craggy coastline. The gardens stepped down below in all their colourful splendour. From the nearby lemon grove, a faint tang of citrus waft towards her on the light breeze.
Ten-ti lifted up her arms and Katya picked her up off Mi-tung’s lap and settled with her in the other chair on the balcony. The little girl chattered excitedly and pointed to her head.
‘I know, I know.’ Katya laughed.
Ten-ti said something to Mi-tung and Mi-tung got up and went inside. She came back with a mirror and Ten-ti pointed at it and then at her head and stared at herself in the mirror in amazement. She angled her head from side to side and primped and preened like a teenager on a first date, and Katya laughed at her utter joy.
The little girl put the mirror down and threw herself at Katya, her little arms clinging around Katya’s neck. Katya hugged her close, a lump rising in her throat. What would her child look like at four? Would he or she take after her or Ben? Would he or she have her blondeness or Ben’s dark Italian looks?
Would he or she ever wonder about her?
The desire to hold her own child was suddenly overwhelming and she quashed it as she squeezed Tent-ti closer. Just because she was feeling the baby move all the time now, it didn’t mean anything. Other than that the baby was growing normally. Which was good. It didn’t mean she was developing any motherly yearnings.
Katya felt a pang of guilt and hugged Ten-ti harder. She didn’t protest and Katya was grateful, for this little girl gave her hope. Here in her arms was living proof that a child didn’t need to have a mother to grow up happy and loved. It just needed someone to love it and to grow up in a loving environment.
Ten-ti justified Katya’s position and Katya held onto that dearly. The last few days had been a confusing time for her with the Ben incident and the baby’s first movements. There had been a lot of unexpected emotions and feelings which could threaten her plans if she allowed them free rein. Ten-ti was tangible evidence that her plan could work and Katya really needed that reassurance.
Two weeks later Ben and Katya waited in a small anteroom for Dr Rocco Gambino, the Clinic’s radiologist, to finish an X-ray. It was their lunch-break and Rocco had arranged to do Katya’s first ultrasound. Ben had told Katya with great pride that Rocco was one of the most experienced obstetric sonographers in the country.
Things were a little easier between them now there was some distance from the passionate kiss they’d shared. The nights were still hard but a new routine had developed. After their evening meal, Katya would go to bed and Ben would go to his office for a couple of hours and do paperwork. She would be asleep when he finally made his way back to the room and on a couple of occasions he’d even slept in his office.
It wasn’t perfect but at it had taken the pressure off.
A thought that had never occurred to Katya before, so preoccupied had she been with her plans for the baby and her attraction for Ben, popped into her head as they waited. ‘What if there’s something wrong with it?’ she asked.
A wave of dread rose and fell in her gut. What if the baby was deformed or had major congenital problems? What if the fates had decided that as she didn’t want the baby, she didn’t deserve a healthy one? She clutched her stomach. It was still fairly flat but she could feel the bulge of her hard uterus beneath.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Ben said.
His dismissive answer was irritating when her active imagination was already conjuring up a dozen different dire possibilities. ‘Are Medici babies immune to congenital problems?’ she asked.
Ben looked down into her face and saw genuine fear in her eyes. He took her hand. ‘There is nothing wrong with our baby,’ he said, emphasising the words carefully.
‘Do you promise?’ she asked.
Ben nodded. ‘I promise.’
Dr Rocco Gambino came out, interrupting them, apologising for his tardiness. Ben translated as Rocco was one of the few people at the Medic clinic who wasn’t bilingual. He ushered them into a cubicle and helped Katya onto the high, narrow bed.
Ben went around to the far side so he wasn’t in Rocco’s way. He could have easily performed the ultrasound himself but obstetric sonography was a specialised field and Rocco was