Prognosis Baby Daddy - Amy Andrews Page 0,54

and running and finding someone else to take over the management of the rest of the clinic has given me something to focus on that’s truly mine. I’ve been able to blend the old direction with a new one and put my own stamp on it. Made it something other than a vanity clinic for the rich and famous. Made it mine. And I’m proud of that.’

‘As you should be,’ Katya murmured.

Her quiet confirmation meant more than any effusive display. He could tell from her earlier excitement and her involvement with their clients that the clinic had come to mean a lot to her as well. That she was also proud of the work they were doing with the foundation. He was surprised to find that it mattered to him. What she thought of him.

‘But then I go into the gardens and I see Mario everywhere. He loved those gardens. Every nook and cranny reminds me of that day...rounding a corner to see Bianca with Mario...her shirt unbuttoned...’

The rich vein of hurt in his voice made Katya queasy. He may be pretending he’d sworn off love but how true was that when a decade later he couldn’t even bear to talk about what had happened. Was he still in love with her?

A dead woman? Who’d betrayed him?

Something squeezed her heart and the hopelessness of her love was brought into sharp focus.

‘Are you angrier with him or with her?’ she asked.

Ben blinked. No one had asked him that before. And if they had, he probably would have said Bianca. But being forced to confront it now, he realised he was angriest with his brother.

He sighed. ‘Mario, I guess. There are just some lines you don’t cross.’ It felt amazingly cathartic just to admit it.

Katya nodded. She understood a little better now that people were only human, with human failings. ‘Of course, Ben, he was your brother. You idolised him. And he let you down. And then you had to go from hating him to grieving him with no time in the middle for reconciliation. But you can’t get over it by denying he ever existed. Running away from the memories. You need to be able to accept he was human and celebrate his life.’

Ben frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’ She groped around for an idea. ‘How about some kind of memorial for him and Bianca in the gardens somewhere? Put your own stamp on them, too?’

Ben regarded her seriously and nodded slowly. ‘Maybe.’ He was beginning to think that Mario and Bianca had done him a favour. Had they never betrayed him, he wouldn’t have ever known Katya.

And suddenly he couldn’t imagine being without her.

CHAPTER NINE

A WEEK later Katya stopped midway up the clinic’s grand stone staircase for a breather. It had been long day in the operating theatre and everything ached. Ben’s offer to move her into the administration side with Carmella was looking more and more attractive as standing for long periods of times was becoming very wearying.

She looked down at her belly and wondered how it could possibly get any bigger. And she still had eight weeks to go! The baby seemed to have had a growth spurt and she felt uncomfortable and was sure she was waddling. Ben reassured her that she wasn’t, which was sweet, but she knew he was lying.

Katya had never known it was possible to be this tired. The baby’s size was even making it uncomfortable to sleep so she was back to being an insomniac again.

‘You OK?’ Ben asked, from behind. One hand automatically reached for the muscles at her neck and started to knead them. The other automatically caressed the bulge of her tummy as he dropped a kiss against her neck.

A few months ago I could take these stairs two at a time.’ She grimaced, closing her eyes as his fingers worked their magic.

Ben could see Katya was looking more and more exhausted each day. ‘Cara,’ he said softly, ‘I think it’s time to give up work.’

Katya’s eyes flew open and she stepped away from him. ‘I’m fine,’ she said testily.

‘Cara,’ he said, looking at her reprovingly. ‘I think it’s becoming obvious that you need to put your feet up and rest.’

And sit around thinking about him all day?

She shook her head. ‘No. I like working. I like working here particularly. Don’t you understand? I didn’t expect to but I do. If I sat around doing nothing all day, I’d go mad.’

God, she could be exasperating.