The Purest of Diamonds(75)

                It wasn’t just food Raffa had brought with him—or even one box of supplies. It was a vanload of baby equipment: baby clothes, toys, a stroller, a Moses basket, a cot, a playpen—the last two flat-packed, requiring assembly, so the last items to make it into the house, courtesy of Raffa and two burly men from the store, were a toolkit, a stack of decorating sheets and a workbench.

                ‘Raffa, please... No more. Stop. It’s too much. I can’t let you do this—’

                ‘Do what?’ he said, paying off the men with a generous tip as he turned to stare at her. ‘There’s everything you could possibly need—’

                ‘That’s just it.’

                ‘What is?’ he demanded impatiently.

                ‘I don’t need anything.’

                ‘Oh, not that again. You clearly do.’ Raffa’s gaze swept the room. ‘In fact, I’ll have to get more stuff on order. Come on, Leila,’ he insisted when she began to protest. ‘How are you going to hoist a couple of cots up the stairs in your condition?’

                ‘I’ll get them delivered and pay to have them assembled, if I have to.’

                ‘And the playpen?’

                ‘I don’t need one yet. And when I do I’ll assemble it with the instruction sheet laid out in front of me.’

                Raffa wasn’t even listening. And before she knew it they were staring at each other daggers drawn, arguing about who was in control. ‘You can’t just walk in here and take over, Raffa. This is my house, my pregnancy—’

                ‘And our children. Never mistake me for a man who could be satisfied with making the odd guest appearance on significant days after the birth, Leila. I’m going to be involved from day one, so get used to it. I’m not trying to compete with any preparations you’ve made. These are our children. Aren’t I entitled to be excited too?’

                Raffa, excited? You wouldn’t know it from his face. As always, he was perfectly under control. ‘Yes, of course you are. And if you’ll just stop pacing for a moment, there’s something I really want to show you.’





                                      CHAPTER THIRTEEN

                ‘WHAT IS IT, LEILA? What are you going to show me?’

                ‘I wanted to send it to you,’ she said as she heaved herself up. ‘But you’re as good at disappearing as Tyr, and I didn’t know when you’d get it—if you’d get it. And I couldn’t risk it getting lost in a heap of mail on your desk.’

                ‘Like your email.’

                ‘Like my email,’ she confirmed dryly.

                ‘So, what is it? What are we talking about?’

                Shrugging her shoulders, she smiled. ‘Wait and see.’

                He glanced at Leila’s swollen stomach as she made her way across the room to a bureau and felt his heart clench. ‘You’ll need a bigger house,’ he murmured, thinking out loud as she rooted through some papers. ‘I’ll have to order twice as much equipment—’

                ‘I don’t need anything, Raffa.’

                ‘You’ll trip over that pride of yours one day, Leila. You do need things. Let me help you. These babies are my responsibility too.’