His brows drew together. “No, you stay here. There’ll be enough reporters at the hospital as it is.” And then he kissed her cheek and continued out of the room.
Olivia let him go, shaken by his comment. He hadn’t meant to be hurtful but it had cut her to the quick, showing her exactly how unsuitable and disruptive she was for him.
For his family.
She swallowed as a new anguish seared her. And now his father was having a heart attack and she was more than likely to blame for bringing it on. Oh Lord. She prayed Cesare would be okay. If he wasn’t…
No, she wouldn’t think about that.
She’d keep busy until she heard from Alex. He’d call as soon as he knew something, surely. For now, she’d go phone Lianne and explain it all. She was close to her business partner, but this wasn’t something she looked forward to doing. She didn’t want anyone’s sympathy. The only thing she wanted was Alex.
The telephone rang again and she rushed to the desk to grab it. Could this be news of Cesare so soon? Alex would only just be getting in his car.
It wasn’t.
It was a reporter and she hung up without answering his question. How do you feel about your infertility? She gave a choked sob. How the heck did he think she felt?
On top of the world!
Gloriously happy!
Ecstatic!
The phone rang again.
She froze. It could be Alex. Or Isabel. Or perhaps Felicia. With a shaky hand, she picked it up then dropped it back down just as quickly when she heard the same reporter’s voice. And then she disconnected it.
Damn them.
She’d turn her cell phone on so that Alex could at least contact her. Only, when she took it out of her purse, as soon as she turned it on it began beeping with messages. None of the numbers looked familiar and she soon realized the messages were all about the same thing. Her heart thudded. No doubt for some it was easy getting her number.
At least with a cell phone she could leave it on silent and still check the numbers in case Alex called. But first, she called him to let him know what was happening.
He swore. “Don’t answer any of them unless you see my number, okay?”
She was warmed by his response. “Okay.” She hesitated. “I’m so sorry about your dad, Alex.”
“So am I,” he muttered, then had to hang up because he’d just arrived at the hospital.
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A sense of inadequacy swept over her as she walked back into the study and sat down at the desk. She couldn’t be there for Alex when he needed her. She couldn’t have his child. She couldn’t even give her mother a grandchild. What the heck use was she?
She shuddered. Oh God. This was crazy talk. She was feeling sorry for herself, that’s all. She had to stop it.
Right. She took a deep breath and gathered herself together. She’d phone Lianne shortly, but first she’d phone her mother just to let her know she was okay.
And she was, she told herself as she picked up the telephone from the desk and reconnected it, breathing a quick sigh of relief when she got a dial tone.
Surprisingly it was her mother who answered straight away, and not the housekeeper. Olivia briefly told Felicia about Cesare and promised to keep her up to date, then she told her about having to disconnect the phone temporarily and to call her on her cell phone if necessary. Her mother understood all too well.
Then, “Darling, I know who leaked the news. It was Brita.”
“Your housekeeper?”
“Yes. Just now I caught her on the telephone to a reporter. Apparently she heard us talking about it when you stayed here.” Her mother’s displeasure came clear across the ocean. “She’s packing her bags right now.”
Olivia was shocked. “But she’s been with you for years.” And lasted the longest.
“Five, but apparently she feels hard done by.” Felicia clicked her tongue. “It’s hard to get good staff these days.”
Olivia could have reminded her mother that even back “in the good old days” her mother had had trouble keeping her staff. It wasn’t that Felicia wasn’t nice to them, but more that she was too “precious,” as one of them had commented when Olivia had contacted her to beg her to come back.
“Darling, I’m so sorry about this,” Felicia said. “I don’t know how I can make it up to you.”
“Mum, you don’t have to do anything. It’s not your fault, okay?”
“Okay. Don’t forget to call me when you know something about Cesare.”
“I won’t.”
But as Olivia hung up the phone, she knew her mother was feeling guilty about it all, in spite of what she’d said.