Happy Mother's Day! - By Sharon Kendrick Page 0,98

drugs.

In Francesco’s case he had turned to her!

It all made perfect horrible sense!

Francesco, half out of his head with grief and unwilling to acknowledge his feelings of anger and guilt, had used anything to distract himself. She had been the ultimate distraction and he had used her to ease the pain he was going through. Not consciously—she did not believe he was capable of being that callous.

Had he already begun to realise that he didn’t really love her the night of the ball? It would explain why he had not done more to stop her going. Sure, his pride had been hurt that it had been her who had walked away, but maybe deep down he had been secretly relieved? Until he had found out about the baby.

‘You’re cold,’ Francesco said as she shivered.

She gave a forced smile and stood up, clutching the robe tight around her. ‘A little.’

‘Are you all right?’

‘Fine. I think I’ll go change.’

‘You can keep the shirt.’

My heart for your shirt. The exchange hardly seemed fair. Repressing the hysterical laugh that was lodged in her throat, she nodded tightly and left the room.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ERIN managed to maintain a shaky illusion of composure until she was safely in her own room. Once there she sank onto the bed with her head in her hands.

Her face was tear-stained when a few minutes later she lifted her head and exclaimed out loud, ‘Oh, my God, I really said I’d go back to Italy with him.’

Walking over to the old-fashioned washstand, she turned on the cold tap and splashed her face with water. There were water droplets trembling on her lashes as she looked at herself in the mirror. The indent between her feathery brows deepened as she sighed.

How did I manage to fool myself? she wondered. It seemed incredible that she had for one moment believed that just because it would be convenient she had fallen out of love with Francesco.

Love didn’t work that way; at least it didn’t for her. The important thing now was that she didn’t lose sight of the fact that love didn’t automatically equate with happy ever after, especially when the object of your affections had never really been in love with you in the first place.

No more self-delusion—she had to see things as they really were, she told herself sternly.

The problem was that seeing things as they were did not produce any magical solution. As she dried her face and applied a thin layer of concealing tinted moisturiser Erin nursed the depressing knowledge that there was no solution, magical or mundane.

God, this was a nightmare!

Her troubled gaze trained on the horses in the paddock underneath her window, she lifted her chin. Perhaps it was best not to try and think of a solution to everything, just concentrate instead on sorting one problem at a time.

The scene on the patio when she went downstairs was of domestic harmony. Sam was seated on a wrought-iron chair reading the newspaper while his wife was irritating him by reading aloud headlines that caught her eyes.

It was the sight of Francesco sitting on a rug spread on the grass, making baby Gianni, who was kicking his legs, chuckle by blowing raspberries on his bare tummy that stopped Erin in her tracks.

The hand around her heart tightened as she watched him. He would make the most incredible father.

Valentina was the first to notice her. ‘Erin! Grab a scone before this greedy piglet scoffs the lot,’ she said, ruffling her husband’s hair.

Erin glanced towards the plate of scones liberally laced with cream and shook her head. ‘No, thanks.’ She made a conscious effort to look anywhere but at Francesco, who had turned his head when Valentina had called her name.

Erin looked at the spot on the rug that Francesco patted. She slipped off her shoes and began to walk towards him across the wet grass. Just looking at him made her ache with love. It was a mystery how she had ever managed to fool herself she could ever feel anything else for him.

Before she reached them her phone began to ring. She gave an apologetic grimace and pulled it from her pocket. ‘It’s Mum,’ she said, pretending not to notice the looks her hosts exchanged at the information. ‘I’ll just take it …’ She gave a vague gesture towards the house and walked barefoot in that direction.

Once out of sight of the group she lifted the phone to her ear. ‘Damn, no signal!’ She gave a frustrated sigh and