Читать книгу A Promise Kept - Barbara Jeffs - Страница 4

The Encounter.

At ten o’clock the following morning Meg watched in amazement as Mike ushered a perfectly groomed young woman into her office, unable to believe that this refined woman was Rebecca.

Her memories of Rebecca were of faded T-shirts, torn jeans and a ponytail tied up with a piece of string.

At that moment she understood why Mike had been so surprised by her appearance.

“You look as if you’ve never seen me before Meg.” Rebecca smiled warmly as she walked across the room toward the front of the desk. “Mike had a similar expression on his face when he first saw me yesterday.”

Meg glanced across at Mike standing near the open door and grimaced. His expression clearly said I told you so.

Rebecca was surprised to find that Meg had not changed one iota. Her appearance still shouted executive secretary from her well-groomed short black hair, her tailored black suit with its white lace blouse down to her highly polished black, high heeled shoes.

“You have no idea how pleased I am to see you again Rebecca,” Meg greeted her warmly. “You can go right in.” She waved her hand toward the second door in the office. “I’ve cleared his calendar for the entire day.”

“Thank you,” Rebecca murmured but she did not move. The thought that Dominic was on the other side of that closed door made her hesitate for a moment.

Finally, she sucked in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She had travelled thousands of miles to instigate this meeting it would be stupid to chicken out now.

Besides, she had nothing to fear. Dominic had always been kind to her and treated her with respect.

Her hand was not quite steady as she pushed the door open then quickly stepped into the office, the thick pile carpet muffling her footsteps.

Rebecca glanced around the room and noticed that nothing had changed. It was exactly as she remembered it.

Dominic was standing with his back to the room, gazing out of the window with his hands pushed deep into his pockets, and she wondered if he was appreciating the beautiful view of Sydney Harbour or gazing at nothing, his thoughts elsewhere.

A myriad of emotions swept through her slim frame as her eyes slowly inspected his body. Mike was right, he had lost a lot of weight, and his shoulders drooped as if he had the weight of the world on them. His suit hung on his large frame loosely as if it was a size too large and perhaps it was now.

This was not the suave, sophisticated man she remembered, and she knew then that whatever happened between them in this office today, she would forever be pleased that she had returned to settle matters between them one way or the other.

They had unfinished business and it needed to be resolved so they could both move on with their lives.

Her eyes softened with tenderness as she gazed at his broad back. She also knew now that whatever her future held in store for her, she would always be very fond of Dominic John Farrell.

With a silent prayer, she reached her hand behind her back and made sure she pushed the door closed hard enough that it made a loud click.

It was vital that she observe his expression when he first caught sight of her before he had a chance to conceal his reaction to her sudden, unexpected appearance.

Only then would she know what her next step would be. If she saw hate and condemnation in his eyes she would turn around and leave.

“What is it?” Dominic asked disinterestedly when he heard the noise of the closing door.

He knew it would not be anything important as he did not have any appointments until this afternoon.

Meg had decided that he would realize something was going on and become suspicious if she informed him that his entire day was free, so she had invented a few phantom appointments for the afternoon.

When silence greeted his query, Dominic frowned in annoyance and glanced over his shoulder expecting to see Meg entering the room.

Rebecca!

Dominic sucked in a sharp breath and all the blood drained from his face when he caught sight of Rebecca standing across the room.

Rebecca took an involuntary step toward him; afraid he might faint as his face was so pale.

For a moment, Dominic was convinced he was hallucinating. That she was a figment of his imagination. Wishful thinking on his part. He had been thinking of her and she had appeared as if in answer to his prayers.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he recalled how he had felt her presence two days ago. Apparently, it had not been his imagination after all.

Love and desire blazed in his eyes for a moment before he quickly veiled them, but it was long enough to answer all Rebecca’s questions. She knew now that he had forgiven her for killing their baby.

Without conscious thought, Dominic pulled his hands out of his pockets and turned to face her, unable to believe the sophisticated woman gazing calmly back at him was the same naïve, young girl he had married five years ago.

This woman was beautiful, and her appearance shouted lady with a capital L. Her hair was styled up and her skillfully applied makeup actuated the colour of her eyes and her high cheekbones.

Her skin was tanned a golden brown as if she spent a lot of time outdoors, and she was wearing a bright blue skirt and jacket with black stockings and black, high heeled shoes.

“Are you real?” he asked in a whisper and a smile flickered across her face.

“Hello Dominic,” Rebecca greeted him softly and he sighed with regret.

Her voice no longer resembled that of an uncertain young girl. Now she spoke in a mature woman’s confident tone of voice.

Ignoring Rebecca, and not bothering to answer her greeting, he strode across to the desk and savagely punched the intercom button.

He knew who to blame for her sudden appearance in his office.

“I want to see you and Mike in here now,” he ordered in a clipped voice when Meg answered.

“No, you don’t,” Meg contradicted him firmly and disconnected the line.

Dominic glanced up in surprise when Rebecca laughed gaily.

“Don’t you go blaming Meg and Mike,” she ordered, and his heart skipped a beat or two when her mouth curved in a cheeky smile. “The blame is entirely mine. I pulled rank on them. I am after all still your wife.”

Dominic watched in silence as she walked confidentially across the carpeted floor and sank gracefully into the visitor’s chair in front of the desk.

A deep sadness filled him when he recalled how she had once skipped around a room boisterously, curious to discover all that it contained. Her boundless energy used to make him feel tired just watching her constantly moving.

“Which indirectly is one of the reasons I am here,” Rebecca stated as she placed her handbag onto the floor beside the chair then gazed up at him serenely. “I recently learned that you cannot get a divorce without my signature, so here I am.”

Dominic strode around the desk until he was standing directly in front of her and gazed at her intently, his eyes filled with steely determination.

“If we ever divorce Rebecca it will be at your instigation,” he stated emphatically. “It will never come from me---ever.”

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders in dismissal. “It occurred to me that this could be the reason you have been searching for me these past five years.”

Her eyes widened in surprise when his eyes filled with anguish, his face becoming ashen, and she felt a flicker of fear and uncertainty. What was going on here?

He hunkered down in front of her and clasped her hands in a firm grip, his expression so grave her fear increased tenfold, and she shivered as a chill raced up her spine.

“Dominic, what is it?” she asked apprehensively.

“In the letter you left me you begged me for my forgiveness for killing our baby,” he murmured gently his eyes intent on her wary gaze, refusing to let her look away from his serious expression. “I had to find you to tell you that you didn’t kill our baby Rebecca. Your miscarriage was nature’s way of righting itself.”

“What are you talking about?” Rebecca cried in despair, his hold tightening on her hands when she attempted to pull them free. “I caused the miscarriage with all the swimming and diving I did that day.”

“No, Rebecca, you did not,” he stated emphatically, his eyes fastened onto her bewildered expression. “The baby was not in the womb where it should have been. Nature made a mistake, and your miscarriage was nature’s way of fixing its error.”

A tear trickled slowly down her cheek quickly followed by another and his heart ached for the pain and anguish she was suffering at that moment.

“Please don’t call him an it,” she begged tearfully. “He was our child Dominic. We created him.”

Tears sprang into his eyes and his hold tightened on her trembling hands. He would give everything he owned in the world to ease her suffering, but he knew she had to be told the true circumstances of her miscarriage. Only then could she begin the healing process.

“Rebecca if the pregnancy had continued you would have died.” A shudder of remembered fear shook his body. “You almost did anyway.” He tightened his hold to emphasize what he was telling her now. “The doctors would have aborted the pregnancy in any case.”

For several moments she gazed at him in silence knowing in her heart that he was telling her the truth.

Dominic had promised her once that he would never lie to her and he had always kept his word. At times, he had answered her questions truthfully when she would have preferred him to lie.

“Why didn’t the doctor tell me all this?” she asked, her brows creased in a puzzled frown. “Why did he let me think I had done it?”

Dominic sighed in despair. “You had been through the trauma of the miscarriage. He decided to let you rest for the night.” He squeezed her hands in a comforting gesture. “But he planned to explain it all to you the following morning.”

Rebecca slumped back in the chair as an enormous feeling of relief surged through her body until it consumed her totally.

She felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders as the guilt she had felt for the past five years slowly began to dissipate.

But her relief was bittersweet. If she had not run away from the hospital that night, she would have known five years ago that she had not killed her baby.

“For five years I have lived with the thought that I was a murderer,” she cried in distress her tears falling steadily onto their linked hands.

Dominic rose to his feet, pulling her up with him and enfolding her in his arms. He pressed her cheek against his chest rubbing his hands over her back in a soothing gesture.

“Hush. Please don’t cry. It breaks my heart,” he murmured softly.

He held her in his arms murmuring comforting words in her ear as she cried away all the guilt and remorse she had felt for the loss of their baby.

Dominic knew how her emotions were tearing her apart inside at that moment. He had gone through his own painful hell for the loss of their baby and the disappearance of his wife as he sat on a hospital bed reading her Dear John letter.

As the minutes ticked slowly by, he began to consciously become aware that it was Becky he was holding so closely in his arms and his body was reacting to her nearness.

A hot tide of desire surged through his body as his hands slid up and down her sides and across her back. He closed his eyes and savored the sensation of her warm body pressed against his from chest to thigh and no matter how strong his willpower was, he could not prevent himself from becoming aroused by the smell and feel of her desirable body.

“You can let me go now,” Rebecca murmured eventually.

“Never as long as I draw breath,” he stated fiercely his arms tightening around her slim frame. “I have ached for this for so long Becky.”

Becky! Rebecca stiffened.

This was what she had feared, Rebecca groaned silently. Dominic trying to revive the past. She had to make him understand that the young girl named Becky did not exist anymore, that she was a different person to the girl he had married.

Desperately, she wriggled her body, and he heaved a resigned sigh, then reluctantly loosened his hold and gazed down at her tear-streaked face. Her makeup had run, and she had black tracks down her cheeks.

“You look like a clown.” He smiled slightly as he brushed his fingers down her cheek in a light caress and took a step backward. “I’ll order some coffee while you clean yourself up.”

Rebecca did not move. She silently reminded herself that she had to give him time to adjust to this new situation, but she was determined to have him behave differently toward her now than how he used to in the past.

Becky would have obeyed his order without question and would now be hurrying toward the washroom. Well, she was not going to docilely do as she was told.

Determination flashed in her eyes as she raised her right eyebrow. “Are you giving me an order Dominic?”

For a moment Dominic was puzzled by her question then he realized she was objecting to his suggestion that she might like to tidy herself up and it surprised the hell out of him.

“No Ma’am,” he drawled mockingly. “I wouldn’t dare.”

Rebecca threw him a disgusted glare. “Oh, very droll. I’m laughing myself into hysterics.”

Retrieving her handbag, she crossed to the washroom and closed the door.

Dominic frowned as he watched her walking away from him. He had noticed her reaction to his calling her Becky and was puzzled by it as he had always referred to her by that name, but he decided not to comment on it.

A feeling of unreality stole over him as he stared at the closed door. He felt as if he was in some macabre world where everything was turned upside down.

For the past five years his arms had ached to hold her so badly at times it had been almost painful, but somehow, when she had been in his arms a few minutes ago it had felt wrong. She had felt wrong. Her hips were more rounded, and she appeared to be more muscular than he remembered.

When he had first met her, she had been gaunt to the point of emaciation. She had steadily gained weight with Aggie cooking her nourishing meals, but she had never been as full-bodied as she was now.

She was his wife. He knew her more intimately than anyone else on this earth, but conversely, he did not know her at all, and the absurdity of that thought was making him question his sanity. It just did not make any sense to him at all.

His last memories of Becky were of a disheartened, traumatized girl. This new Becky was a self-confident, independent woman.

At that moment he was not sure he could handle this bizarre situation or that he even wanted to try. It was like walking through a minefield. You never knew what your next step would bring.

He shook his head to clear it of his jumbled thoughts and decided to take it one small step at a time for now.

To begin with, he would have to remember never to call her Becky. It was obvious she did not like it, but he could not figure out why and did not intend to ask.

He also decided to be careful how he worded any suggestions he might make to her in the future.

If they had any kind of a future together.

That thought drew his brows together in a fierce frown. It was obvious she was not here to discuss a divorce so why was she here?

Well, there was only one way to find out and that was to ask her why she had suddenly decided to walk back into his life after five years of silence.

With a resigned sigh, he pushed the intercom button and ordered a tray of coffee from a very curious Meg.

Rebecca tidied her hair and washed her face then applied fresh lipstick to her lips, but she did not replace any of her other makeup.

She was eager to call Emma to explain the true circumstances of her miscarriage but when she pulled her mobile out of her handbag, she was disappointed to see she had no signal in this room.

Oh well, she sighed in resignation it would just have to wait until later. Perhaps it would be better in any case if she waited until tonight to call. Then she would be able to tell her the outcome of her meeting with Dominic as well.

Dominic! She shook her head unable to believe the difference in his appearance. Mike had warned her that he had changed but she had not expected those changes to be so noticeable or severe.

He appeared to have lost his zest for life, as if there was no purpose to his life anymore.

Before, his blue eyes always had a sparkle in them, now they were lacklustre. His mouth once always wore a quirky smile, now it drooped at one corner.

According to Mike, he had not acquired or built a new hotel during the past five years whereas before that time the number of hotels he owned had increased steadily.

Her eyes darkened in anguish. It was no good fooling herself; she knew she was solely responsible for his wrecked life.

Well, she had returned to Sydney to clear the slate so to speak, perhaps she could ensure that he was able to make a fresh start as well.

When Meg knocked on the door, Dominic walked across the room and pulled it open then motioned for her to enter the room.

She halted in surprise when she noticed the room was empty except for Dominic and he smiled sardonically at her confusion as he returned to the desk and sank into the black leather executive chair.

What did she think he had done with Rebecca for crying out loud? Thrown her out the window?

He choked back a laugh as he watched Meg place the tray onto the desktop. Curiosity was written all over her face and he knew she desperately wanted to ask him what had been happening in this room.

“I’m sure you’ll have no problem cancelling my afternoon appointments,” he drawled and glared at her accusingly until she blushed guiltily. They both knew there were no appointments.

“We did what we thought was right for you,” Meg stated, holding his gaze defiantly.

“I’m not complaining Meg,” he murmured quietly, and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

Hot damn, she chuckled gleefully to herself as she walked out of the office with a huge grin on her face. Maybe, just maybe things would work out all right after all.

Dominic poured himself a cup of coffee and glanced across the room when he heard the washroom door click open.

As he watched Rebecca walk toward the desk, he noted that she had tidied her hair and her face was scrubbed clean of makeup. But he wondered why she had replaced the red lipstick she had been wearing when she arrived with a paler shade of pink.

“Better,” he murmured as she resumed her seat in the visitor’s chair, and when she glanced at him confused, wondering what on earth he was talking about, he added. “You’re much prettier without that heavy makeup.”

He was surprised when she laughed and raised her right eyebrow. It appeared to be a habit she had acquired whenever she asked a question.

“Who was it who bought me a makeup kit worth many hundreds of dollars?” she asked drily.

“Who stated they did not need it?” he countered.

Rebecca smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Touché.”

"Help yourself," he instructed, gesturing toward the tray.

She gasped in surprise when she saw the cream on the tray and wondered who had remembered that she always had plenty of cream in her coffee, Dominic or Meg? Dominic drank his coffee black.

Leaning forward, she poured herself a cup of coffee and added a generous measure of cream aware that his curious blue eyes were fixed steadily on her expressionless features.

“Where did you go when you left the hospital that night?” he asked curiously as he leaned back in the chair. “All we knew was that you had been seen getting into a car with a middle-aged man and woman.”

“That was the luckiest thing that could have happened to me at that time.” Her expression softened with tenderness. “That man and woman were Pat and Emma Fisher. They literally saved my life.”

Dominic frowned and cast his mind back in time. Fisher! That name sounded familiar to him somehow.

Mike had managed to track down a couple from Queensland who had been at the hospital at the time Rebecca had left, but they had told him they did not know her whereabouts. He was sure their name had been Fisher.

He frowned at Rebecca suspiciously. “Isn’t he the police sergeant Mike spoke to in Tannum Sands?

She nodded her head. “Yes.”

“But he told Mike he did not know you,” he growled his suspicions deepening. He was fast reaching the point where he did not believe a word she was telling him at all.

“He lied,” Rebecca admitted unashamedly. “He had to tell him that so he would stop searching for me in that area.” She rubbed her fingers across her forehead, not surprised to find she was getting a tension headache. “Mike would have found me had he crossed the bridge to Boyne Island,” she admitted.

The tension in the room was rising steadily the longer this conversation continued.

“He was that close?” Dominic gasped in despair.

Wordlessly, he placed his cup onto the tray then rose to his feet and walked over to the window, but his eyes did not see the view.

He stood there with his hands pushed deep into his pockets attempting to come to terms with the fact that because that police officer had lied to Mike both he and Rebecca had suffered five years of hell unnecessarily.

Had Pat Fisher been anywhere near him at that moment he would have punched him in the nose and be damned to the fact that he would probably be charged with assaulting a police officer. It would be worth it.

When Dominic eventually returned to his chair, Rebecca placed her empty cup on the tray and folded her hands in her lap then waited patiently for him to resume their conversation.

She was sure he had further questions he wanted answers to but she was not sure either of them was going to survive this meeting without suffering some kind of emotional trauma.

“Why did they help you that night?” he asked warily. “What did you tell them Rebecca?”

Her eyes flew to his face when she heard the distrust in his voice. Now what was he implying? That she had told Pat and Emma a pack of lies about him?

“The same as I told you in my letter.” Her lips formed into a thin, tight line and her eyes sparkled with anger. She did not like being suspected of lying. “That I had to get away because I had killed our baby.”

“Then why did they hide you from Mike?” His voice was a strange combination of suspicion and confusion. “They knew he was acting on my behalf.”

“Emma said they would have told him the truth had it been a normal marriage but that I was in no fit state to become involved in that kind of a relationship at that time. That I needed time alone to come to terms with the loss of my baby.”

A deep sigh shook her frame and tears sprang into her eyes as she gazed at him earnestly. “And she was right. I did need to be on my own.”

Dominic rose to his feet and walked around the desk until he was standing beside her and gently brushed a tear from her cheek with his finger.

“For five years Rebecca?” he asked cynically, and she wanted to hit him---hard.

“You’re still my only lover if that’s what you’re asking,” she snapped, deciding that one more sarcastic remark from him and she would walk out the door, and to hell with sorting things out with him personally.

“It wasn’t,” he drawled leaning back against the desk with his hands on the desk each side of his hips, “but I won’t deny that I am pleased.”

Oh, the arrogance of the man, she seethed. Although technically they were still married, it was none of his business how many lovers she’d had while they had been separated. She would bet money that he’d had literally dozens of affairs during the past five years.

“Why come back now?” Dominic asked cautiously, trying not to get his hopes up prematurely.

Rebecca had been so deep in thought she was startled when he spoke, and it took her a moment to answer his question.

“When I was told about the divorce laws, I realized you and I had unfinished business.” Her lips tightened into a firm line. “I came back to finish it one way or the other.”

“Finish it how?” Dominic asked quietly and she gained the impression he was on edge, waiting for something, but she had no idea what that something might be.

“Every time I called the nursing home to pay Tommy’s fees, they told me his fees were always paid in advance.” She gazed up at him with steely determination. “I’m prepared to try again to keep my side of our bargain.”

Dominic jerked as if he had been pushed hard in the back, all the colour draining from his face leaving it a sickly grey, and Rebecca had the distinct impression he was distressed by what she had said.

The tension in the room was becoming unbearably thick and her headache was getting worse by the minute.

“Is that how you saw our bargain?” he demanded, his voice a strange mixture of astonishment and horror. “That I prostituted you for a baby?”

Rebecca calmly nodded her head. “Yes.”

“My God.” He rubbed his hand around the back of his neck in an attempt to relieve the tension. “Why didn’t you tell me that was how you felt?”

“How I felt about what?” she asked, her brows creased in a puzzled frown.

He appeared to be horrified by her view of their bargain and she could not understand why.

“Dominic, the definition of prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment,” she stated, waving her hands in a confused gesture. “And that’s exactly what we agreed upon.”

Rebecca was finding it difficult understanding his behavior. Why should he be upset by the circumstances of their bargain when he was the person who had instigated it to begin with?

Dominic gazed at her confused features for an immeasurable time before he suddenly straightened and walked across to the window.

If Rebecca was confused Dominic was way ahead of her.

Until this morning he had believed that he knew everything about the young girl he had married. Now he was beginning to realize he had not known her at all.

When she had said they had unfinished business, he had hoped she was telling him she wanted to give their marriage another try, but in actuality, she had been offering to become pregnant again to fulfill her part of their bargain.

The temptation to accept her offer and make love to her again was almost impossible to resist, but he had no desire to resume their relationship for the sole purpose of making a baby.

His lips twisted into a self-deprecating smile at that thought wondering what type of person that made him because that had been exactly why he had married and possessed her five years ago.

Dominic returned to her side, his fingers brushing down her cheek in a light caress. “I’m sorry.”

Rebecca gazed at him in bewilderment. “Sorry for what?”

“I never knew you at all did I?” he murmured sadly. “I knew your body and always found pleasure in it.” He grimaced when she quickly lowered her eyes. “But I never bothered to get to know you, the person.”

And just how was she expected to answer that? Rebecca asked herself uncertainly. In fact, she was not sure he even expected an answer from her at all.

An uneasy silence filled the room and as it lengthened, she glanced up at him and suddenly realized he was no longer paying her any attention.

He was gazing at nothing, obviously deep in thought, and by his expression those thoughts were not pleasant.

“Dominic?” she queried uncertainly, and he shook his head to clear it of his thoughts, his eyes slowly focusing on her concerned features.

“Your clothes in the wardrobe at Solitaire.” He waited until she raised her right eyebrow enquiringly then asked. “Would you wear any of them today?”

Rebecca thought about that, picturing all the designer clothes he had purchased for her, most of which she had not liked or wanted, and finally shook her head no.

No of course not, Dominic sighed bitterly. When he thought back to their shopping trips now he could clearly see that each time she had modeled a dress or a gown in front of him, if he had voiced his approval of it then she had selected that garment.

He ran his hands through his hair, shocked by what he was discovering about their life together.

“Why did you wear them during our marriage if you didn’t like them?”

“I had to.”

Rebecca could not understand why he was so puzzled by her actions at that time when he had been the person who dictated how she behaved and dressed.

“They were the clothes you purchased for your wife to wear.” She shrugged her shoulders dismissively. “And I was your wife.”

“Bought and paid for?” he asked harshly.

“Yes of course,” she agreed firmly.

Rebecca decided she had obviously lost track of this conversation because she did not have a clue what they were talking about.

Dominic was gazing at her as if she had just told him she was an alien or something equally outrageous and she shook her head in confusion.

Suddenly, he took a step toward the door and held his hand out toward her seated figure. “All right, let’s go.”

Rebecca glanced at his outstretched hand then returned her gaze to his face. “Go?” she asked in bewilderment, completely mystified by his abrupt behavior. “Go where?”

“Home to Solitaire,” he growled in a clipped voice. “Unless you want to have sex here on the floor.”

Rebecca sucked in a shocked breath. For a moment she was not sure she had heard him correctly. If she was confused before it was nothing compared to how she was feeling now. Her eyes widened in surprise when she suddenly realized he was very angry.

“I don’t understand,” she cried, her voice a strange mixture of bewilderment and distress. “Dominic?”

“No, I know you don’t,” he sighed deeply and dropped his hand back to his side.

He hunkered down in front of her and took her hands in a firm grip, his eyes intent on her face. “What was our bargain Rebecca?” he asked quietly.

Her brows drew together in a puzzled frown wondering why he had asked such a strange question. He knew the terms of their bargain as well as she did, but she decided to answer him anyway.

“You wanted a son and heir, but you didn’t want the hassle of a wife and a normal marriage to get one.”

“And?”

“And what? she asked, her bewilderment growing the longer this conversation continued. “And our marriage was a business arrangement. I give you your son and in return you pay all Tommy’s expenses for the rest of his life.”