Page 36 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

Fabiana nodded. ‘There were never secrets between us. Rafael loved me, and my love for him has not diminished. He was a good husband. And you, Rafa, are a wonderful and loyal son. Bertie is Rafael’s son, isn’t he?

‘I have been lying here thinking about it,’ she said softly when Rafa froze. ‘It was too much of a coincidence that Bertie is the exact age that the child from your father’s affair would be. But I don’t believe that Ivy is Bertie’s mother. She is not good at lying, and she knew very little about pregnancy symptoms.’

Dio!Rafa thought of the astounding news Ivy had just told him, that she was pregnant with his baby. His reaction had been diabolical. Remorse shredded his insides as he acknowledged that Ivy was an unconvincing liar because she was innately honest. But she had agreed to be his fiancée and then his wife to protect his mother’s feelings. In the end, the pretence had been unnecessary because his father had admitted what he had done.

‘Ivy’s sister Gemma was Bertie’s mother,’ he explained. ‘But she died, and Ivy became his legal guardian.’

‘I suppose Ivy came to Italy to ask you for help to bring up your half-brother. But you instantly fell in love with her and decided to marry her.’

Rafa stared at his mother. He had been about to deny that he’d fallen in love with Ivy, but with a jolt he realised that he was the biggest fool of all time.

You don’t love me, Ivy had sobbed, and he’d frozen. Love hadn’t been part of the deal. They had agreed that their marriage would be a sensible arrangement. Ivy had admitted that she wore her heart on her sleeve, and he’d sensed that she hoped for more than he could give her. He had made it clear that he couldn’t give her love. He’d been honest.

Had he, though? Rafa forced himself to look inside his heart. He had never told Ivy that he loved seeing her face on the pillow beside him every morning. He’d never told her that his once gloomy castle was filled with light and laughter now that she lived there with him. He certainly hadn’t told her that he was scared the way she made him feel weakened in some way.

What had he done?Rafa closed his eyes and saw Ivy’s tear-stained face. He knew in his gut that Sandro must somehow have been responsible for the news story. And he did not doubt that Ivy had believed she was unable to have children after her cancer ordeal as a teenager. She had called their baby a miracle and that was exactly what her pregnancy was. An even greater miracle would be if she gave him a second chance to put things right between them.

‘Mamma, I have behaved appallingly to Ivy,’ he said raggedly.

His mother squeezed his hand. ‘She will forgive you because she loves you. Go to her,mio caro figlio.’

Rafa called Ivy as he tore out of the hospital. ‘Are you still at the penthouse,cara? I’ll be with you in a few minutes.’

‘I didn’t go to the penthouse. I’m on my way back to the castle in a taxi because earlier I felt sick in the helicopter. I’m going to take Bertie to England and make a home for him and the new baby.’ She swallowed audibly and Rafa pictured her big brown eyes brimming with tears. ‘My phone battery is about to die, but there is nothing for us to say to each other. I want more than you can give me. I need to know that you trust me and...and care for me a little.’

‘I do...’ Rafa swore when the line went dead.

The journey to the castle in the helicopter took much less time than by car, and he arrived before Ivy. The castle felt empty without her. He wandered through the rooms, noticing how she had made the once gloomy fortress into a happy family home with potted plants everywhere, framed photos of Bertie and pictures from their honeymoon in Hawaii. He had taken the little signs of her presence for granted, but the idea that she might leave and take Bertie with her made his gut clench.

He wanted to persuade her to stay, but there was still a part of him that was reluctant to open up about his feelings for her and make himself vulnerable. Ivy’s pregnancy was an excuse to push her into agreeing to continue with their marriage and would give him time to come to terms with the terrifying reality that the walls of his fortress were crumbling.

An hour passed, and then another. Ivy should have arrived by now. Rafa stood next to the window, watching impatiently for the taxi to turn into the courtyard. He replayed the awful things he had said to her over in his mind. He felt even more guilty after he discovered from a source who worked in the media that the reporter Luigi Cappello had confirmed Sandro Florenzi had given him the story alleging that Bertie was Rafa’s illegitimate son.

He had misjudged the resentment Sandro had felt at missing out on becoming the CEO of Vieri Azioni. The baby scandal had caused the other board members and shareholders to withdraw their support from Rafa, as Sandro had intended.

He turned away from his vigil by the window when the nanny entered the study. ‘Bertie is having his afternoon nap.’ Anna’s usual cheerful smile was missing. ‘Have you seen the news report of the traffic accident on theautostrada? At least six cars were involved, and apparently there have been fatalities.’ She looked close to tears. ‘Ivy called me from a taxi when she left Rome, but I’ve been unable to get hold of her since then.’

‘She said her phone battery had been about to die.’ Rafa scrolled to a news site on his phone and read the report of the accident. Photographs showed a tangled mass of metal and wrecked vehicles, and emergency medics were treating the injured at the roadside. Dread felt like a lead weight in the pit of his stomach.

‘The road has been closed since the accident happened,’ Anna said. ‘Apparently the traffic congestion is taking a long time to clear. Ivy is probably stuck in a tailback and will be home soon.’

‘Yes.’ He looked away from the nanny’s sympathetic expression and returned to stare out of the window. ‘Please,piccola,’ he said beneath his breath. ‘Please come home. I need you.’ He thought of Bertie in the nursery, waiting for his belovedmamma, and whispered hoarsely, ‘We both need you.’

Ivy shivered when she saw the blue flashing lights in the distance. The traffic on theautostradawas at a standstill and several emergency services vehicles had shot past on the hard shoulder. The wail of their sirens brought back memories of the road accident that had claimed her sister’s life.

‘Do you know what has happened?’ she asked the taxi driver.

He did not speak much English, but he must have understood, and the meaning of his reply was clear.‘Incidente.’

She hoped the people involved in the accident were not seriously hurt, or worse. Lives could be lost or changed irrevocably in an instant. Since she’d lost Gemma, Ivy had tried to live her life as fully and honestly as possible. That was why it had hurt so much when Rafa had accused her of lying about being infertile.

She had expected him to be shocked. After all, she still couldn’t quite believe that she was going to have a baby. She held her hands over her stomach where the precious new life was developing. The baby would be a brother or sister for Bertie, for she would always treasure her sister’s child as dearly as her own. But, instead of being in a family, she would be a single mother. Rafa had made it clear that he did not want their baby.

Ivy had no more tears left, and she felt angry with Rafa for his refusal to trust her, even though she hadn’t given him any reason to think she had lied to him. She had always been honest with him. Although, that wasn’t quite true, her conscience prodded her. She hadn’t been honest about her feelings for him. She had hidden her love for him because she’d been afraid of his rejection.

Rafa had told her what his ex-wife had done, how Tiffany had tricked him into believing he had a daughter, whom he’d loved. It was not surprising that he had built a fortress around his emotions. Perhaps, if she’d found the courage to offer him her heart, he might have started to trust her, Ivy thought miserably. It was too late now. He had pulled up the drawbridge and love could not reach him.

The traffic was gridlocked and time passed slowly. An hour, two hours. She stared, frustrated, at her phone’s black screen. She had told Anna she was on her way back to the castle, and she imagined how concerned the nanny would be when she failed to return. It was likely that the traffic accident had been reported in the news.

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