomime villain. And as to a son…Well.’ Her chin came up. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Is that how you’re going to play this?’ He didn’t bother to temper the acid in his tone. ‘You’re going to pretend you don’t know anything about that child you just rescued downstairs? The child with eyes the same colour as mine?’ He took a step towards her. ‘Perhaps you’re going to pretend that you don’t know who I am either.’
She held her ground, even though she didn’t have anywhere to go, not when there was a wall behind her. ‘No, of course not.’ Her gaze didn’t flicker. ‘I know who you are, Enzo Cardinali.’