She didn’t tell Joy this. She just smiled and said, “Yes. Everything, so far, is healthy and happy.”
“Except those headaches you get,” Mom put in.
“And the morning sickness,” Gram added.
“Oh dear, are you getting headaches and nausea?” Joy asked with concern.
“It’s not that bad,” Belle assured her on a total lie.
She was going to hell with a number of black marks on her soul, she just knew it. And most of them could be attributed to her behaviour around the Bennett family.
“Who’s your doctor?” James asked suddenly and Belle’s eyes went to his shoulder.
“Dr. Flanagan. She’s an obstetrician in Penzance.”
“I’ll want to check her credentials,” James declared and Belle felt extreme irritation but she bit it back.
“Of course,” she murmured and heard her grandmother emit an angry noise but Belle gave Lila a look and Lila bit her tongue.
“Where are you planning the delivery?” James asked and Belle looked back at his shoulder.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” she told his shoulder.
“Belle,” he called even though he obviously had her attention.
She kept staring at his shoulder. “What?”
“Look at me,” he demanded, no warmth or amusement in his tone as he called her on not meeting his eyes and her body jolted unpleasantly as her gaze jerked to his and, once he held her eyes, he declared, “You’ll have our child in theatre.”
“Dr. Flanagan is going to refer me to a midwife,” Belle told him, with effort keeping her eyes locked on his.
“You’ll deliver with qualified doctors present,” he replied.
“But –”Belle started.
“This isn’t up for discussion,” James stated and Belle heard her mother make a small, surprised squeak as her grandmother made a not so small, annoyed grunt.
Joy, however, said quietly, “Jack –”
But James ignored his mother, his eyes holding Belle’s, he decreed, “You’ll move into The Point within the month.”
Belle’s heart stopped beating at the same time her mouth dropped open.
“Now, see here –” Gram began, coming out of her seat but James’s eyes cut to her.
“Sit down, Lila,” he ordered and Gram sputtered in nonverbal outrage but James ignored her too and his gaze came back to Belle. “If you want your mother and grandmother here, that’s fine. But you’re moving in at your earliest convenience but within the month.”
Belle felt the nausea roiling in her belly and she wasn’t certain it had to do with All Freaking Day Long Sickness.
“I can’t move in here,” she whispered.
“You can and you will,” James stated.
“I can’t,” Belle breathed.
“If it’s a financial difficulty then I’ll arrange for you to be moved,” James told her.
“It’s not a financial difficulty!” Belle cried, beginning to panic.