He, apparently, was suffering from no such lack of appetite. Skye watched as he forked a scoop of spaghetti into his mouth, savouring the flavours with obvious pleasure. ‘Do you think perhaps we should speak to a lawyer?’
He froze, his eyes haunted as they met hers. ‘Che?’
‘Everything between us is so complicated.’ A line formed between her brows as she frowned, and anxiety swirled through her. Her pregnancy was still in its infancy, but before they knew it the baby would be with them. They’d be parents. ‘Don’t you think we should make arrangements now? Before we get too caught up in the whole “being a family” thing?’
‘What kind of arrangements?’ Neither his voice nor his expression gave anything away.
‘Oh.’ Skye waved a hand through the air and her selection of colourful bangles made a tingling noise as they knocked toge
ther. ‘Everything.’ Her frown deepened. ‘I suppose a proper pre-nuptial agreement.’
Matteo returned his attention to the spaghetti, forking another generous portion into his mouth. ‘We are married. A pre-nuptial agreement now would seem irrelevant.’
Skye nodded slowly, but her frame of mind didn’t shift. ‘I think we need to be pragmatic.’ She swallowed. ‘Do you remember what you said?’
He pulled a face, one of amusement and mockery. ‘When?’
‘You told me that you never lied to me.’ She stared down at her plate, the past swirling like angry floodwaters. ‘And you did. Not directly, but by omission. You knew how I felt, and how I believed you felt, and you didn’t tell me the truth about any of this. But you never claimed to love me. You don’t love me.’ She paused, just long enough for him to interject. To say something that would ease the pain in her splintered heart.
He didn’t.
She swallowed and pushed on. ‘And I don’t love you.’ The words tasted bitter in her mouth. ‘We need to remember that. Once the baby comes along and we love our child to the ends of the earth, I don’t want to make the mistake of feeling like this is a real relationship.’
‘It is a real relationship,’ he said with exasperation. ‘You are my wife in every way.’
‘No.’ Her eyes were enormous as they lifted to his. ‘And it’s not your fault that you don’t realise that. You and I just have very different ideas of what a marriage is.’ Her smile was lopsided. ‘Ironic, really, given that you were the one who taught me to believe in fairy tales. Perhaps the reason you believe in them is that you expect so little of them.’
His eyes narrowed.
‘I want it all. I want love and happiness and a true meeting of the minds. That will never be us.’ She expelled a soft sigh. ‘But we both want this baby, and so we’ll raise it together. But I think it’s very important that we don’t lose sight of the truth of what we are.’
‘And what’s that, bella?’
‘Well...’ She pressed a single finger into the table top, tilting her head to the side as she examined her words carefully. ‘We’re two people who are going to have a baby. And we happen to be sleeping together.’
‘Oh, good. I’m glad that’s part of your contract.’ He winked, his light-heartedness annoying her.
‘I’m serious, Teo.’ She tapped her finger once more. ‘We both have considerable assets. I think we should get everything ordered. And I think we should have a custody arrangement drawn up. Just in case.’
‘Hell, Skye. A custody arrangement? You’re pregnant with my child and you’re already planning for a divorce?’
‘Not necessarily,’ she responded softly. ‘But if we find this impossible, I don’t want to have to go through all that then. I think we should rationally make a plan now, knowing that there’s a good chance this won’t work out. I think we should agree now, while we are level-headed and still...like one another enough to speak fairly.’
Matteo shook his head. ‘No.’
‘It makes sense.’ She leaned forward. ‘You know that. You’re thinking with your heart, not your head.’
‘I thought I didn’t have a heart?’
‘You do where our baby is concerned. You do where your nonno was concerned.’ It’s only me you don’t love, Skye thought bitterly, reaching for her mineral water and sipping it to bring relief to her dry mouth. ‘You told me yourself that you would fight for this baby. That you would stop at nothing to raise it. Well, I don’t want to fight you later.’
‘You’d rather fight me now?’
A muscle jerked in Skye’s jaw as she clenched her teeth together. ‘I’d rather not fight you at all. It’s not ideal that we’re going to be raising this child together, but I think we can make it work so long as we’re reasonable. I’m prepared to be reasonable.’
‘How so?’ he prompted, dark colour staining his cheeks.
Fascinated at why he was so angry, Skye continued, ‘Well, I’ll stay in Venice. Near you. My business interests are well looked after. I don’t need to be in London. And I can skip over when I do have to be on hand.’ Emboldened by his silence, she continued, ‘But I don’t think we should share custody equally. I think the baby should have a home, somewhere they spend most of their time...’