It so closely resembled her own fears about the type of mother she’d be that she was staggered by the lack of self-confidence from a man who always seemed to know exactly what to do.
“But I was hoping to be . . . someone she knows?”
“This is such a huge change of heart, Dante, and it isn’t at all what I want.”
“I know that. I’m just asking that you allow me to properly take care of her, and that I get to see her sometimes.”
“What does ‘properly take care of her’ entail?”
“Trust fund, private schools, decent living conditions.”
“No. You’re trying to dictate my life and the way I raise my child.”
He just stared at her and kept his face frustratingly blank.
“Does this have to be done right now?” Cal asked pointedly, and they both looked at him in surprise, having completely forgotten his presence. He rolled his eyes. “It’s starting to rain. And you, miss, have an appointment that you’re going to be late for.”
“Oh, crap,” she muttered, before tossing a sideways glance at Dante, who stared back at her with an uncharacteristically hangdog expression.
“Dante, you can’t show up here, tell me you’ve had a change of heart, and expect me to just be okay with that,” she said. “I don’t want you at my ultrasound. I don’t think I want to share something so . . . intimate with you.”
“You’re having my kid, lady,” he reminded, and Cal snorted. “It doesn’t get much more intimate than that.”
“Cal’s going in with me,” she maintained.
“I don’t have to.” Cal shrugged. He kept his eyes on his nails and ignored the murderous glare Cleo threw at him. “I’m squeamish. Blood makes me nauseous.”
“Blood?” Now Dante looked a tad green, and Cleo wanted to scream in frustration.
“There’s no blood involved. Cal, you’re coming with me.” She pointed an assertive finger at Dante. “You can wait for us, I’ll . . . I’ll see if they can make you a copy of the DVD or something.”
“You’d do that?”
“Maybe.”
What the hell am I doing here? Dante sat hunched in a small, uncomfortable plastic chair, surrounded by women in various stages of pregnancy. They were all openly staring at him, probably wondering why he was lurking about in an OB/GYN’s reception room without a pregnant woman nearby. He didn’t understand the thought process that had brought him here this morning. All he knew was that at random times over the past forty-eight hours, that tiny, toddling ballerina with the charming smile and sparkling green eyes had crept into his thoughts and had made him wonder, fantasize, and aspire to be more.
But he wasn’t sure how much more he could, or wanted to, be. He and Cleo were strangers now forever bonded by circumstance. He couldn’t pretend that there was anything more than that between them. What he knew about the woman could fill a thimble, and he really had no wish to get to know her, but he had discovered a weird desire within himself to know that baby. As a result, he would have to find a way to work out an amicable arrangement with Cleo.
He had closed more difficult deals than this in the past. Every problem had a solution, and he was confident he would find the solution for this problem too. He just had to find a way to convince Cleo that his way was the best course of action.
If only he knew what the hell his way was.
“He drives me crazy,” Cleo complained to Cal as she lay down on the examination table as per the ultrasound technician’s instructions.
“Don’t think about him now,” Cal said. “You’re about to see your baby for the first time. Where’s your sense of awe and occasion?”
Her eyes misted over at Cal’s words, and she felt guilty for her initial reluctance to have him join her for this. He sometimes said and did the perfect thing at the perfect time. She should be excited, she should be awed, she’d been waiting for this moment since she’d decided to keep her baby, and Dante Damaso was not going to ruin it for her.
She reached for Cal’s hand, offering him a watery smile as the technician applied the cold gel to her abdomen and stomach. She sucked in a breath at the unpleasant sensation.
“This is the transducer,” the technician, Julia, explained as she held up the wand. “I’ll run it over your tummy to capture the images. I’ll measure the fetus’s size today so that we can more accurately estimate the due date. We’ll check Baby’s heartbeat, make sure everything’s in order and . . . do you want to know the sex?”
“No,” Cleo said, decisively. “I want to be surprised.”
“No problem.” Julia smiled.
“Don’t push down too hard with that thing, okay?” Cleo warned, and the other woman chuckled. “My bladder’s about to burst.” She wasn’t feeling very comfortable at all, thanks to all the water she’d had to drink over the last hour in preparation for the test.
“You have no idea how often I get that warning,” Julia replied. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Cleo nodded and watched as she lowered the wand. “Wait.”
Julia’s hand stopped its descent just an inch away from her belly, and Cleo sighed. She was such a sucker.
“Cal,” she whispered. “Maybe we should . . .”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.