Authors: Natasha Anders
“She didn’t think I’d
care
,” he repeated incredulously. “Oh my
God
, woman… you assumed that I would not care about something that directly impacts your health and the baby’s well-being?”
“Of course, I
know
you’d care if anything happens to the baby but I didn’t want to worry you about something that I know is not a big deal.”
“And how do you know that? Did you obtain a degree in medicine sometime over the last three months? Of course I’ve seen you so rarely lately that you could have gotten a degree in quantum physics and I wouldn’t have known!” Lisa choked back an entirely irreverent giggle at that and both Theresa and Sandro glared at her.
“Sandro, I told you… I’ll
take care of the baby and myself. You needn’t worry about it. Your responsibility toward me,
us
, is at an end,” she reminded logically.
“We’re still married,” he pointed out. “And I think
I’ll
decide when and where my responsibility toward you and the baby will end. From now on, you will keep me fully appraised of what’s going on with your and the baby’s health.”
“No,” she maintained stubbornly. “It’s none of your business. You made it clear that the only reason you ever wanted me to get pregnant was to escape from this marriage, so why don’t you leave me alone while I attempt,
once again
, to do everything in my power to make you happy?”
“The
only
thing that would make me happy right now, you stubborn red-headed little cat, is if you would simply do as you’re told for a change!”
“I’m
sick
of doing what I’m told, I’m sick of being your obedient little lapdog… I was happy without your interference in my life these last few months, so I refuse to go back to the way it was before.”
“I don’t want to go back to that either,” he unexpectedly conceded. “We didn’t have a real marriage before…”
“You can’t possibly be telling me that you want a
real
marriage now?” She scoffed.
“What if I am?” He warily asked and she laughed in his face.
“I’d think you were insane to think that I’d want anything to do with it. How can a marriage with a life span of just six more months possibly be beneficial to either of us?”
“It wouldn’t… but that’s not what I want…”
“Oh it’s
always
about what
you
want isn’t it? Well, I have news for you, Sandro…” she was still holding the now-sleeping baby to her chest and glowering furiously at the tall man seated opposite her, oblivious to her cousin who sat watching the scene unfold in absolute fascination. “I don’t give one damn about what you want.
I
don’t want to stay married to you…
I
want my life back and
I
want you gone as soon as your contract with my father has been fulfilled.” The silence was absolutely deafening. Finally, after what seemed like ages, he leaned back in his chair and shook himself slightly.
“We’ll still be together until the baby is born,” he finally acknowledged wearily. “Up until then, I want daily updates on your health. I don’t want to be excluded from any bit of news no matter how trivial you think it may be.”
“I don’t understand what you’d hope to gain from such an arrangement,” she said miserably confused and frustrated by how adamant he was being on this point.
“Absolutely nothing,” he murmured. “But what do
you
stand to gain by keeping me out of the loop?”
Absolutely nothing
… And he knew it; she had no reason other than pure bitchiness to refuse his request.
“Fine,” she said begrudgingly. “I’ll keep you updated but I want your word that you won’t interfere in any part of my pregnancy and that you’ll remain a casual observer.”
“How can you expect me to make a promise like that?” He asked hoarsely. “I am
not
a casual observer, Theresa! I have a vested interest in both you and the baby.”
“You signed away your rights to us before you ever
had
us,” she reminded bitterly and he flinched slightly at her words. “And you seem to expect me to not only forget that little fact but forgive it too? Sandro… I will
never
forgive you.”
“I thought you understood what an untenable situation I was in,” he shook his head angrily.
“I understand and I sympathise but that does not change the fact that the person I thought I loved, the man I married in good faith,
never
existed and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get past that, Sandro.” He sighed heavily.
“Fair enough,” he finally conceded. “But we need to make the best of this situation in the meantime and living like strangers in the same house isn’t the best solution.”
“Fine,” she whispered reluctantly. “What do you suggest?”
“I would like to be present at your doctors’ appointments,” he said after a long pause and she hesitated, slanting a helpless gaze at her cousin who shrugged slightly.
“W
hy
?”
“Peace of mind,” he responded succinctly and she frowned, trying to think about it from all angles before sighing quietly.
“Fine… but your opinions and input are not encouraged or desired. So you’ll be there as just an observer… A
silent
observer. I will manage my own health and pregnancy,” his jaw clenched in displeasure but he kept his mouth shut and nodded reluctantly.
“I also think…” his voice was slightly hoarse and he paused to clear his throat before continuing. “I also think that living in the same house and never seeing each other is… well… ridiculous actually. Please stop disappearing when you know I’m home. It makes me feel like a monster knowing that you’re cowering away in some corner of the house because you’d rather not face me.” He couldn’t have chosen better words to get her back up and she bristled furiously.
“I do
not
cower,” she seethed, barely aware of the amused look he exchanged with her cousin.
“It certainly feels that way to me,” he responded. “I know that you find it difficult to be around me because of the
feelings
you once had for me…” another outraged gasp from her. “And I also know that with the attraction between us you’re probably afraid the chemistry will flare up and we’ll wind up in bed again, I mean it’s fairly obvious how much you want me… but…”
“I… you…” she was absolutely furious with him for bringing up their
sex
life in front of her cousin and appalled to realise that he thought she was
hiding
from him. Like some timid little rabbit. Okay, so maybe she
had
been hiding but she had been doing it to keep both of them comfortable with the awkwardness of the situation. “The colossal
ego
on you… I’m
not
cowering or hiding or anything like that! I just can’t stand to be around you.”
“Of course you’d say that now,” he shrugged dismissively and she gasped again, furiously rocking little Rhys back and forth as she desperately tried to find a suitably scathing response to his words.
“Anyway,” Sandro murmured. “I was going to suggest we start having breakfast and dinner together again, no point in having separate meals.”
“Fine,” she snapped grudgingly.
“And can we try to be civil?” He asked pseudo-meekly. “Have a decent conversation while we’re having our meals?” Her eyes snapped but she simply nodded, silently telling herself that it would be for just six more months.
“Anything else?” She asked sarcastically, her tone of voice definitely not inviting any more of his “suggestions” but he chose to take her question at face value.
“Yes…” he nodded. “The Friday night gang was wondering where you’d disappeared to. The ladies were disappointed when you didn’t come again.” She said nothing, she couldn’t do it… she quite simply
wouldn’t
do it.
“I. I can’t,” she finally admitted softly. “They’re
your
friends and when we divorce… well, they’ll still be
your
friends. I don’t want to form ties with people when I know exactly how temporary the relationships will be. I can’t keep saying goodbye to people I care about.” The last emerged on a whisper and he swallowed before nodding slightly.
“Then one last request,” he murmured, leaning toward her intently.
“What?”
“Two hours…” His voice had dropped to a husky whisper.
“What does that…”
“In the evenings…”
“Two hours for what?”
“Just to…” His face clenched in frustration and he shrugged helplessly. “Spend together. Talk, watch a movie, read, sit… anything, as long as we spend it together.”
“But that’s… I don’t understand why you’d want that?”
“Please.” The word, soft and pleading, stayed the rejection hovering at the tip of her tongue.
“Two hours… three times a week,” she found herself stipulating against her better judgement. Still, enforcing some kind of restriction on his request made her feel like she had some measure of control over the way things were going. He nodded eagerly.
“Name the days,” he invited and she nibbled at the lower lip, giving it some serious thought.
“Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays,” she deliberately chose his busiest office days, the days he often trudged home much later than usual, hoping that it would force him to cancel a lot of the time. His sharp gaze told her he knew exactly why she had chosen those days but he grinned suddenly and nodded.
“Fine with me,” he acquiesced and she sat back feeling like she’d been manipulated somehow. Rhys had fallen asleep and Lisa reached out to take him from Theresa.
“I’ll just put this little one to bed,” the other woman said quietly and Theresa nodded numbly. She felt completely drained and looked it too. Sandro sat down on the sofa and leaned toward her, very gently nudging the glass of orange juice in her direction again. She shot him a warning glance and he grinned slightly.
“I’m not trying to bully you into drinking a glass of orange juice, Theresa,” he said softly. “I just thought you looked a bit parched.” She gritted her teeth and sheer perversity kept her from picking up the glass and quenching her thirst. He said nothing further, merely leaned back in his chair with a soft sigh.
“So what did the doctor
really
say yesterday?” He asked after a pause.
“I’m slightly anaemic, that’s what’s causing the dizziness, he adjusted my diet to include more iron,” she responded quietly and he nodded.
“Everything else is normal?” He asked after another short pause.
“Yes.”
“You’d tell me if it wasn’t?”
“Yes,” he seemed satisfied with her answer and smiled slightly.
“Thank you,” she sighed and nodded an acknowledgement before finally conceding that her childishness would achieve nothing. She leaned over to pick up the glass of orange juice and take a sip. Fortunately he made no comment and his expression remained neutral. Again there was silence and this time it lasted until Lisa returned. Things were surprisingly amicable after that and Theresa and Sandro left about forty minutes later.
On the way home, she asked him about his private talk with Lisa but he refused to be drawn into conversation on the subject and Theresa eventually gave up in frustration.
The following month sped by, Theresa and Sandro’s new arrangement worked well, their meals together were civil, even pleasant and her doctors’ appointments were less of an ordeal with Sandro’s silent support. He kept his end of the bargain, merely observing and never interfering but just
having
him there made such a difference to Theresa’s sense of well-being. What surprised Theresa the most was how much she was enjoying the time together that he had requested. Contrary to her expectations, he hadn’t cancelled once, even coming home earlier than usual on the appointed nights. Sometimes they simply sat side by side in the den, sharing a bowl of popcorn and watching a movie, rarely saying much. Sometimes they would play Scrabble and Theresa usually enjoyed those nights very much, it wasn’t often she got to beat Sandro at anything and to his profound horror he was appalling at Scrabble. He blamed his lack of prowess on the fact that English wasn’t his native language but he approached every rematch with a never-say-die determination. Unfortunately said determination hadn’t yet resulted in a victory for him and Theresa was
delighted
by the fact that she was a better player than he was.
Despite his lack of skill, he played hard and often had her in stitches with his creative spelling and made up words. They also had an ongoing chess rivalry and were a lot more evenly matched at that game. Theresa soon realised that she was starting to look forward to those two hours and hated the fact that he was insidiously creeping beneath her defences again. Unfortunately, much like a car accident, she could see it coming but couldn’t seem to find a way to prevent the inevitable disaster from occurring. She was always very strict about the time, trying hard to maintain some kind of control over the situation and whatever they were doing, unfinished or not, had to stop exactly two hours after it had started. They usually picked up where they had left off the next time anyway.