One Night with Morelli(75)

                ‘Grow a pair.’

                It was an answer that only a good friend could have uttered, but even so the harsh suggestion made Draco’s eyebrows rise dramatically. ‘Have I done something to upset you?’

                ‘You’ve done something to upset my wife, which amounts to the same thing. No, actually, it’s worse.’

                Draco, who could only recall having exchanged half a dozen words with the princess at her father’s wedding or at the charity evening, waited for an explanation.

                ‘Eve is Hannah’s best friend, Draco. They’re sisters now! Your name is a dirty word in our home. What the hell is wrong with you, man? Eve is a… Actually, this is none of my business.’

                ‘You’re ringing to tell me it’s none of your business or that I’m a loser?’ Kamel wouldn’t be the only one. Josie had stopped asking him about Eve but he could see the disappointment and disapproval in her eyes every time she looked at him.

                His best friend, his daughter… Was there a message in there he ought to be hearing…? No, Eve had made her feelings very clear, and, even if he did jump through hoops to get her back, who was to say it wouldn’t happen again? There was a limit to how often a man could reinvent himself. He was who he was and if she didn’t like him warts and all what was the point?

                The point is you’re lo… No, he wouldn’t even allow himself to think the word. His life was full, busy, and loneliness was a state of mind reserved for people who indulged in self-pity.

                ‘Both, but, no, I’m ringing you regardless, and God knows I hope I’m doing the right thing here… You know Hannah is pregnant?’

                ‘Congratulations.’

                He heard the hissing sound of exasperation echo down the line at the interruption. ‘The thing is the doctors won’t allow her to travel right now and I’m not leaving her.’

                An icy fist suddenly reached into his chest. ‘Has something happened to Eve?’ On his feet, he dragged a hand through his hair and thought, I should be with her.

                ‘Not Eve, no, not in that way.’

                ‘Eve is all right, isn’t she? She’s not hurt or ill or…’

                ‘Eve is well. It’s her mother, Sarah, who’s been rushed to hospital. We’ve had Charlie on the phone and the man is totally distraught, falling to pieces, as I would be in his place. Sarah has been admitted with severe pre-eclampsia.’

                The medical term rang a warning bell in Draco’s mind. ‘That’s bad?’

                ‘Very bad,’ the other man confirmed. ‘Apparently they’re going to deliver the baby early to give her a fighting chance.’

                ‘Charlie told you this?’

                ‘No, Eve did. She took the phone off him and it was just as well as he was sobbing and not making much sense. Hannah is worried sick about Eve, her father, and Sarah, and she feels guilty as hell she can’t get there and she’s mad at me because I won’t leave her and come over to take control of the situation. There’s no question that my place is here with her, but if I could tell her someone is there with Eve, and that she isn’t alone coping with it all…?’

                Draco’s jaw tightened. ‘I’m the last person Eve would want there.’