Читать книгу Baby's On The Way!: Bound by a Baby Bump / Expecting the Prince's Baby / The Pregnant Witness - Rebecca Winters - Страница 15

CHAPTER NINE

RACHEL EYED THE encroaching black clouds and glanced at the ETA on the taxi satnav. Four minutes. She crossed her fingers and hoped she could get inside before the storm broke. It was going to be a big one, and her jacket was buried in the bottom of her bag, stowed out of reach in the boot of the car. Either running up the pathway—she glanced at her patent pumps doubtfully—or digging through her bag, she’d be soaked in seconds.

The weather had been beautifully clear in London, and had only clouded over slightly on the train journey down. But once she’d climbed into the taxi from the station it had turned so dark it seemed like night. And the clouds just kept on gathering. It was almost impossible not to consider it an omen. Not that she had any reason to think this weekend would go badly. After the last scan she and Leo had spent a joyful afternoon together, laughing and joking, talking tentatively about the arrival of the baby, and generally being full of generosity and joy. There was no reason to think that today would be any different.

Except that when he’d called her at lunchtime—inviting her down to Dorset for the weekend—there had been something in his voice that worried her. Behind his words had been an edge of something nervy and taut. Why didn’t she take the afternoon off, he’d said, and come straight down to the cottage? She’d bitten down on the word no, and thought about it for a second, glancing at her calendar. It would mean moving her Monday around, but there was really no reason she couldn’t... It was the perfect chance to put her new life decisions in action and try something spontaneous for a change. To ignore her plan for just a few hours and see where the afternoon took her.

She’d cleared it with Will and treated herself to a cab straight to her flat and then the station, her belly fluttering with the excitement of her first spur-of-the-moment action in years.

But as the car turned the final corner and the cottage came into view, Rachel’s stomach sank, and she felt the cool damp fingers of fear and disappointment trickling down her collar, as icy as the imminent rain. The pile of builders’ material in front of the house had shrunk considerably, but Rachel’s eye was drawn to the roof, where a bright blue tarpaulin stood out like a flag against the grey sky. The tile-less corner of the house was very small, but very bare nonetheless.

And just like that she felt the significance of that omen grow. He’d promised. She’d trusted him that the house would be more habitable now—that it would at least be watertight. She was here, trying to live a little freer, trying to make their family work, and he had let her down before she’d even stepped inside. A crack of thunder threw her eyes to the sky and she knew that she’d have to run to the door. She just had to hope that she would be drier inside than she would be out here, as the first marble-sized drops of rain reached her.

Leo, umbrella in hand, swung open the front door when she was halfway up the path. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he shouted as he ran towards her, umbrella aloft and reaching for her bag. Another peal of thunder tore across the sky. ‘I only just saw the taxi—’

‘I’m fine,’ she said as they reached the front door and Leo stood back to let her through. She glanced around her at the living room as she wiped the water from her face and brushed down the front of her sweater. At least he’d lived up to his promise of a floor.

‘You’re not fine. You’re angry,’ Leo said, looking at her.

Of course she was angry. How could she be expected to trust a man who didn’t think a house in a thunderstorm needed a roof? Who couldn’t see that something like the small issue of your home being watertight might be important? Especially when he had a guest. Who was pregnant—with his child.

‘What’s up?’

She shouldn’t bite. They needed to be civil to one another if they were going to make parenting together work. She would just have to learn. ‘What’s up? The house still doesn’t have a roof!’

‘Oh, that. Most of it’s finished, but there was a slight problem with the calculations, and there weren’t enough tiles. I’ve got some more on the way. You’re really annoyed about the progress of the building?’

‘I’m really annoyed that it might rain indoors tonight.’

‘Don’t worry about that. It’s only a small patch, and your room’s on the good side. The roof’s lined with plenty of tarps. The ceilings are all totally dry. I can’t see any water getting in.’

‘That’s not the point.’ Her hair was dripping cold water down the back of her neck, and she shivered. She pulled it into a ponytail and bundled it up onto the top of her head, using the distraction to try and temper her anger. ‘You said that it would be finished by now.’ The words came out icily cool, and she prided herself on keeping her fury under wraps.

‘So I’m running a little late. It’ll be done soon. There were a couple of other jobs that I wanted to do first. Wait.’ He stopped his pacing, which had taken him from her side and back to the window, checking on the progress of the storm. ‘Why are you so annoyed?’

With his casual disregard, she finally lost it. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re going to be a father in a few months. Which means—I hope, or I hoped—that you might want your child to visit. How can I bring a baby into a house that doesn’t have a roof?’

He stared at her, his eyes wide and his body language heading towards guarded as he planted his hands on his hips. ‘The baby isn’t due for months. There’s plenty of time before then. I promise it’ll be done by the time—’

‘Another promise! How am I meant to believe this one, when the last one meant nothing?’ She pulled her sweater over her head as she was talking, scattering raindrops everywhere, and forcing icy water from her hair down her back. Her shirt underneath was damp, too, and she shivered.

‘It’ll get done when it needs doing! Can’t you trust me to know when that is?’

She rolled her eyes in disbelief, and dropped her voice as the fight left her and disappointment set in. ‘I’m standing in a roofless house in the middle of the storm. Of course I can’t trust you.’ She shivered again, water still dripping down the back of her neck, her skin turning chilly and rising with goose bumps. She just wanted to get warm, and dry. And away from Leo and his empty promises. She grabbed her bag, brushing off Leo’s offers of help, and headed for the kitchen and the stairs. She stormed up to her room and then dropped on the bed. Rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes, she forced down tears. Why hadn’t she expected this? Why did her disappointment make her feel so utterly broken?