‘Auntie Doreen is a good friend of my grandmother’s. My grandma used to live across the street.’ Which was probably why she’d jumped at the chance to buy this house. The street held good memories for her.
Alex frowned. ‘She doesn’t live there now, though, does she?’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘No, Alex, she doesn’t. I’d have sent you to sit on her veranda to wait til she’d returned home from wherever it was she’d been, so it could be her rather than you sitting here talking to me right now.’
‘I didn’t mean…’
‘She moved into a retirement vil age in Forster five years ago when my mother relocated to Brisbane. She delights in al the activity the vil age offers. She has a very ful social life.’ Before he could ask, she added, ‘Forster is across the bridge.’
Forster and Tuncurry were twin townships separated from each other by the channel of water that fed into Wal is Lake.
Did he real y mean to abandon his child? As the question speared into her, an ache stretched behind her eyes, pounding in time to her pulse.
‘You look tired again. I should let you get more rest.’
He went to take her mug but she kept hold of it, forcing him to look at her. His fingers felt cool against hers. Unbidden, images of what he’d done with those fingers rose up through her. She snatched her hand away. She didn’t know how he managed to keep hold of the mug or prevent its dregs from spil ing over her quilt. Al she knew was that she couldn’t think when he touched her.
‘What the—’
Whatever he saw in her face had him biting back the rest of his words. His jaw had clenched so hard she suspected he wouldn’t be able to utter them now anyway.
‘I want to ask you something.’ She was appal ed at her uneven breathiness. She’d wanted to sound cool, calm and in control. Unflappable.
Where Alex was concerned, though, she was highly flappable. And flammable!
His choked out, ‘Ask what?’ didn’t help either.
She knew precisely how flammable he could be.
He didn’t meet her eyes. The pulse at the base of his jaw jumped and jerked.
She stared down at her hands to find her fingers mechanical y pleating the quilt.
Alex reached out and trapped them beneath his hand, stil ing them. ‘Kit, just tel me what’s on your mind.’
He sat back down and just like that some of the tension eased out of her. She pul ed in one long, hard breath. ‘You said you weren’t leaving Tuncurry until we’d sorted out a few things. I want to know what those things are.’
‘There’l be time enough for that once you’ve received the al -clear from the doctor tomorrow.’
She could almost see him replay the doctor’s words through his mind.
She folded her arms. ‘Look, I’m going to worry about this until we sort it out. Either you let me stew about it al night or we can talk now.’
For a moment she thought he was going to refuse, get up and walk away. ‘Can we keep this calm?’ he final y asked instead.
‘We’re adults, aren’t we?’ she countered.
‘We’re adults, aren’t we?’ she countered.
He surveyed her for a long moment. It took a concerted effort not to fidget under those dark inscrutable eyes. ‘Okay, Kit.’ He nodded. ‘Once the child is born I want a paternity test carried out. If the child is mine then I’l arrange for child support payments.’
She kept her voice perfectly polite. ‘No.’
He leant forward. ‘What do you mean, no? I have every right to demand a paternity test.’
‘Real y?’ Even though she’d steeled herself for this, she was stil surprised at how much his distrust hurt. ‘Just for argument’s sake, let’s say that we do get the test done and you discover that the baby is yours, and, believe me, Alex, that is what you’l find out. But once you have incontrovertible proof, what is it going to change? Are you going to want visitation rights? Are you going to be a
He turned ashen. ‘No, but I’l at least make sure that financial y you and the baby are taken care of.’
‘You can take your blood money and sod off, Alex!’ She abandoned al pretence at politeness. ‘I can look after this baby on my own—financial y and otherwise.’
‘It is my duty to provide financial support. It’s a legal requirement.’
‘It’s your duty to be a proper father, but it’s obvious that moral requirements don’t figure on your radar!
So you can take your legal requirements and stuff them up your shirt for al I care.’
She wanted to drop her head to her knees and weep for her unborn child.
‘I can’t believe you’re prepared to turn your back like that on your own child, Alex. And I can’t believe that you could accuse me of lying about this, of—’
‘I’m not accusing you of anything!’
‘Yes, you are!’
