Frowning, I pushed myself up. That was true, since the hospital, he always brought me breakfast. But he didn’t climb into bed with me. Usually, he sat on the chair and discussed something completely mundane like the weather with me. The fact that he was right here and touching me was setting off alarm bells.
“What’s going on, Alexei?” I leaned back against the carved wooden headboard and closed my eyes as a dizzy spell took over me.
I was feeling better, but I wasn’t feeling a hundred percent. And these little dizzy spells were still hitting me if I moved too quickly.
“It’s—”
“Is it my sister?” My eyes flew open. Just for a few minutes there, I had forgotten her.
He shook his head. “No, Alessia is still the same.” He sounded almost sad. “But I’ve made arrangements for you to go and sit with her tomorrow for a little while.”
Throwing my arms around his neck, I squealed my thanks. These last few days without being able to see her had been hell. I didn’t like not being by her bedside.
“I thought you might like to see her, but you have to promise that you will get plenty of rest today and tonight.”
The way he said tonight made me pause. I untangled my arms from around his neck. “What’s happening tonight?”
It might have been my imagination, but I was sure he looked away guiltily.
“Alexei, what is happening tonight?”
“I’m throwing a party,” he sighed quietly.
“I can come down. Honestly, I’m so bored here. I feel like Rapunzel locked in a tower. I can sit in the corner and just chat with Gabriella.”
“Gabriella and Misha aren’t coming. She doesn’t get along with—” Too late, he stopped talking, and at the same time, it felt like my heart stopped beating for just a few seconds before realization and acceptance swept over me.
“Violet, the party is for Violet.” It wasn’t a question because I already knew the answer.
“It’s just a small thing, Amy,” he reached for my hand and entwined our fingers. I looked at his big hand swamping mine for what felt like a long time.
I’d been a fool to think anything would ever change. Baby or not, wife or not. He was always going to choose her. I slid my hand from his and tucked it under the bed covers out of sight so he didn’t see how much it was shaking.
God, I was a fool.
“Just her reintroduction into society and a small baby shower.”
He said it so quietly that I almost missed the last bit. My head whipped around. “You’re throwing her a baby shower when you won’t even tell anyone about our child?”
“It’s not like that, Violet is further along than you are, Amy, and you know from your own medical training that anything can happen in these first few months.”
“Get out.”
He did a double-take. “I think these are the famous pregnancy hormones I keep hearing about. You don’t mean that. I would like to spend time with you before I have to leave.”
“Leave,” I said again, more forcefully this time.
It was such a strange thing because I always thought becoming a mother would make me softer, and yet here I was, full of rage.
“Amy, this stress isn’t good for you or the baby. You heard what the doctor said.”
Oh, I heard alright, but Alexei didn’t seem to realize that the thing that stressed me out the most was Violet still being in the house. And now he was throwing her a party to introduce her to everyone again, like she was his wife and not his mistress. It was enough to turn my stomach and make me feel sick.
Vomit rushed up my throat. Clamping a hand over my mouth, I rushed to the bathroom, emptying the contents of my already empty stomach into the toilet before collapsing down onto the floor and pressing clammy head against the cold bathroom tiles.
Finally, I pushed myself upwards, brushed my teeth, splashed water, and went back to an empty room.
Alexei had gone.
