‘Of course he does.’
‘He’s never said it to me. Not once.’
‘He’s not the openly affectionate type,’ Robyn said. ‘You know that.’
‘He’s openly affectionate to Jamie.’
‘Yes, well, that’s probably a father and son bonding thing,’ her mother said. ‘Now, stop asking all these silly questions. We’ll see you tonight at seven.’
‘Mum?’
‘Keira, I have to check on the roast.’
‘Is a leg of lamb more important to you than your own daughter?’
Robyn let out a sigh. ‘Are you having trouble with Patrizio?’
‘No,’ she lied. ‘I just feel a bit emotional right now.’ And I think I’m pregnant and I don’t know who the father is, she added in wretched despair.
‘Patrizio’s a good man, Keira. Don’t get it wrong this time around. So many men wouldn’t have taken you back. There are very few marriages that survive when it’s the wife that strays. You should be very grateful, very grateful indeed.’
‘I am…I am grateful…’
‘See you tonight; the boys are coming too. Your father is picking the
m up from the boarding house on the way home,’ Robyn said, her tone losing its sharp edge as she added, ‘I’ve made your favourite dessert.’
She brushed at her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Thanks, Mum,’ she said and went to say, I love you, but her mother had already hung up.
Keira let out a sigh as her eyes drifted back to the walk-in wardrobe. After another moment’s deliberation, she stood up and went back to the underwear drawer and took out the pregnancy testing kit and then, taking a deep breath, headed for the bathroom.
Patrizio found Keira in the lounge room, sitting on the edge of one of the sofas chewing at what was left of her nails. She dropped her hand from her mouth with a guilty flush and got to her feet. ‘Mum said she called you about dinner,’ she said. ‘The boys are coming too.’
‘Yes,’ he said, running his gaze over her frail-looking form. ‘But if you are not feeling up to it, we don’t have to go.’
Something flickered briefly in her eyes before she lowered them to stare at the floor. ‘I’m fine.’
He stepped towards her and put a hand on her shoulder, frowning when she flinched slightly. ‘What’s going on, Keira?’
Keira lifted her eyes to his. ‘Nothing’s going on. I’m just a little tired and run-down.’ And pregnant, she tacked on in silent desperation. The test kit with its lines of truth was upstairs on her sweater shelf this time, hidden under thick layers of wool where she hoped Marietta wouldn’t find it.
He held her gaze for endless moments, her heart beginning to flutter with fear that he would see for himself what she was so desperately trying to conceal. She needed more time to prepare herself mentally for his reaction to her news. She knew it was yet another example of her tendency to stall over things she found difficult to deal with, but this time she just couldn’t help it. Her baby’s future was at stake. She wanted to do everything possible to provide a safe and secure future for it, no matter what.
‘I bought you a car,’ he said into the thrumming silence. ‘It’s being delivered first thing in the morning.’
She tried to smile but her lips felt stiff and awkward. ‘Thank you…but you didn’t need to go to that sort of trouble. I’m used to using public transport.’
‘I would prefer you to use the car I have bought,’ he said. ‘I do not want the press wondering why my wife is hopping on and off trams while I have a luxury car and driver at my disposal.’
‘So it’s all about appearances then, is it?’ she asked with an edge of bitterness distorting her tone.
‘But of course,’ he said. ‘That is why we are continuing with this charade, is it not?’
‘It seems to me this has gone way past a charade,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what’s real and what’s false any more.’
He snatched up the keys he had not long put down. ‘Yes, well, that has been your problem from the start, has it not?’
She turned away in distress. ‘Stop it, Patrizio. Please just stop it. I can’t take any more of this. Not now.’