Page 37 of The Return of Her Billionaire Husband

Juliette walked towards her daughter’s grave but, as she got closer, something caught her eye. There was a new teddy bear with a pink tulle tutu sitting propped up next to the marble headstone. She bent down and read the card that was attached to the teddy bear.

To my darling Emilia

Love you for ever, mio piccolo

Rest in peace

Papà

It was Joe’s distinctive handwriting. The combination of English and Italian a touching tribute to their baby girl’s heritage. He’d been here. Recently. He had visited Emilia’s grave for the first time since her funeral.

He was here in England.

Juliette turned and scanned the graveyard for any sign of him but, apart from an older couple standing next to a grave several metres away, there was no one else here. Her shoulders slumped and she turned back to Emilia’s grave and set about placing the flowers in the vase. Just because he was in England didn’t mean he would seek her out.

What else could he say other than what he’d already said?

Then maybe I don’t love you.

How those words had tortured her, bruised her, destroyed her hopes like noxious poison sprayed on a delicate bloom.

Juliette drove back to her flat in London with a heavy heart. It was all very well for her scientifically trained mother to insist she look at the evidence, but how could she survive another rejection?

She turned the corner into her street and saw a tall figure standing at her front door. Her heart gave a leap, her pulse thudded, her hopes rose. She tried to play it cool by parking her car with casual ease, even though she felt like banging and crashing into the cars before and aft in her haste to get to Joe.

She walked towards him with her expression as blank as she could muster but she could do nothing about the way her heart was thumping. ‘Hello.’ How stiff and formal she sounded. As if she was addressing a cold caller or doorstep salesperson.

‘Can we talk inside?’ Joe’s tone was gruff, his expression guarded.

‘Okay.’ She unlocked her door and went in, conscious of his tall frame coming in behind her. The scent of his aftershave teasing her senses, her body reacting automatically. Wanting to touch him. Be held by him. Loved by him.

The door closed behind him and silence descended. A weighted silence.

‘I saw the teddy bear,’ Juliette said.

‘Yes, I went there this morning.’ He swallowed and continued in a fractured tone. ‘Cara, can you ever forgive me for how I’ve handled everything? I’m ashamed of how blind I’ve been to how I feel about you.’

Juliette took a steadying breath, not quite ready to let her hopes run free. ‘How do you feel about me?’

He smiled and took her hands in his. ‘My darling, I love you. I think I’ve loved you since the first night we met but I’ve been denying it, suppressing it or disguising it as something else. It was cruel of me to say I didn’t love you back in Paris. I can never forgive myself for that. But I was so threatened by your desire to have another child. It made me shut down in a blind sort of panic.’

Could she believe him? Could she risk further heartbreak if she was wrong about his motives for being here?

‘How do I know you mean it? You might be just saying it to get me to come back to you.’

His grip on her hands tightened as if he was worried she was going to pull away. ‘I deserve your scepticism. The way I blocked any discussion about having another child was a knee-jerk reaction, sure, but it was unspeakably cruel to send you away as if I cared nothing. I love you with every beat of my heart. I can’t imagine life without you by my side. It is no life without you. I’m a robot, a zombie like my father was when he lost my mother.’

‘You’re not just saying this because you want me back?’

‘I’m saying it because it’s true. I can’t be who I’m meant to be without you. I never thought there was such a thing as a soulmate but I’ve realised you don’t find a soulmate, you become one.’ He squeezed her hands. ‘I’ve become the man I want to be because of you. I didn’t know I was capable of such depth of feeling.’

‘Oh, Joe...’ She blinked back tears. ‘I’m so frightened I’m going to get hurt again. It was so hard losing both you and the baby.’

He brought one of her hands up to his mouth, his eyes holding hers in a tender lock. ‘You’re not going to lose me, cara. I will always be here for you, no matter what. I can’t guarantee we won’t lose another baby. No one can guarantee that, but what you can count on is this—I will be with you every step of whatever journey our lives take us on.’

Hope blossomed in her chest. ‘So, are you saying you’d consider having another baby?’

He brought her closer, his eyes dark and tender, so full of love it made her heart turn over. ‘I’ll probably be a nervous wreck throughout your pregnancy, but it will be worth it if we are so lucky as to be blessed with a child. The thought of losing you like my father lost my mother haunts me. It haunted me from the start but when I visited my mother’s grave the other day—’

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