Surprise Baby, Second Chance

by Therese Beharrie

  ‘No,’ he said after a moment. ‘I’m here because I’m...choosing to be. And because I didn’t think about it. I just booked a flight and came here right after I spoke with my mother.’

  ‘You...spoke with your mother?’ she asked slowly, before shaking her head. ‘No, wait, you just booked a flight?’

  He clenched his teeth, and then forced himself to relax. ‘I was being spontaneous.’ He hissed out a breath. ‘So yes, I suppose I am annoyed to be here. I’m annoyed that I don’t have anything better for you than I’m sorry. Because that’s what happens when I don’t have a plan.’

  ‘But you’re here,’ she said softly. ‘And that means something.’

  The emotion in her eyes told him that it did. And suddenly all the uncertainty didn’t feel so overwhelming.

  ‘Tell me about the visit to your mother,’ she urged softly, when silence took over the room.

  ‘I asked her about... Well, I asked her about my father. And about her.’ He cleared his throat. ‘About why they didn’t want me.’

  ‘And she told you it wasn’t you.’

  ‘Yes.’ She always knew. ‘He was married.’

  ‘Oh, Aaron.’ She took a step forward, and then stopped. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be,’ he said, his heart aching at her hesitation. ‘It made me realise that the things I’ve believed about myself, about my life, weren’t entirely correct.’

  ‘And you’re okay with that?’

  He thought about it. ‘No. I don’t think I will be for a long time. But I have answers now, and they’ll help me figure it out. That’s enough for now.’ He paused. ‘I think that’s why you leaving—why all of this—hit me so hard. Because I thought all of it was me. Because I didn’t have answers.’

  ‘But you know better now,’ she said. ‘You have answers.’

  ‘Yes.’ He cleared his throat. ‘She told me you told her I’d come.’

  ‘A guess,’ she said, but angled her face as if she didn’t want him to see her expression.

  ‘No, it wasn’t a guess.’ He walked towards her, stopping only a few metres away. ‘You know me. How?’

  She laughed hoarsely. ‘You’re my husband.’

  ‘And you’re my wife.’ He stepped closer. ‘Yet somehow I didn’t realise how important that was until you walked away from me. When I saw you again, and I couldn’t keep my heart or body from you. And when you told me you were pregnant—’

  He sucked in air. Let it out slowly.

  ‘My mother told me she should have been responsible for me because I was her child. But also...because she loved me.’ He closed the distance between them now. ‘And I love you, Rosa. Being responsible for you and our child... It’s because I want to be. I’m choosing you.’ He lifted his hand, brushed a finger across her lips. ‘No matter what happens in my life, Rosa, I always end up choosing you.’

  She sucked her lip between her teeth and then blew out a breath. ‘You really know how to sweep a woman off her feet, don’t you?’

  His lips curved. ‘I’m only interested in sweeping one woman off her feet.’ His hand dropped to her waist. ‘You have questions.’

  ‘So many,’ she said on a little outburst of air. ‘But I also have to tell you... I’ve been seeing someone about my anxiety.’

  ‘Has it been helping?’ he asked carefully.

  ‘Yes. But it’s not just going to go away.’

  ‘I know.’ He took her hand. Squeezed. And let go.

  ‘And I haven’t done the test yet.’

  ‘The screening?’ She nodded. ‘Can you do it while you’re pregnant?’

  ‘I... I haven’t seen a doctor about it, so I don’t know for sure. But I wanted you to know, so that—’

  ‘I can be there for you if and when you choose to go?’

  Her mouth opened, and then she swallowed. ‘I’m going to do it.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘So there’s no if.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Her brow furrowed. ‘You’re really okay with all this?’

  ‘They’re your decisions, Rosa. I’ll support you, no matter what you decide. And we’ll deal with the consequences of whichever decision you make.’

  Her eyes filled. ‘Thank you.’ Seconds later, she said, ‘You mean it, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’re choosing it. You’re choosing me.’

  ‘Rosa, I had a heart-to-heart with my mother about my father, and her actions in the past.’ He stroked her hair. ‘And then I flew here on the spur of the moment with only my mother’s word that you’d be here. I have no clothes, no toiletries, no place to stay. I only have you.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘I don’t want to waste my life like my parents did,’ he interrupted. ‘Their choices—the fact that I’m here—were a series of mistakes. And yes, we’ve made mistakes too. But we were never a mistake.’

  His hands moved to her waist again, and tightened there. ‘And, if you’ll have me, I’ll believe that nothing that’s brought us here has been a mistake either.’

  Now he placed a hand on her abdomen and felt his entire body warm when she covered his hand with both of hers.

  ‘I still love you, Rosa,’ he said again, quietly. ‘I’ve never stopped—’

  He was silenced by her lips on his. It was a long, sweet kiss, free from the anguish that had plagued them for longer than either of them knew. Only when the doorbell rang did they come up for air.

  ‘I’m not expecting anyone,’ Rosa said breathlessly as she moved to open the door. He caught her waist.

  ‘I am.’

  ‘What? Who?’

  ‘I...ordered some camellias.’ He swallowed. ‘I remember you said you liked them. I know they’re not your favourite, but they’re sometimes called the rose of winter.’ He waited nervously but she didn’t say anything. ‘If we have a daughter,’ he added quickly, ‘the name would be perfect to fit into your family’s tradition. Because yours is Rosa, and she was conceived in—’

  Again, she silenced him with a kiss. Tears glistened on her face when she drew back. ‘I... I can’t tell you how much that...’ She stopped, offering him a watery smile. ‘Thank you.’ She laid her head on his chest. ‘I love you, Aaron.’ She paused. ‘We’re going to figure it all out, aren’t we?’

  He kissed the top of her head. ‘Together.’

  She looked up at him and smiled. ‘Together.’

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed this story,

  check out these other great reads

  from Therese Beharrie

  Tempted by the Billionaire Next Door

  Falling for His Convenient Queen

  United by Their Royal Baby

  The Millionaire’s Redemption

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Captivated by Her Italian Boss by Rosanna Battigelli

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  Captivated by Her Italian Boss

  by Rosanna Battigelli

  CHAPTER ONE

  WHEN NEVE SPOTTED the ad in the Vancouver newspaper in the second to last week of June, she felt a shiver of excitement run through her. It was an ad requesting applications from Canadian nannies for a position for the summer. In Italy. And Southern Italy, at that. A place she had visited with her mother when she was eighteen. Her parents had traveled through Calabria and Sicily on their honeymoon, and her mother’s nostalgia had drawn her back for what would have been their nineteenth anniversary.

  Neve had loved the leisurely five-week tour through the seaside towns and mountain hamlets, culminating with the last week in Valdoro—Valley of Gold—on the southeast coast of Calabria. It was the town where Neve had been conceived. Neve could still envision the shimmering, color-changing waves of the Ionian Sea. And the dazzling sun that rose at dawn, its face an orange-gold orb that soon took dominion of the cerulean sky. By 8:00 a.m., the temperature would register over thirty degrees Celsius, and Neve couldn’t wait to head to the beach.

  Her imagination had gone wild as they explored the ancient places she had read about in the works of British authors who had traveled to the area over a century earlier. Because of Greek colonization a thousand or so years ago, the area had become known as Magna Grecia, or Great Greece. Neve had read the books her parents had discovered about the South, including George Gissing’s By The Ionian Sea and Norman Douglas’s Old Calabria. She had particularly enjoyed Edward Lear’s Voyages in Southern Italy. Lear had traveled to the South with another artist to paint landscapes. As he traveled from hamlet to hamlet, he had written about his experiences in a journal. His accounts of peculiar townsfolk and the places they had stayed had put Neve in stitches, like the story of a pig running out from under a table as they were feasting on a dinner of macaroni. As an adolescent, Neve had dreamed of returning to Italy one day to rediscover the places that had so enchanted her.

  Reading the details in the ad, Neve’s jaw dropped. What were the chances of coming across a job opportunity in Valdoro for the summer? And one that she could easily apply for, since her job as a kindergarten teacher meant she had summers free. The ad read:

  Canadian Nanny wanted to prepare child for Kindergarten.

  Summer Position.

  Only highly experienced applicants will be considered.

  Skills in Behavioral Management and Modification a must.

  Child has experienced trauma and requires a special caregiver.

  Three nannies have been recently dismissed; please do not apply if you believe this will be a vacation.

  Position is full-time, with one day off per week.

  Send a letter including your CV to my assistant, Mrs. Lucia Michele, email address below.

  Do not inquire as to the status of your application.

  You will be contacted within one week for an interview if I am interested.

  Neve read the ad over several times. The prospective employer obviously wanted to make it quite clear to the applicant that this job was not going to be an easy one. She wondered at the trauma of the poor child. A death? Divorce? Abuse? Her stomach twisted. She had a special place in her heart for children; she always had, even as a teenager. She had babysat regularly in her neighborhood, and she had decided early on that teaching would be the career for her. She had been teaching now for three years, and maybe that didn’t make her highly experienced, but she had dealt with a few difficult and sensitive situations, and as a result, had taken specialized courses to help children who had experienced trauma of some kind.

  She herself had experienced the loss of her father as a child. He had succumbed to a sudden stroke when she was eight, and it still made her heart twinge when she remembered the day she had come home from school and had found her house filled with relatives and family friends, some gathered around her mother. Bewildered, she had run toward her mother, who had sobbed the news to her before collapsing. Sadly, over the years, her mother had been more preoccupied with her loss and less over Neve’s trauma of losing her father.

  Neve’s eyes prickled. She squeezed them shut, then focused on the ad.

  Who was the sender? The most logical answer was that it was a parent who couldn’t stay at home and needed someone to help the child deal with the trauma and help prepare him or her for the challenge of another transition: school.

  A tall order. Especially since progress so far had been limited. At least that was what she had inferred from the terse statement: three nannies have recently been dismissed. She felt a twinge in her heart at what the child must be going through and the poor, desperate parent. A thousand thoughts swarmed her mind about the sad possibilities, and then one thought pushed the others away: I’m going to apply.

  And why not? She had the sensitivity required for such a position, given her own personal history. And she had dealt with behavioral and trauma issues in her three years of teaching, everything from stubbornness and aggression to grief over the loss of a parent or pet.

  Yes, she would have loved to return to a vacation in Valdoro, but just being there and knowing she would be helping a child in distress—or attempting to help—was enough to motivate her. She would be content with reacquainting herself with the area on her day off. Of course, that was if she was hired for the position.

  Neve had been ready to go to bed when she had picked up the newspaper, but now she was too excited to sleep. She reached for her laptop and typed up a letter. She read it over twice, added a section, read it over again and then attached her most recent CV. Taking a deep breath, she typed in the email address and pressed Send before she could change her mind.

  With a shiver of anticipation, Neve ran a bath, her imagination sparked. As she stepped into its bubbly warmth, her floral-scented body wash reminded her of the jasmine and other flowers blooming in the pots on the balconies at Villa Morgana, where she had stayed with her mother in Valdoro. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, her memories reactivated.

  Visions of the villa came rushing back: the spacious, elegant rooms with their sparkling marble floors; the colorful glazed pots on the balcony, bursting with blooms of every color; and the scent of the nearby bakery wafting up to her when she stepped out on her balcony—

  Neve’s eyes flew open. She blinked. There was something wrong with this picture. Well, not wrong, exactly. It was just missing one thing. One person. The guy walking down the road. The guy whose intense gaze had seemed to blaze across the street to connect with hers.

  She had been drying her hair outside after a cool shower, enjoying the balmy heat of the midday Calabrian sun. Her mother and their friends, the owners of the villa, had been taking their usual siesta after the sumptuous lunch they had all feasted on. The merchants had shut down their businesses for the afternoon, and would reopen in a few hours. Nobody strolled about in the scorching afternoon heat, which is why Neve had been taken aback to see him walking by. His stride seemed to have slowed down when he was directly across the road from her balcony. And although other boys in Valdoro had openly demonstrated curiosity about her with sly nudges and winks when she walked in and out of the ice cream shop or bakery down the street, they hadn’t turned her knees to jelly, like this guy had just done.

  He must have been working on a farm. His dark hair had been tousled and sweat-dampened, and his white T-shirt and jeans had been streaked with earth. He had bee
n carrying a large burlap bag on his back, filled with greens and vegetables. But it had been his eyes that had galvanized her. Ebony eyes that had sent a shiver coursing through her veins. Eyes like river stones gleaming in the sun. And even with a coating of dust on his face, Neve had been able to make out his chiseled features, straight nose and sensual curve of his lips.

  Suddenly flustered, Neve had shifted her gaze and in mere seconds, had taken in his tanned arms—his biceps bulging from holding the burlap bag—and his well-fitting, straight-leg jeans. He is not a boy, she remembered thinking. She had guessed him to be in his early twenties. And she had been eighteen... For a few moments she had felt a strange weakness overcome her and had wondered if she was about to pass out.

  And then he had stopped. She had felt him staring at her and had looked up. Is he going to say something? she had wondered. Their eyes had locked. And then he had given a slight nod and, readjusting his bag, had kept walking. The following day Neve had watched him from behind the wooden shutters, too shy to suddenly appear on the balcony. But when he had slowed down and looked up toward her balcony, her heart had fluttered. He had been hoping to see her.

  * * *

  Neve realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a rush. And then other memories of that summer eight years ago came tumbling out. The way he had started going by the villa several times a day, not just to and from his farm job, but also later in the evening. He had made evening trips to and from the bakery, the Pasticceria Michelina. Sometimes he had walked; other times he had rumbled by on a motor scooter. Neve had felt herself falling under the spell of the Southern ways, the age-old custom of locking gazes, communicating with eyes only, a slow dance of intuition and anticipation. Her heart had thrummed all evening and night after that first encounter, and over the next few days she had found she could concentrate on little else.

  Her mother, Lois, had caught the exchange once. He had been walking by after his work on the farm, and Lois had come into Neve’s room and walked toward the balcony at the same moment that he had paused to look up and smile at Neve, who had taken to sitting out on the balcony with a book every afternoon. Neve had returned the smile, and then had become aware of her mother’s presence.