‘Good. I’ll come with you to that.’ Alexi sounded distracted now. Someone else was talking to him. Katie thought it sounded like a female voice. ‘I’ve got to go, Katie. I’ll see you soon. Take care of yourself and that baby.’
Then he was gone.
She put the phone down. He was working and it couldn’t be helped, she told herself calmly as she tried to dismiss disappointment and unease. And the woman was probably a secretary, or a driver, or his accountant. She could be any number of employees.
Katie turned her attention back to work. She had never been a jealous, suspicious person and she wasn’t going to turn into one either!
Somehow Katie put all thoughts of Alexi out of her mind for the rest of the afternoon, and she managed to get a lot of work done. It wasn’t until she was home in the solitude of the house that the whispers of doubt started again.
Paris was a strange place to be detained. It really wasn’t one of their busiest offices—it ran on a skeleton staff and there were hardly ever any problems there. Why had he been detained in Paris?
She had a shower and took herself off to bed with a cup of tea to try and relax herself—but still the thoughts went round and round in her head until she had to get up again.
Andrea was in Paris.
The thought came into her head from nowhere. The woman at the party had told her that Andrea was off on a modelling assignment in Paris.
It was a coincidence, she told herself. Alexi and Andrea had been divorced for a long time. If they’d wanted to get back together they would have done it by now.
But maybe they didn’t want to get back together; maybe they just wanted to meet up every now and then for sex. That was the kind of arrangement Alexi liked.
Katie felt sick suddenly. She went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water and then padded out to the terrace.
The night was so hot it was sticky. She sat on the swing chair and looked out at the sea. The roll of the surf was soothing.
She was being fanciful. Alexi was on business and he would be home soon.
Flashes of lightning lit up the sky suddenly as if someone was switching a light bulb on and off, and there was a low growl of thunder. Katie watched the dramatic play of light across the sky, watched the way it lit up the sea in a surreal moment of silver. It scared her and fascinated her at the same time. Then there was an almighty roar that was almost deafening, it was so loud.
She got up to go back inside, and that was when the first twinges of pain hit her stomach. As she went upstairs it was just a niggling discomfort, but by the time she had reached the bedroom it was steadily getting worse.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and took deep breaths. What was the matter with her? Was she losing the baby?
The thought tore through her almost as violently as the storm raging outside.
Desperately she tried to calm herself, but tears sprung to her eyes as another pain tore through her and she doubled up into a protective ball. She couldn’t lose her baby—she just couldn’t. It would be the end of everything!
For a few minutes she didn’t think she could bear it. She listened to the sound of the thunder resounding through the mountains like cannonfire and breathed deeply. Breathing seemed to help. The pain started to recede. Her mobile was sitting next to the bed, and she reached for it to try and ring Alexi. She needed to hear his voice—she needed him.
A voice message said his number was unavailable.
She tried to ring his parents’ house but there was no reply, just an answer machine. She started to leave a message saying she wasn’t feeling well—then changed her mind and hung up. What could they do? They weren’t even home! And she knew his sister Julia and her husband were away on holiday for a couple of days.
She tried to think rationally. The pain was easing even more now and there was no blood.
Was she well enough to drive? Perhaps she could get herself to the hospital. She knew where it was; she’d been for routine blood tests a couple of days ago.
Katie tried to stand up. Surprisingly she felt all right. Maybe the pain had been nothing to worry about. She put her hand protectively on her stomach. But to be on the safe side it might be best to get to a doctor. Quickly she reached for a pair of linen trousers that she had left on the chair and replaced her nightdress with a T-shirt, gathered her bag, phone and car keys and headed for the door.
For a while she felt OK. She got into her car and started the engine. Everything was going to be fine, she told herself over and over as she headed out along the winding coast road.
Fork lightning was gashing across the sky in front of her, illuminating the darkness. She drove a few miles, following the twisty road slowly and carefully. And then the rain started.
One moment she could see clearly, the next it was like someone had placed her inside a carwash where the outside world ceased to exist, and she was enveloped in a watery world all of her own. She put the windscreen wipers on at full speed but still they wouldn’t clear it. All she could do was pull the car over to the side of the road and stop.
It was probably a cloudburst that would last for a minute and then pass, she reassured herself, trying to fight down the feelings of unease. But the minutes ticked away, and there was no respite.
The storm sounded as if it was directly overhead now. The thunder was so violent she imagined it shook her car.
Katie was aware that her situation was not a safe one. Although there was very little traffic on this road, if something was still moving along the highway it might not see her and hit her. She tried to reassure herself that other drivers would be in the same predicament, and would have pulled over to stop, but even so she didn’t like it.
She put on the light inside the car—every little thing helped, she thought. Then she just waited and waited for the storm to pass.
The rain was easing a little when the pain started again. It just gnawed at first—but it was there.
Katie put her hand on her stomach. She was into the second trimester of her pregnancy now and they said that the risk of miscarriage was lower once you passed that point. She and Alexi had planned to tell his parents this weekend.
She felt her eyes blur with tears as the pain started to increase again. She wanted her child so much, wanted to hold her and love her. Wanted to be a mother.
If she lost her baby it would be the end of her dreams and hopes for the future—her family life—her marriage!
She reached for her mobile phone and dialled Alexi’s number again. She didn’t know what he could do—he was probably still in Paris—but just hearing his voice and talking to him would be something. But his phone didn’t even ring now. She glanced at the dial and noticed with horror that she didn’t have a signal. She was obviously at a point in the road where the mountains blocked out the transmitters.
She hung up and started to cry in earnest—she couldn’t help it. She was tired of being strong, of trying to pretend that everything was going to be all right. Maybe it wasn’t.
