His Wedding Day Revenge

Chapter Thirteen

‘SO IT IS all right for us to travel.’

Marco, who had dropped in every day since they had been discharged, nodded his confirmation. ‘If you think that is a good idea?’

‘Is that a medical opinion?’ Maybe he had read things into Draco’s absence or maybe Draco had discussed the situation with him. What had he called it? she wondered bitterly. Awkward?

‘No, not at all, it is a friend’s opinion. And as a friend I say that you should not be carrying this news alone. You should tell him.’

‘Tell who?’ she said, feigning ignorance.

He raised a brow and said quietly, ‘I was at the wedding.’

‘Oh!’ She swallowed. ‘I didn’t know, but I need to be where I don’t feel so isolated.’ She looked around the luxurious space they had stayed in for the last week.

It would have been easier if it had been an anonymous hotel but everywhere she came across signs of Draco’s occupation: the book he’d been reading with its page marked, a scribbled note on a desk in his bold handwriting, the elusive scent of the male fragrance he used, the rows of freshly laundered shirts hanging in a wardrobe, which she had quickly slammed shut.

She couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t go back to the palazzo. The only option was to go home.

‘I really need to think. I need to get my own head around it. I will tell him before I go,’ she promised, her hands crossed across her chest. ‘God, I can hardly believe it myself. Is it real?’

‘It is real and you will do brilliantly. There is no medical reason your pregnancy will not go smoothly. And now I am speaking as a doctor.’

Draco’s PR people were deliriously happy about an article written in a major financial journal praising his role in translating knowledge into strategies for driving forward a business model for a green revolution that had been picked up by multiple media outlets across the globe.

They had been confused by his lack of enthusiasm, but they did not recognise the irony. Draco was not deliriously happy. He was not happy at all.

Draco’s two days of self-exile had made him realise that he was the architect of his own misery. He’d guarded his heart since childhood, not because it was smart or clever and definitely not wise, but because he was a coward!

People spoke of him as the man who had everything—he was living the dream. But he had been too much of a coward to even admit he had a dream.

A woman who was beautiful and smart had wanted to be with him and she had run away because she thought his only use for her was as a baby incubator. The shame he felt was intense.

It had taken more guts for her to run away than any he had ever shown. Jane had so much love to give and he had thrown it back in her face.

Jane hadn’t run away. He was the one who had been running away all his life from feelings he was afraid to own.

Without Jane he had nothing.

Would she listen to him? He had no idea but he would try and he would never stop trying.

Later that morning, after Marco had left, Jane went online to book a flight. She had just completed the booking and was trying to work up the courage to call Draco when she heard a noise.

It made her pause because since her arrival she had barely registered that she was not alone in the building, if you discounted the formal person who appeared every day asking her to state her requirements.

In a brief moment of whimsy she had thought about requesting hair that didn’t have a will of its own or the ability to not say the wrong thing at the wrong time...or maybe that was the right thing.

Though in the end she had been gifted her greatest wish.

The truth had still not bedded in her mind. She woke in the morning and then remembered. Despite the signs, if one of Marco’s daily visits to check in on Mattie had not coincided with one of her really bad, ‘can’t pretend it’s not happening’ nausea events—not pretty—she still wouldn’t have suspected.

When Marco had suggested that she might like to do a pregnancy test it had made her laugh—it beat crying. After she had reminded him of her medical history, to her amazement he had still thought it a good idea and produced one from his medical bag.

Jane was still reeling between joy and disbelief, but she had not changed her travel plans. Leaving was the only option open to her. While she felt guilty for not telling Draco the truth of Mattie’s parentage, that guilt was outweighed by the hurt she felt that Draco had believed that she had had an abortion.

As she sat down to call him to tell him what he had a right to know, that he was going to be a father, she still had no idea what she would say. This time, though, she planned to be open and upfront. There had already been too many secrets.

Draco had always believed he knew what and who he was.

As he walked into the room that inner certainty had vanished. The truth was his confidence had never come from knowing who he was. It had always been about proving to the world and himself who he wasn’t.

His father! His weak, selfish, pathetic father, and he’d become that man because of a toxic love.

The equation was simple: avoid love. See it coming and cross the street. He’d never needed to cross the street and then Jane had appeared.

His confidence had come from the conviction that he couldn’t be in love with anyone. Love was selfish and destructive, an indulgence for people who believed in fairy tales past childhood. He had made the argument until he was word perfect, using cold, hard logic and reason.

Now that conviction had been proved a lie. He loved Jane. The foundations he’d built his life on had crumbled and, instead of feeling lost and adrift, he felt liberated.

‘Can I come in?’

‘You are already in,’ Jane pointed out, getting to her feet and walking away from her open laptop. ‘And I’m the guest.’ Had she overstayed her welcome? Was that why he was here? ‘I was just about to ring you, Draco.’

‘And now I am here.’

‘I have booked our flights home, but first I wanted to apologise.’ She swallowed and took a deep breath. ‘Apologise for deceiving you. I should not have left you standing at the altar. I just wasn’t brave enough to tell you why I had to. I took the easy route and ran.’ She huffed out a sigh and squeezed her eyes closed. ‘So many lies. I let you think I was Mattie’s mother.’

Draco’s eyes followed the direction of her glance to the baby.

‘You are his mother in every way that counts. Is Mattie fit to travel?’

She gestured to the baby, who was lying on a vivid play mat, a toy stuffed in his mouth as he happily kicked. ‘As you see.’

‘Has Marco been calling in?’

‘Every day. I’m assuming you asked him to?’ Distancing himself. As far as she was concerned there was no other way to interpret the situation.

Draco nodded and dragged a hand through his dark hair. ‘He won’t tell me anything?’ he ground out, his voice cracking with frustration. ‘Just tells me he can’t disclose medical details and if I want to know I should ask for myself.’

‘And you came. That was good of you, but, as you see, Mattie is fine.’

‘I expect you will tell me to go to hell, but actually I think I am already there! I know I let you down,’ he said heavily. ‘Believing the lies of that poisonous woman was unforgivable!’

‘I was hurt,’ she admitted with a catch in her voice. ‘And hearing you say that means a lot to me.’ Maybe more than you can ever know, she thought. ‘But, Draco...there is something I need to tell you. Something that changes everything, but nothing,’ she added bleakly.

Draco would never love her.

He took an impetuous step forward and as the light shone on his face Jane was shocked to see how drawn he looked as he caught her hands in his.

‘No, let me speak. Ask you if you...’ He released her and grabbed his head in both hands. ‘Oh, Jane, I have been such a fool!’ he cried out in an anguished voice she barely recognised. ‘I love you. I have been the world’s worst fool, a coward,’ he bit out, his voice aching with self-contempt.

Nailed to the spot with shock, she just stared at him. Was this a dream?

‘Please, Jane, tell me it is not too late... We have Mattie. We don’t need a baby.’ He stepped forward and took her hands, lacing his long fingers in hers and bringing them up to his lips. ‘All I need is you. All I ever needed was you, but I was afraid to admit my dreams, that you were my secret dream made warm, beautiful, brave flesh.

‘This is no excuse, but I saw my father destroyed by a woman, but being without you— my woman—would destroy me. I am not a full person without you. Can you ever forgive me? Will you marry me? And this time it will be different because I am different. I am not afraid to tell you that I love you.’

Tears pricked her eyes as she read the anguish on his face, the blaze of hope and fear in his eyes.

She looked up at him, her heart shining in her face. ‘I love you, Draco,’ she said simply as she stepped into him, laying her heart against his heart and feeling his arms close tight around her.

‘Not too tight...’

His arms dropped away and he looked at her anxiously. ‘I hurt you?’ He looked horrified at the thought.

‘I just feel a bit queasy, that’s all. Normally I love the smell of your soap but...’

‘You are ill.’ He went white. ‘I will call...’

She shook her head. The rush of emotion too strong now to hold back the tears of joy that spilled out. ‘It’s fine. You see, I’m not ill. I’m having our baby, our miracle.’

Mattie, ignored for too long, let out a loud gurgle.

‘A brother or a sister for you, little one, a playmate.’ Draco placed a warm, protective hand on her flat stomach. ‘It is safe for you? If not...’ He shook his head. ‘I will love our child, but I will never ever put you at risk, Jane,’ he said sombrely. ‘I hope you realise that.’

She slid a loving hand down his face, her vision misting at the sincerity in his voice. ‘Marco says there is no danger, though it’s possible I might need a caesarean.’

She had started crying and her heart was too full to tell him they were tears of joy.

‘Do not cry, do not be afraid—you are not alone,’ Draco soothed, cradling her face and kissing her lips with a blend of tenderness and passion that produced more tears.

‘I’m not afraid. I’m happy I’ll never be alone again,’ she sobbed, her voice choked with raw emotion.

‘If you don’t stop crying I will have to kiss you.’

Jane smiled and let the tears flow, thinking, Bring it on!

If you just couldn’t get enough of His Wedding Day Revenge then be sure to check out these other dramatic stories by Kim Lawrence!