GREEK HUSBAND

Chapter 20

Bella adored babies, but she had believed that the opportunity to have children lay far, far away in her future. And now that everything had changed she was struggling not to think in either personal or sentimental terms about the baby. After all, after her own chequered experience as a child, she knew that the best possible option for her baby would be an adoption by two parents with a stable home and everything Bella herself was currently unable to provide.

Didn't she owe her child the very best possible start in life? What on earth could she give in comparison? Her own mother had frankly struggled to cope with the weighty responsibilities of being a single parent. Keira Donovan had often resented her daughter, blaming her for the loss of her youthful freedom. There had always been a shortage of money for necessities and Bella had often been left in the care of unsuitable babysitters. Most telling of all, Bella was painfully aware of how much she herself had longed to have a stable father figure when she was a child. She was terrified of failing her own child the way her mother had failed her. But while her brain reminded her of all those distressingly practical facts, a more visceral response to motherhood deep down was agonized by the concept of handing her baby over to someone else to raise.

The locked door rattled. 'Bella? Are you in there?' It was her aunt's voice, sharp and demanding.

Lifting the bag, Bella unlocked the door and prepared to step past the older woman.

Instead, Della Donovan laid her hand on Bella's arm to prevent her from walking away. 'Are you pregnant?' she demanded thinly.

Bemused by the question when she had not shared her concern with anyone, Bella stiffened, her brows lifting in a startled arc. 'Why are you asking me that?'

'Oh, that could be my fault.' Jenna sighed with mock sympathy, pausing at the top of the stairs. 'I was behind you in the checkout at the supermarket and I couldn't help noticing the test...'

Bella lost color. 'Yes, I'm pregnant,' she admitted stonily.

Her aunt, always a volatile woman, immediately lost her temper. By the time she had finished shouting, threatening, and verbally abusing her niece for her morals, Bella knew where she stood and that she could no longer remain in her aunt and uncle's home. Della had said things about Bella and her late mother that Bella knew that she would never forget. White as paper and numb with shock in the aftermath of that upsetting confrontation, she went into her room, phoned Matt, and pulled out her suitcase; there was nothing else she could do. Her life, the life she had worked so hard to achieve, was falling apart even faster than she had feared, she acknowledged with a sinking heart.

* * *

At the outset of that same week, Edward had texted Bella but she hadn't replied and he was tired of waiting and waking up in the middle of the night wondering...

In little more than two months' time he was getting married and Marina had made him more than aware of that fact by calling him to ask his opinion on various questions of bridal trivia that he couldn't have cared less about. Nothing more important had entered those conversations and it had convinced him that he was the only one of them with doubts.

Sadly, even the smallest doubt had not been featured in Edward's original blueprint for his future. He fixed on a goal, made decisions, brought plans to fruition and that was that. He didn't do wondering about what if! He understood perfectly why he had ended up with Bella Donovan that night. He had been angry with Marina and full of misgivings about what their future together might hold. Regrettably, however, that still did not explain why Bella had hit him like a torpedo striking his yacht below the waterline. It did not explain why she had given him the most incredible sexual experience of his far from innocent life to date or why given the smallest excuse he would have repeated that night.

Consequently, he had checked out who Bella Donovan was while he waited to hear from her and what he had learned from that comprehensive investigation had only made him more confused. Her early childhood had been appalling and her adolescence not much kinder. It was a credit to her strength of character that she had achieved so much, regardless of those disadvantages. Yet there was still so much he didn't understand. Why would a young woman as well-informed as a fifth-year medical student not take extra contraceptive precautions? And why had she avoided telling him what she was studying? He had also taken on board the reality that an unplanned pregnancy would probably wreak greater havoc on her life than it would on his.