text she sent him, apologising profusely for the way she had behaved and the things she had said before sharing the fact that she was still pregnant. She was a little surprised that there was no immediate response and rather more disconcerted when a nurse came to tell her that a car had arrived to collect her and she was wheeled out expecting to see Leo and instead saw only his driver and two of his bodyguards. Had she expected Leo to rush hotfoot to the hospital to greet her?
Perhaps that had been a little unrealistic after what she had slung at him the evening before, she conceded wretchedly. She sent him another text, hoping to elicit a response, but it was not until the evening that Leo phoned her and the conversation they shared was brief and stilted. He asked how she was, made no reference to the baby or their marriage and told her that he was in London on business and that he would be away for about a week.
‘When you get back, I suppose we’ll talk,’ Grace said uncomfortably, disappointed that he hadn’t once mentioned the baby.
‘Great...won’t that be something to look forward to?’ Leo derided, silencing her altogether.
Had Leo ignored her text because he had decided that there was a lot of truth in what she had said at the hospital? Had he reached the conclusion that the fact they were going to be parents wasn’t a good enough reason to stay married to a woman who wasn’t his ideal? Was that why he had made no comment? And was the divorce she had suggested what he would be discussing when he reappeared?
Five days later, Grace sat out on the terrace below the twining vines that were slowly colouring to autumnal shades and dropping their leaves. She had thrown up before she made it down to breakfast and her breasts were painfully sensitive. It was as if every possible side effect of pregnancy was suddenly kicking in all at once. She had gone for her blood tests with Dr Silvano and he had reassured her that the results were normal.
Her nerves though were all over the place because Leo was due back that very evening and she was stressed out at the thought of seeing him again because he had been so polite and distant when he phoned. In addition, he had mentioned dining with Marina, who was also in London, and Grace had had to battle an innate streak of jealousy and tell herself that she was relaxed about his friendship with his former fiancée. But even so, Grace feared comparisons being made and knew it would always hurt that Leo should believe that Marina would have made him the ideal wife.
Josefina popped her head out of the French windows that led out to the terrace. ‘Signora Zikos? Visitor. Meester Robert,’ she pronounced, utilising her tiny English vocabulary.
Her brow pleating in surprise, for she didn’t recognise the name, Grace stood up and stared at the man walking towards her, a chord of recognition striking her so hard that she froze and her eyes widened. The man was in his forties and of medium height with red hair as bright as her own. She had studied his photos on Facebook on several occasions and she knew who he was even though she couldn’t quite credit that he could be in Italy to visit her.
‘You’re...’ Grace began breathlessly.
‘Tony Roberts, your father. I wanted to phone and warn you that I was coming but Leo was convinced it would be better if I simply surprised you,’ he explained tautly. ‘I hope he was right on that score...’
‘Leo? You’ve met Leo?’ Grace exclaimed, inviting the older man to sit down at the table she had vacated.
‘He came to see me at the surgery last week and told me that you’d only recently found out what happened between your mother and I. By the way, I’m very sorry for your loss,’ he told her with quiet sympathy. ‘I wasn’t sure this was the best time for me to meet you but your husband thought it might cheer you up.’
‘My loss?’ Grace repeated uncertainly, her brow indenting as she struggled to work out how such a misunderstanding could have taken place. ‘But I didn’t have a miscarriage...I’m still pregnant.’
Her father gave her a perplexed look, clearly confused.
‘Did Leo tell you I had miscarried?’ Grace asked abruptly and when he nodded, everything fell into place for Grace and she finally realised that she had totally misinterpreted Leo’s silence about her health and threatened miscarriage. Evidently, her text had gone astray and, having failed to receive it, Leo had assumed the worst and had then tactfully avoided any reference to pregnancy or babies. ‘My goodness,’ she whispered in shock, appalled to appreciate that Leo had been walking round London in ignorance of the reality that he was still going to be a father.
She explained the misunderstanding to her own father while trying to come to terms with the knowledge that, even divided as they currently were, Leo had still sought out her father and gone to see him for what could only be for her benefit.
‘Are you saying that your husband still doesn’t know that you didn’t lose the baby?’ he commented in consternation. ‘You should go and phone him right now!’
‘Leo’s due back tonight and I’d prefer to tell him face to face,’ Grace admitted with an abstracted smile, hoping that he would believe it was the very best news. ‘I gather it was Leo who persuaded you to come to Italy and meet me?’
‘I needed very little persuasion. I have waited over twenty years for this opportunity,’ Tony Roberts pointed out with a wry smile. ‘I assumed that you would hate me because your mother did. I didn’t even know Keira had a brother in London. I never met any of her family because she didn’t get on with them. I also had no idea that your mother had died when you were eleven. Had I known I would have asked if you could come and live with me instead of your aunt and uncle.’
Josefina brought out a tray of coffee and biscuits and Grace chatted to her father, satisfying her curiosity about his side of the family tree and asking about his three children and his wife. Tony had been so excited about the chance to meet his long-lost daughter that he had gone straight to his partners in the surgery where he worked and requested time off to fly straight out to Italy for the weekend. Grace was doubly touched, overwhelmed by her father’s eagerness to meet her and stunned by the effort Leo had gone to on her behalf. Leo cared about her happiness, she realised, warmth filling her heart. Only a man who cared about her would have taken the trouble to set up such a meeting.
Morning coffee stretched into a leisurely lunch out on the terrace and the sunny afternoon sped past fast as father and daughter got to know each other, registering their similarities in outlook and interests with acceptance and pleasure. As the daylight faded, Tony took his leave, only then confiding that his wife, Jennifer, was waiting for him back at his hotel. Grace invited the couple to come for dinner the following evening and she watched the older man drive off in his hire car with genuine regret. She suspected that he would have been a lovely supportive father to have when she was younger and then she told herself off for concentrating once again on the negative rather than the positive. She decided it was wiser to be grateful for the enjoyable day she had spent in her father’s company and was already looking forward to meeting her three younger half-siblings when she returned to London.
She prepared for Leo’s return with care, donning a green dress with elaborate beadwork round the neckline and elegant heels. Hearing the helicopter come in to land, she breathed in deep and crossed her fingers for luck. He would probably still be angry with her because he hadn’t received her text and she had behaved badly at the hospital. She was still brushing her hair when Leo entered the bedroom.
‘I phoned Josefina and asked her to put dinner back an hour because I knew I was running late,’ he told her, pausing directly in front of her to gaze down at her with shrewd dark golden eyes. ‘How have you been?’
‘Good, really good.
