скачать книгу бесплатно
Sharon looked horrified. ‘How—? What makes you think he’s involved with someone else?’
‘Because I just met her.’ Tia dropped the bag and stared into the mirror. Her reflection stared back, her skin pale and streaked with tears. ‘I nipped along the corridor to talk to Luca’s mother half an hour ago, when you were in the bathroom. She was deep in conversation with a very stunning woman. Someone I’d never seen before.’
Sharon sank onto the nearest chair and stared at her with trepidation. ‘And?’
Tia fiddled with the silk of her jacket. ‘His mother was saying what a sad day it was. That he should have been marrying Luisa—that’s her name, by the way.’ She sniffed slightly. ‘And that he was marrying totally the wrong woman for totally the wrong reasons and it would never last.’
Sharon gave a soft gasp and lifted a hand to her throat. ‘And what did this Luisa woman say?’
‘That she and Luca had been so close for so long that things had just become confused. And that she’d seen him and spoken to him and he’d said he would always love her…’
‘No!’ Sharon groaned and shook her head. ‘I don’t believe it. Not Luca.’
Tia gave her a watery smile. ‘Why not Luca? Let’s be honest for a moment. This has been one of the fastest romances on record. I met him ten weeks ago. We barely know him, Shaz.’ Tia’s voice cracked and Sharon squeezed her arm.
‘Luca’s not a teenager, Tia. He’s an adult male who knows exactly what he wants out of life. I can’t see him marrying someone unless he wanted to. Maybe he finished it—’
‘No.’ Tia rummaged in her bag for a tissue and blew her nose hard. ‘No way would any red-blooded male finish with a woman like this one. You didn’t see her. She was seriously gorgeous. And elegant. Nothing like me. When Luca met me I was backpacking, for goodness’ sake! I’m so far removed from his usual style of woman that it’s laughable. I’m a homeless, rootless waif who’s terrified of commitment. Believe me, there’s no contest.’
Sharon frowned. ‘You forgot to add that you’re also warm, funny and irresistibly pretty. Tia, men have been falling over themselves to get to you for years and you don’t even see it. Trust me, Luca is crazy about you—’
‘Novelty value.’ Tia blew her nose again and tucked the tissue up her sleeve. ‘There’s obviously a shortage of blonde women in Italy. But I’ve come to my senses now, and I’m relieving him of his responsibilities. He can go back to the woman he loves. Come to think of it, he’s probably never been away from her. Maybe that’s why he was spending all that time at the hospital.’
‘He’s an obstetrician.’ Sharon reasoned. ‘You know they work hideous hours.’
‘Do I?’
What evidence did she have that he’d been working? Only his word, and he seemed to be very selective about what he disclosed.
And she could never marry a man who wasn’t completely honest with her.
She stood up, slipped on her coat and picked up her bags.
‘Tia, wait!’ Sharon hastily followed her across the room and caught her arm. ‘At least talk to Luca about it before you leave. There might be a simple explanation.’
Tia shook her head. ‘For telling another woman that he would always love her? I don’t think so.’
‘But—’
‘He doesn’t love me, Shaz. He was just doing the honourable thing by offering to marry me and I was really stupid to believe otherwise.’
Luca had never once said he loved her. Not even when she’d told him about the baby and he’d proposed.
Sometimes, just sometimes, from the way he’d behaved, she’d thought that maybe—
But she’d just been kidding herself.
‘He doesn’t love me.’ Tia moved towards the door and Sharon grabbed her again.
‘He’s going to be furious, Tia.’
Tia shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t think so.’ She gave a painful smile. ‘I think he’ll be relieved that I’ve let him off the hook.’
Sharon looked at her anxiously. ‘So what are you going to do?’
Tia checked that her passport was in her handbag. ‘Take the first available flight back to England. With any luck you’ll give me my old job back and I’ll find somewhere to live…’
Sharon frowned. ‘Of course you can have your job back, and you can stay with Richard and me, but—’
‘No. I need to be on my own.’
Sharon bit her lip. ‘But, Tia, Luca is a very traditional Italian male. Do you really think he’s going to let you leave, knowing you’re pregnant? He’ll follow you—’
‘No.’ Tia gave a sad smile and shook her head. ‘If we were already married, then maybe, but Luca is still a single man and he’s free to lead his own life.’
Free to marry Luisa.
‘It’s over, Shaz, and I need to build a new life for myself.’
Without Luca.
CHAPTER ONE (#uf7e34d93-de31-5761-9f2d-b308f88592e0)
SHE wasn’t going to cry.
Tia clamped her teeth firmly on her lower lip and wondered if the day would ever come when she no longer felt like sobbing the whole time.
A soft sigh from the newly delivered mother by her side brought her to her senses and she stared down at the tiny bundle in her arms.
The child was beautiful.
Barely two hours old, dark lashes feathered her cheeks which were still slightly blotched from the rigours of birth. Lying passively in Tia’s arms, she gazed placidly up at the world, her blue eyes slightly unfocused.
Tia felt her throat close.
‘Isn’t she perfect?’ The proud mother gave a wide, self-satisfied smile and waited to be handed her daughter. ‘I can’t believe how beautiful she is. I mean, I always thought babies were supposed to be ugly.’
Ugly?
Tia stared down at the sleeping cherub, marvelling at the way nature had managed to produce everything in miniature.
No—the baby definitely wasn’t ugly.
‘She’s beautiful, Mrs Adams.’ Tia’s heart beat faster as the baby made little snuffly noises and turned her head searchingly. ‘And she’s hungry.’
Work. Thank goodness for work. It was the only thing that distracted her from her own problems.
She tightened the blanket around the baby and looked quizzically at Fiona Adams. ‘Are you ready to give it a try?’
‘I suppose so, although I have to admit that I’m really nervous,’ the young woman admitted as she settled herself more comfortably on the chair. ‘Everyone says I’m mad, wanting to breastfeed.’
‘You’re not mad at all,’ Tia said calmly. ‘Breast milk is designed for babies and you’re giving her the very best start in life.’
Fiona looked worried. ‘I bet I won’t have enough milk.’
‘Well, your milk often doesn’t come in for a few days after delivery,’ Tia told her, ‘but what you do produce is something called colostrum.’
‘And that’s good for her?’
Tia nodded. ‘Very good for her. Packed full of protein and antibodies. Very high in calories, too. Are you comfortable like that?’
She’d settled Fiona in a chair with her back and her feet supported.
Fiona wriggled again and held out her arms. ‘Yes. I really wanted to put her straight on the breast after she was delivered, but she was totally out for the count.’
Tia nodded. ‘You had pethidine during your labour, and it can make the baby sleepy.’ She placed the baby in Fiona’s arms, positioning her carefully. ‘That’s right. We want her mouth to be opposite the nipple, just like that—perfect.’
Fiona stared down at her baby daughter. ‘Does the position really matter?’
‘Oh, yes. It’s vital if you’re not going to get sore and disheartened by the whole thing. Everyone thinks that breastfeeding is instinctive, but it isn’t, you know.’ Her voice was soft as she tucked the baby into a good position, moving Fiona’s arm so that she supported the baby’s shoulders. ‘It’s a skill that has to be learned like any other. That’s great, Fiona. You can use your fingers to support her head—like that. Brilliant.’
She slipped a hand behind the baby’s downy head and gently moved the baby’s mouth against the nipple, encouraging her to suck. ‘Come on, sweetheart, take a nice big mouthful for me…’
‘Oh!’ Fiona breathed in sharply and then looked up, her eyes misty. ‘She’s doing it! I can feel it.’
‘That’s great.’ Tia watched the baby closely, checking that she was sucking properly. ‘You’re both doing really well.’
‘So is that it? I expected it to be more complicated than that.’
Tia smiled. ‘Well, sometimes it is. And for the first few days it’s a good idea to let someone help you put her on the breast so that we can check that she’s feeding properly.’
Fiona stared down at her daughter with an awed expression in her eyes. ‘I can’t believe that it doesn’t hurt. I always expected it to.’
Tia shook her head. ‘It shouldn’t hurt. Not if she’s latched on properly.’
‘And how do I know that?’
‘Well, for a start there shouldn’t be any pain,’ Tia said, ‘and also if you look down you can see that she’s taken the whole of the nipple and some of the breast into her mouth. That’s how it works, you see. The nipple goes right back as far as the soft palate and that’s what makes her suck. Her lower jaw closes on the actual breast tissue and she uses suction to strip the breast of milk. You’ll feel her feeding but it should never be painful.’
‘And what if I can’t make enough milk?’
Tia gave a lopsided smile. ‘Well, that’s where nature is very clever. It’s all about supply and demand. The more you put the baby to the breast, the more milk you produce.’
Fiona gave a contented sigh and settled down to enjoy feeding her daughter.
‘You have a very unusual name.’ She glanced up at Tia with a curious smile. ‘What’s its origin?’
Tia pulled a face. ‘It’s short for Portia.’
Fiona lifted her eyebrows. ‘As in The Merchant of Venice?’
Tia gave a nod and a rueful smile. ‘My parents were actors.’
‘It’s a pretty name,’ Fiona commented, breaking off as her husband walked into the room, a bag of coins and a sheet of paper clasped in his hand.
‘Mike, look!’ Fiona spoke softly so that she didn’t disturb the baby. ‘She’s feeding!’
Mike Adams flopped onto the bed and grinned soppily at his wife. ‘Clever girl. I knew you could do it.’
‘It’s her that’s doing it, not me.’ Fiona touched her daughter’s downy head with her fingers. ‘She’s brilliant.’
‘She knows what’s good for her,’ Mike said stoutly, and Fiona gave him a wry look.
‘And you, too, of course. You can’t get up in the night if I’m breastfeeding.’
‘Oops. Caught out!’ Mike smiled sheepishly. ‘I’ll do the nappies.’
Fiona smiled placidly. ‘Too right you will. And the winding.’ She frowned at her husband. ‘You look really rumpled. As if you slept in your clothes.’
Mike gave a short laugh. ‘Sleep? Just remind me what that is again. You may have been the one who had the baby, but I’m exhausted!’
‘Poor thing!’ Fiona laughed. ‘So, who did you phone?’
Mike gave a groan and ticked them off on his fingers. ‘Your mother, my mother, your sister, Pam and Rick, Sue and Simon and Nick Whiteshaw.’
‘Oh, great, well done.’ Fiona turned her attention back to the baby and then glanced at Tia. ‘How long do I keep going for?’
‘Until she stops feeding.’ Tia gazed down at the baby, noticing that she was still swallowing. ‘She’s still guzzling away at the moment.’
‘Do I have to give her both sides?’
‘Always offer both sides,’ Tia advised. ‘But let her take all that she wants to from the first breast. When your milk comes in it’s important that she stays on the breast for as long as she wants to because the milk changes during the feed.’
Fiona’s eyes widened. ‘Really?’
‘Really.’ Tia smiled. ‘What the baby gets first is what we call foremilk—it’s lower in calories and thirst-quenching. After that they drink hind milk which is much more filling. If you take them off the breast too soon then they miss out on the milk that fills them up.’
Mike blinked. ‘Clever.’
‘Very.’ Tia nodded and helped Fiona remove the sleepy baby from her breast and wind her carefully. ‘Have you decided on a name yet?’
‘We’ve narrowed it down to three,’ Fiona said with a chuckle. ‘Mike’s first choice is Georgia, mine is Isabelle and we both quite like Megan.’
‘Megan Adams.’ Tia tried it out, nodded her approval and took the baby from Fiona, snuggling her against her shoulder with an easy confidence that brought an envious sigh from the mother.
‘You’re so natural with her. Do you have children?’
‘No.’
