At the back of his mind was the thought that those things would not have to be seriously addressed because she would come to him before that. She would recognise the advantages of marriage and would accept that sometimes flights of fancy when it came to fairy stories of love and romance get put to bed in the face of duties and responsibilities that would always take precedence. He would drop the subject of marriage and just let time do its thing.
‘You’re nervous about me meeting your father. Why? Is it because you told yourself that this situation would never arise? Because I was never going to show up in your life again?’
‘Something like that.’
‘And, now that I’ve shown up, you’re nervous because…?’
‘I’m not sure how my father is going to react to you,’ Ella said bluntly.
‘He’s not going to think I’m a catch?’ Rocco raised his eyebrows and grinned. ‘Steady employment…good sense of responsibility…happy to put out the bins on a Monday…’
He watched pink creep into her cheeks and was gratified when she smiled at him, relaxing for the first time since he’d surprised her in the boardroom. This was the Ella he’d left in his wake and, if he could have turned back the hands of time, maybe he wouldn’t have been so hasty in his departure.
It wasn’t as though leaving that bubble behind had been a roaring success. He hadn’t been able to relegate her to something fun that had happened one day. She’d preyed on his mind, which was why he had finally made his way back to her. Back to her and, vaguely, back to try and recapture something of that carefree man who had had a window in time during which he had broken free of what had always been expected of him.
Everything that subsequently happened had come as a shock. But to see her smile that sweet, hesitant smile suddenly made him feel ten feet tall.
‘When I began looking for you, I was looking for an ordinary guy,’ she said truthfully. ‘Someone I could relate to. Someone who shared the same worries and concerns that I did.’
‘Tell me I’m not sharing the same worries and concerns right now that you’re facing,’ Rocco said.
The snow flurries pricked his face like needles. It was freezing, but no way was he going to abandon this conversation, because right now she wasn’t attacking him and he was going to take that as a win of sorts. He understood her bitterness but he was determined to find a way through that because he had to. There was no choice.
‘It’s cold. You should get in the car.’
‘I’m a big boy. I can withstand a little cold weather. Besides, I don’t want you to clam up on me.’
‘I’m not going to clam up on you.’
‘And I don’t want you to return to the comfort zone of attacking me for what happened. I want you to tell me what to expect when I meet your father. Will I be greeted with a shotgun and a pack of rabid dogs? What have you said to him?’
‘I’m not talking to you until you’re in the car. If you end up catching pneumonia, then I’ll probably feel guilty, and you wouldn’t deserve my guilt.’
‘That’s reasonable.’
He skirted around into the driver’s seat and slammed the door behind him. He swivelled in his seat, leant against the door and looked at her in silence.
It was a feat of willpower for Ella to hold that dark, steady, unrevealing gaze and she half-wished she’d let him stand outside the car, shivering in the cold.
‘Okay.’ She sighed. ‘My dad isn’t going to know what to do with you. He’s a straightforward guy and I don’t think he’s met anyone like you in his life before. Not only are you the guy who gets his daughter pregnant, but Rocco, you…you’re…’
‘Spit it out, Ella.’
‘You’refrom another planet.’
‘The money thing?’
‘Yes,the money thing.’
‘I never thought you were a snob.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m anything but a snob! I happen to have grown up in a very normal household. My dad has a small farm, my mum worked at Hailey’s for years. How can I be a snob?’
‘Aren’t you pigeonholing me because of my background? Isn’t that the definition of being a snob?’
‘No.’ But she flushed.
‘Take the money out of the equation and I’m the same man you slept with three months ago.’
