And in a tiny, regretful voice, Julian whispered, “God, I hope not.”
“It was yours.”
“Mine,” left his lips. “You were mine,” he said to the sonogram.
“Here.” Ally handed him a bottle of whiskey she had gone to find and then sat on the couch next to him. “It just wasn’t meant to be for either of you.”
Julian set the picture of his unborn child on the coffee table and uncapped the bottle of Scotch whiskey Stephanie or Clara had lying around. The pain in his chest doubled. The heat scorched through him. No matter how much he tried to forget the turmoil on Stephanie’s face, he couldn’t. He had even called her ‘Stevie’ in his accusations of her whoring herself around the office. He wasn’t the guy he knew. The Julian who had been unearthed after news of her pregnancy hadn’t been him at all.
“Can we talk about something else?” he asked before he settled onto the couch and threw back a mouthful of whiskey.
Ally drew up her legs and settled the tea she had made herself on her knees. “What would you like to chat about?” The eyebrow she raised was adorable. The sweetness in her was evident, and he knew what the papers said about her was all lies. She wasn’t the party girl. Wasn’t the girl who had more men by her side than days in a year. The media had made her out to be a cold, fame hungry nineteen-year-old.
“Why were you in New York?” he asked, thinking it was a safe topic. Then he took two consecutive mouthfuls of whiskey. He needed and wanted the burning sensation of the whiskey flowing down his throat.
“Business.”
Julian chuckled. “That’s all you’re gonna give me. Business. Hit up a party with your Sydney socialite friends?”
Her face saddened. “I don’t have any socialite friends. I have a couple of real friends, but I’m done with that scene. No more partying for me. My dad got what he wanted. I lured some of those men into doing deals with the company. Though my hands aren’t quite clean, I am free. I went over there to work on an investment. Dad and I reached an agreement that lets me move here soon.”
Julian rested his head on the cushion and then stared at her. “Move here to be with my brother?”
She flinched and then shook her head. “I don’t like your brother. He’s confusing.” Then she sipped her tea.
“He’s Tarzan before Jane. Maybe you can be his Jane, Ally.” Another mouthful of whiskey. This time it hit him in the sweet spot in the pit of his stomach. He welcomed the light-headedness he felt.
She placed the cup on the coffee table and then let out a hum. “Maybe I shouldn’t move down here.”
Julian offered her the bottle of whiskey, but she shook her head. He threw back another gulp. “And that there is the reason why you should. You make my brother nervous. No girl has. He doesn’t trust himself around you. Doesn’t trust his heart to stop from fallin’ for you. You’re different for him. You, Allison O’Connor, are his Jane.”
“Doesn’t mean he’ll let me in,” she pointed out.
Then they were silent, both staring at their beverages as the clock on the wall ticked by. Eventually, when Julian had consumed just over half the bottle of whiskey, he placed the bottle on the floor and turned his body to Ally. Her brows had furrowed before she crossed her legs.
“Allison, I think you… I think you are very smart,” he slurred.
“Thanks, Julian.”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I think you’re the smartest woman. Maybe you can find her.”
The slight smile on her face quickly faded. “I don’t think she’s coming back. She left everything behind.”
The sigh he let out was an extension of his heart’s pain. “I wouldn’t either. Not after what I did.”
“Then we wait.” Her eyes softened, and she shot him a reassuring smile.
“Forever,” he breathed.
“Forever,” she agreed.
I’d wait forever if I have to.
Just so I can see her again.
To tell her I love her and that I’m sorry.
Maman: Will you be returning to London soon, ma chérie?
Stevie: Not sure. Charles is happy here.
Maman: Are you?
Stevie: I am. I wish you’d give him a chance.
Maman: Do you know why I didn’t want to go back to Melbourne, Stéphanie?”
Stevie: Because you missed Paris and the fashion industry.
Maman: In a way, yes. But when your papa met Rose and the way that he spoke of her, I knew he was in love