Page 31 of The Return of Her Billionaire Husband

Juliette was seated next to Joe, with a woman on her left in her mid to late forties called Marisa, who was on the board of directors for the charity.

‘I’m so pleased to finally meet you,’ Marisa said with a warm smile. She glanced covertly towards Joe but he was talking to the man next to him and added in a lower tone, ‘We so appreciate what you and Joe have done for our charity. It’s really lovely too that you could make it here with him.’

‘Oh, well, it was really Joe who did all the fundraising. I’m afraid I had little to do with that at all.’

Marisa placed a gentle hand on Juliette’s arm, her expression full of compassion. ‘You don’t have to explain. What you two went through is enough to tear apart any young couple. I should know. I had a stillbirth in between my first and third child. It was horrendous. I think of him every single day. We called him Alexandre.’

Juliette looked into the other woman’s now shimmering hazel gaze and for the first time in months felt less alone and isolated. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Marisa’s mouth twisted. ‘He would have been ten years old last month. You never really get over it. You carry it with you. I was lucky I already had a child. I’m not sure I would have been game enough to try again if I hadn’t. But I’m so glad I did. My two girls are my biggest joy.’

Juliette swallowed a tight lump in her throat. ‘How soon did you...try again?’ Her voice was as tentative as her thoughts on the subject of having another baby. It was something she had been thinking about ever since she’d walked into the nursery. The thoughts were mostly at the back of her mind, but lately they were creeping closer and closer. Close enough for her to imagine cradling a beautiful baby in her arms.

A live baby.

Joe’s baby.

‘Months and months,’ Marisa said. ‘I could barely look at my husband without bursting into floods of tears. But I’d always wanted a family and Henri did too. We decided it would probably help us heal if we tried again. And it worked. It doesn’t mean I don’t still grieve. I do, and badly at times, and so does Henri. But the thing that helped Henri and me was setting up this foundation a couple of years after we lost Alexandre. Joe’s contribution has been invaluable. It’s meant we can do further important research as well as adding to our counselling services. It was so very kind and generous of him, when he was going through such a difficult time himself.’

Guilt rained down on Juliette anew. Joe might not have visited their daughter’s grave but he had done what he could to stop such a tragedy from happening to others. Instead of trying to understand things from his point of view, she had pushed him away, rejected him, marched out of his life instead of sharing the burden of grief with him—without allowing him time to process his feelings, which were just as valid as hers.

‘He’s...a very kind and generous person,’ she said, her heart so full of love for Joe she found it hard to take her next breath. Love that had grown from the moment she’d met him. The first kiss, the first night together—the night where she had given herself to him so wholeheartedly. The night that had bound them together with a subsequent tragedy. Could they move past it?

Marisa gently squeezed Juliette’s hand where it was resting on her lap. ‘You’ll know when it’s the right time to try again. You’ll probably always feel worried during any subsequent pregnancy—that’s entirely natural and unfortunately unavoidable. But the sheer joy of holding your baby at the end is worth it. There’s really nothing like it.’

Juliette squeezed the other woman’s hand in return. ‘Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I’ve found it so hard to talk to anyone about it. Some people in my life think I should have moved on by now.’

‘Not Joe, though?’ Marisa frowned.

‘No, not Joe.’ Juliette sighed and continued. ‘I’ve been so hard on him. I was so caught up in how I was feeling that I didn’t realise he was feeling the same, only expressing it a different way.’

Marisa nodded in empathy. ‘Tell me about it. I often was so angry at Henri for the most ridiculous things until I realised it was misplaced grief masquerading as anger. I could handle feeling angry. What I couldn’t handle was feeling profound gut-wrenching, inescapable grief. But eventually we worked through it and are stronger and closer for it.’

Stronger and closer for it.

Juliette mulled over that phrase as the more formal part of the dinner commenced. The award was finally announced and Joe led Juliette up to the podium. Press cameras went off and later a journalist requested an interview. Joe spoke briefly about the foundation and skilfully steered the journalist away from their personal situation. It made Juliette all the more uncertain of what he ultimately wanted from her. A fling before they divorced—or did he want her to stay with him for ever?

Stronger and closer.

Would those words one day define her and Joe? The desire to heal was so strong in her now. Stronger than her anger, which seemed to have dissipated like fog under the hopeful beam of sunshine. And she realised now a part of that healing included fulfilling her dream of having a family. Of being part of a loving partnership with her husband, raising children in a house where love and acceptance and nurture were at the forefront at all times.

Time was reputed to be a great healer, but wasn’t love the best healer of all?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEY WALKED BACK to their hotel in silence. Juliette had so many questions to ask, so many doubts to address, so many hopes to allow the freedom to grow. When they were back in their room she turned to look at him.

‘Joe? I wish I’d known about your work with the foundation. It means so much to me that you’ve tried to help so many others like us. I’m sorry I blocked contact with you.’

He slipped off his jacket and hung it loosely over the back of a chair. His mouth was pressed flat for a moment and his eyes looked pained. ‘I was almost glad you blocked me. I was worried about upsetting you. Every time we talk about the baby...’ his throat rose and fell and his voice grew raspy ‘... I see what it does to you. It hurts you.’

Tears sprouted in her eyes and she went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. ‘But it hurts me more not to talk about her. Losing Emilia will always upset me. It’s normal and unavoidable. We suffered a terrible loss. But I want to move on as best I can and that includes talking about how we’re feeling and when we’re feeling it.’

Joe cupped one side of her face, his other hand going to rest on her hip. His gaze held hers in a tender lock that made her heart contract. ‘I felt so powerless and frustrated our baby died. Giving to the foundation was the only thing I could think to do to remove some of that powerlessness. I figured by donating and raising large sums of money for research it would stop it happening to someone else. It helped me process my grief by actually doing something positive. I didn’t want to be like my father, who was so prostrated by grief it took years for him to come out of it.’

Juliette stroked his jaw, leaning into his strong frame, her body responding to his closeness with its usual leap of excitement. ‘I think you’re amazing to have done that. It shows the wonderful man you are. Generous and kind and compassionate.’

He brought his head down so his mouth was just above hers. ‘Don’t make me out to be too much of a hero, tesoro. I have many failings.’

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