His frown deepened. "What do you mean?"
She squared her shoulders and met his gaze. "I deserve to know if you no longer want me."
His eyes narrowed on her face. "What the hell do you mean?"
"If you no longer want me, be man enough to say it to my damn face."
He straightened slowly, a closed look on his face. "I'm going to take into consideration the trauma you've been through and try and ignore that sentence."
"Please don't bother about sparing my feelings." Her eyes flashed. "I'm your wife, the mother of your children and I deserve the damn truth! You don't touch me."
"I just bloody touched you, just now."
"Like I'm your patient or one of your relatives. If you're cheating on me."
"You think I'm cheating on you?" His incredulous tone had her easing back a little.
"What else am I supposed to think?" she demanded. "You barely look at me. I know I might not look my best, but there's a reason for that. I just had three babies at the same time. Three! If you cannot understand that."
"You think I no longer want you?" He rose slowly, anger kindling. "After all I've done to show you that you're the only woman for me. You think."
"What else am I supposed to think? You won't even look at me. I know I have a paunch."
"I watched them cut you open!" The explosive sentence had her jolting. "They sliced your flesh open and there was all that blood. So much frigging blood that I became sick to my stomach. Before that, I heard your screams while we were on our way to the hospital." He spun away and went straight to the recessed cabinet.
Jabbing on the button, he grabbed the first bottle and uncapped it. She watched in shock as he tilted it to his lips and drank.
Turning back to her, he stared at her, eyes glittering. "I almost lost you. I sat in that room and wondered if I was going to lose my wife. How the hell could you think that it was all for nothing?"
"Christos."
"No, damn you! I cannot bear the thought of how they bruised your skin. It was my fault. I did this to you. You never asked for any of it. It came from my family! Mine!" He thumped a fist on his chest. "I'm trying to do everything I can to repay you, to make it up to you and it's bloody well not enough. It will never be."
For a minute, she just sat there shaken. Here she was thinking he had lost interest in her when all along, he was just carrying an awful amount of guilt.
Stretching out a hand, she wondered frantically how she could make it right.
"Can you come here, please?"
"I can't."
"Please." She saw the struggle on his face as he wondered if he should ignore her. When he came forward and took her hand, she sighed in relief, her long fingers grasping his.
"I have no regrets," she began quietly, her expression sincere. "I love you, darling, and those babies are miracles that I will treasure every day of my life. I had doubts that I would ever be a good mother, but you've shown me different." Lifting her hand, she used them to frame his beloved face.
"I apologize for thinking that you'd lost interest. Chalk it down to insecurities about my figure. I don't ever want you feeling guilt over me carrying our babies. That would kill me. Am I clear?"
Leaning forward, he rested his forehead on hers and took a deep breath. "I love you," he whispered gruffly. "That will never change, no matter what."
"Then come to bed and hold me. I need that more than anything else right now."
He did so immediately, arms wrapping around her possessively.
Chapter 16
She stood there a moment and just stared at the delightful scene. They were so absorbed in what they were doing that none of them noticed her standing there. It gave her a chance to take it all in, her heart swelling with love.
Her three-month-old triplets were draped over her husband's long lean body. One of the boys, she could not tell from where she was standing if it was Antonio or Niko. Without seeing their faces, she could never tell them apart. Antonio was the first born and had a tiny mole at the side of his left nostril. He was curled up under his dad's left armpit, diapered bottom in the air, dark head resting on Christos' chest. Nikos was on his right, a bunched fist on his chest.
