Page 52 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc
CHAPTER TEN
‘THEY’LLBETHEREby now.’
‘I know. Are you okay?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ Georgia picked up the pot Matteo had just put onto the draining board and started to dry it.
Matteo was scrubbing the next pot. ‘There were a lot of tears at the airport yesterday. From Kate, anyway.’ An eyebrow quirked in her direction. ‘You are much tougher, I think.’
Georgia shrugged, her gaze slidingaway from his. ‘I just don’t cry.’
‘What...never? I have five sisters and a mother who cry all the time.Icry sometimes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.’
Yes. She could remember the times she had seen tears glinting in his eyes. Happy tears that were evoked by tapping into the enormous love he had for his family.
He had an infinite capacity for love, this man, didn’t he?
When he’d had hishand on her belly that night, she could imagine that he was already feeling that love for a child that he still had no idea he had a close connection with.
There it was again.
That pressure.
The feeling that the account in the bank of time she’d believed she had was rapidly draining.
‘Just because I don’t cry on the outside doesn’t mean I don’t feel things. And Kate was upset that she couldn’tbe here to be my birth partner. She said that she’d tried to delay the start of her new job but just couldn’t make it work when we can’t be sure of an exact date.’
‘It can’t be far away.’ Matteo’s head turned again. ‘Look how far back you have to stand from the bench.’
‘I know. I won’t be able to reach the steering wheel of my car soon because my arms won’t be long enough. Just as well I’m allowedto work from home until I start my maternity leave officially.’
‘That decides it, then.’
‘Decides what?’ Georgia could feel her eyes widening. Oh, help...the pressure had just kicked up another notch. How had she become so used to the luxury of thinking she had plenty of time to pick the right moment to tell Matteo what he had to know? Relaxing enough to find an excuse every time anything likean opportunity presented itself because she couldn’t figure out a way of softening the shock by giving him some kind of a warning.
Opportunities like now, when they were sharing such a domestic task like washing dishes. When they were becoming so at ease with each other’s company. Matteo had said he would never force himself on her and he’d proved that his word was his bond in the last coupleof weeks. He’d been nothing more than a perfect flatmate.
A friend.
But that tone in his voice suggested something was about to change.
‘I can’t move back to Luke’s apartment.’
‘Oh?’ It wasn’t that Georgia wanted him to move out but the decisiveness of this statement was a little disturbing. What if he simply decided he had no intention of moving out of her life, full stop?
That was a battleshe might not want to win. It could well be only wishful thinking but the idea of having Matteo in her life for ever had a glow of being as close to perfect as anything could get.
‘Not yet, anyway. Not when you’ll need someone to drive your car. To get groceries, for example.’
‘I can order online. They deliver these days, you know.’
Matteo scowled at her. ‘You might need to go to the hospital.’
A flutter of something like panic was trying to make itself felt. It wouldn’t be perfect to have Matteo here for ever. Arguing with every decision she tried to make.
Taking control...
‘I have a phone.’ Her voice tightened. ‘I could call you.’
