“On your left side?”
She nodded. “They had to remove the ovary.”
“Okay. Kate, we noticed that your right ovary has a small cyst now too. Now, we can operate to remove it, but of course, if things go wrong, we might have to remove your other ovary.”
He was silent then, letting it sink in. Kate stared at him blankly. “So I would be infertile?”
“I’m afraid so. In these circumstances, we would recommend freezing some eggs just to be safe. You’ll still be able to carry a pregnancy to full term; as far as we know your uterus is fine, but we will make sure of that, of course. Kate, do you want me to call your partner?”
Kate shook her head. “No. Thank you.”
He patted her hand. “I’ll give you some space. I’ll come back in the morning, and we’ll talk.”
Kate below out her cheeks. Well, that went south quick. She rubbed her hands over her face. She had always known it could happen—the female side of her family had always been prone to these benign cysts. She’d looked into freezing her eggs before, half-heartedly, but when she found out that fertilized eggs had a better chance of survival, she balked. Why?
Because she truly didn’t know if she wanted children at all … or if she did, if she wanted them with Nikos. And now she would have to make that decision.
“Well, shit,” she muttered for the second time that day. Lying down, she couldn’t help but stare at the bouquet from Lisander and as she fell asleep, she knew that if Lisander had been the father, she wouldn’t have hesitated…
Maceo smiled to himself as he looked down at Ori’s sleeping figure. Last night, as Lisander had driven him up to Vermont when they approached Alex’s sprawling compound, Maceo had laughed when he saw a little dark-haired figure yank open the door and run out to meet the car. He was out of the passenger seat before Lisander had time to hit the brakes and he and Ori fell into each other’s arms, joyful at being reunited.
They made it another hour and a half, chatting with Alex and Lisander, before they couldn’t bear it any longer and excused themselves. Practically tearing each other’s clothes off, they’d made love through the night. Ori had assured him that Alex and Lisander were sleeping on the other side of the house, and so they fucked with abandon until, exhausted, they fell asleep as the dawn rose.
Ori lay on her stomach, her dark hair clouded around her. Maceo drew the curtain of it back with his finger, before bending his head to kiss the length of her spine. He heard her murmur and chuckled. “Good morning,mio amore.”
Ori wiggled onto her back, smiling at him sleepily, stretching her arms above her head. Maceo enjoyed the way her breasts jiggled with her movements. God, she made him hard, so hard … he took one of her nipples into his mouth and heard her sigh of pleasure. His hand swept over the soft curve of her belly and down into her sex. She was already wet for him. Her small hands reached for his cock, trailing gently up and down the hot length of it.
“Will we ever get tired of this?” she whispered, and Maceo grinned.
“I sincerely hope not,bella.” He moved on top of her and slowly entered her, making her moan. They made love slowly this time, tenderly, both of their orgasms shuddering, mellow things. Maceo kissed her deeply, wanting to taste her. He trailed his lips to her ear and whispered, “Sposami?”
Ori smiled through her tears and nodded. “Yes, Maceo Bartoli, I will marry you.”
By the endof her second week in Nairobi, Shiloh was flying high. The work was hard, the language barriers made easier by Shiloh’s interpreter, the cases sometimes heartbreaking. But this,this, was what she had studied for and broken her back to achieve. She was working with another, older human rights lawyer, Florence, and Shiloh knew she had found her mentor. Florence, a well-spoken Briton, was friendly but thorough. She reined in some of Shiloh’s more emotional tendencies with practicality and an encyclopedic knowledge of the law.
Benoit kept his word and flew to see her every few days, so much so that her colleagues knew him as well as they did her. She felt grateful that he took an interest in her work and didn’t even seem to mind that Florence tried to persuade him to invest in housing projects in the country.
“Africa needs investment in housing, Mr. Vaux. Here in Nairobi, there is five percent of the population living in slum conditions. You are in a unique position to help them.”
Benoit enjoyed jousting with the older woman. “That is true of any country, Florence.”
“True, but we’re here, now.”
Benoit laughed. “Florence, I am a businessman. Come to me with a business plan, and we’ll talk.”
Shiloh would smile to herself. Benoit had already told her he was looking to help the people of Nairobi—what Florence didn’t know was that Benoit planned to help theentirecountry.
She wason her way to Paris now, to spend the weekend with him. For once, they had cleared the week’s work early, and Benoit had sent his plane.Just this once,Shiloh had told him, and he’d grinned. “If I promise to offset the carbon footprint, will you forgive me?”
She loved that he cared about her beliefs. Now, as she came into land in Paris, she knew he would be waiting with a limousine. She smoothed her hand over her dress, stopping to feel the tiniest bump in her belly.The billionaire’s baby.She shook her head, disbelieving of the way her life had turned out.
Benoit leapedup the steps of the plane and embraced her. “Darling, how was your flight?”
They traveled back to his apartment and Shiloh, gazing out of the window at her beloved Paris, could not help but feel glad to be home.
She and Benoit spent a wonderful, lazy afternoon making love and talking. Then, as evening closed in, they dressed for dinner. Shiloh slid her slender frame into a dark red cocktail dress, pulling her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Asking Benoit to zip her up added another half hour to their dressing time, the moment his lips trailed against her shoulder, the dress was on the floor again.
The maître d’ welcomed them with a smile. “Good evening, Mr. Vaux, Ms. Holt. Your table is ready.”
