she had loved, from Luca, her boss, but it was no longer a problem. The person standing before her was a stranger, someone who had lied and cheated to get what he’d wanted. She couldn’t even feel angry about what he had done; she just felt numb.
‘Are you sure you feel all right? You don’t have a headache, do you?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said flatly. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Of course.’
He didn’t say anything else as he let her out. Kelly didn’t look back as she made her way down the drive. She had no idea if he was watching her, but it didn’t matter if he was. He meant nothing to her now. He was just someone she worked with, someone she could learn from so she could improve her skills. The children she treated would benefit from her knowing Luca, but for her, personally, it was a matter of indifference.
It was only when she reached the end of the drive and discovered that she couldn’t see where she was going that she realised she was crying. Tears were pouring down her face, blinding her so that she stumbled and had to grab hold of the gate to steady herself. Luca had had a child with another woman. Sophia had been carrying his baby while he’d been making love to her. What kind of a man slept with another woman when his girlfriend was pregnant?
‘Kelly? Are you all right? What’s happened?’
All of a sudden Luca was there and she rounded on him in fury. ‘How could you, Luca? How could you sleep with me when Sophia was expecting your child?’
‘Because I had no idea she was pregnant!’ He caught hold of her arms and held onto them when she tried to pull away. ‘I only found out about the baby when I returned to Italy.’
‘You really expect me to believe that?’ she scoffed.
‘Yes, because it’s the truth.’ His grey eyes flashed as he gripped her even harder and she winced as his fingers bit into her bruised arm. He uttered something harsh as he swiftly released her. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Kelly.’
‘Didn’t you?’ she said brokenly.
‘No.’ He ran a gentle finger down her cheek and wiped away a tear. ‘Not now and most definitely not then. You were far too precious to me.’
‘Don’t,’ she pleaded, because she couldn’t bear to hear him say such things when they weren’t true. ‘Please, don’t say anything else, Luca. I don’t want to hear it.’
‘I know and I don’t blame you, either. But you have to believe that I never meant any of this to happen. All I’ve ever wanted was to protect you, Kelly.’ He cupped her cheek with his hand and his eyes were filled with sadness. ‘I know I failed in the past, but I swear that I won’t fail again.’
She wasn’t sure what he meant and didn’t care. She twisted her head to the side so that he was forced to release her. ‘I don’t want you to protect me. I suggest you concentrate on your wife and your son from now on and leave me alone.’ She laughed harshly, whipping up her anger rather than give in to the despair that threatened to overwhelm her. ‘I wonder what Sophia would say if she found out that you were making promises like that to another woman. Or maybe it’s something you do on a regular basis and she’s used to it? Perhaps I should ask her.’
‘That isn’t possible,’ he said roughly.
‘No?’ She shrugged. ‘I can understand you not wanting us to meet but don’t worry, Luca. I’ll be very discreet. I won’t say a word about the fact that you were sleeping with me when she was pregnant.’
‘Sophia is dead.’
The words cut through the still evening air and Kelly gasped. She stared at him in horror. ‘Dead?’
‘Yes. She died eighteen months ago.’
‘But Matteo must have been only a baby,’ she said blankly.
‘He was six months old.’ Luca took a deep breath, but the pain in his voice was so raw that it brought fresh tears to her eyes. ‘She had a highly aggressive form of breast cancer.’
‘And there was nothing anyone could do for her?’ she whispered.
‘If she’d received treatment as soon as it was diagnosed then she might have had a chance, but the odds were always stacked against her.’
‘What do you mean, if she’d received treatment sooner? What was to stop her having it immediately?’
‘Sophia found out that she had cancer the same week she discovered she was pregnant.’ He ran his hand over his face and Kelly could tell how much it hurt him to talk about what had happened. ‘She refused to undergo any treatment in case it harmed the baby. Her consultant pleaded with her, but she refused. In her eyes, it would have been tantamount to killing her child.’
‘And did you know about this?’ Kelly asked, appalled. ‘Did she tell you that she had refused treatment?’
‘No. I had no idea that Sophia was pregnant let alone that she had cancer until I returned to Italy. She was eight months pregnant by then and I managed to persuade her to have a Caesarean so she could begin chemotherapy. However, we both knew it was unlikely to help very much. In the event, it gave her a couple more months to spend with Matteo.’
‘I don’t know what to say…It must have been awful…for both of you.’ She tailed off and he sighed.
‘It was much, much worse for Sophia. She knew that she wasn’t going to live to see her son grow up and that’s what scared her more than anything else. Once she was sure that Matteo would be cared for, she accepted what was happening. She was extremely brave right until the end. It was humbling to watch the way she coped with her illness.’
‘Is that why you got married so soon after you returned to Italy?’ Kelly said quietly. One of the things that had hurt her most had been the speed with which Luca had married, but now she understood why it had happened so quickly. He must have been desperate to save Sophia from any more heartache.
Her heart lifted as she realised that it cast a different light on the events of the past. However, it would be wrong to get too carried away. She must never forget that it had been Sophia he’d loved, not her.
‘Si. There was no point waiting when it was the one thing that would set Sophia’s mind at rest.’ He stared at the ground for a moment and when he looked up, she could see the plea in his eyes. ‘I meant what I said, Kelly. I never intended to hurt you. I just didn’t have a choice.’
‘So, Alessandro, how do you feel today?’ Luca stopped beside the boy’s bed. It was the start of the morning ward round and Alessandro Alessi was the first patient on his list. He reviewed Alessandro’s notes while the boy explained that he was feeling much better that day.
The CT scan had shown no sign of an obstruction and Luca had concluded that the excess of cerebrospinal fluid had been caused by a fresh bout of infection. He’d prescribed another course of antibiotics and they appeared to be working, although he had no intention of rushing things. Alessandro was due to be discharged the following day, but he decided that he would keep him in hospital while they monitored the situation. There was no point taking any chances at this stage.
‘I’m glad you’re feeling better,’
