200 Harley Street: The Proud Italian. Alison Roberts

      And for a moment when he’d been out here with her, he’d looked as if he still loved her like that, too.

      Just before he’d stupidly said how hard it had been for him.

      He hadn’t been there. Hadn’t sat for countless hours amongst the bank of monitors in the intensive-care unit, wondering if each breath Ella took would be her last.

      Maybe she shouldn’t have taken the bait and reignited the old conflict but…it still hurt, dammit.

      It wasn’t going to just go away by itself.

      Being together in the same place wasn’t enough because it felt like there was no common ground between them.

      Or if there was, the only person inhabiting it was a baby called Ella.