GREEK HUSBAND

Chapter 60

'Edward? You've met Edward?' Bella exclaimed, inviting the older man to sit down at the table she had vacated.

'He came to see me at the surgery last week and told me that you'd only recently found out what happened between your mother and I. By the way, I'm very sorry for your loss,' he told her with quiet sympathy. 'I wasn't sure this was the best time for me to meet you but your husband thought it might cheer you up.'

'My loss?' Bella repeated uncertainly, her brow indenting as she struggled to work out how such a misunderstanding could have taken place. 'But I didn't have a miscarriage...I'm still pregnant.'

Her father gave her a perplexed look, clearly confused.

'Did Edward tell you I had miscarried?' Bella asked abruptly and when he nodded, everything fell into place for Bella and she finally realized that she had totally misinterpreted Edward's silence about her health and threatened miscarriage. Evidently, her text had gone astray and, having failed to receive it, Edward had assumed the worst and had then tactfully avoided any reference to pregnancy or babies. 'My goodness,' she whispered in shock, appalled to appreciate that Edward had been walking around London in ignorance of the reality that he was still going to be a father.

She explained the misunderstanding to her own father while trying to come to terms with the knowledge that, even divided as they currently were, Edward had still sought out her father and gone to see him for what could only be for her benefit.

'Are you saying that your husband still doesn't know that you didn't lose the baby?' he commented in consternation. 'You should go and phone him right now!'

'Edward's due back tonight and I'd prefer to tell him face to face,' Bella admitted with an abstracted smile, hoping that he would believe it was the very best news. 'I gather it was Edward who persuaded you to come to Italy and meet me?'

'I needed very little persuasion. I have waited over twenty years for this opportunity,' Tony Roberts pointed out with a wry smile. 'I assumed that you would hate me because your mother did. I didn't even know Keira had a brother in London. I never met any of her family because she didn't get on with them. I also had no idea that your mother had died when you were eleven. Had I known I would have asked if you could come and live with me instead of your aunt and uncle?'

Josefina brought out a tray of coffee and biscuits and Bella chatted to her father, satisfying her curiosity about his side of the family tree and asking about his three children and his wife. Tony had been so excited about the chance to meet his long-lost daughter that he had gone straight to his partners in the surgery where he worked and requested time off to fly straight out to Italy for the weekend. Bella was doubly touched, overwhelmed by her father's eagerness to meet her, and stunned by the effort Edward had gone to on her behalf. Edward cared about her happiness, she realized, warmth filling her heart. Only a man who cared about her would have taken the trouble to set up such a meeting.

Morning coffee stretched into a leisurely lunch out on the terrace and the sunny afternoon sped past fast as father and daughter got to know each other, registering their similarities in outlook and interests with acceptance and pleasure. As the daylight faded, Tony took his leave, only then confiding that his wife, Jennifer, was waiting for him back at his hotel. Bella invited the couple to come for dinner the following evening and she watched the older man drive off in his hire car with genuine regret. She suspected that he would have been a lovely supportive father to have when she was younger and then she told herself off for concentrating once again on the negative rather than the positive. She decided it was wiser to be grateful for the enjoyable day she had spent in her father's company and was already looking forward to meeting her three younger half-siblings when she returned to London.

She prepared for Edward's return with care, donning a green dress with elaborate beadwork around the neckline and elegant heels. Hearing the helicopter come into the land, she breathed in deep and crossed her fingers for luck. He would probably still be angry with her because he hadn't received her text and she had behaved badly at the hospital. She was still brushing her hair when Edward entered the bedroom.