‘Xander, what are you doing here?’
‘I needed to make sure you were OK.’
‘I’m fine. Is Jacob OK?’
He glanced at the sonographer who was putting some kind of jelly on Immy’s stomach. Did they think that the smoke poisoning would be in her stomach or other organs too, as well as the lungs? It seemed an odd place to start the examination.
He turned his attention back to Immy. ‘He’s fine too. My cousin, Paige, was the duty vet tonight and she’s taking very good care of him. She said she wants to keep him in overnight to observe him and run some tests on him just in case, but she’s not worried.’
Immy nodded and returned her gaze to the screen. The sonographer was running the wand over Immy’s stomach and there was just a mass of shadows and blurry objects on the screen. He wasn’t sure how they could identify anything in all that.
Immy took his hand and he looked down at her in surprise. ‘I… have something to tell you.’
‘And there’s baby,’ the sonographer said. ‘I was having trouble finding the baby there for a while, but they do like to move around.’
Xander’s eyes snapped to the screen and he could very clearly see a small head, body, arms, legs, even tiny fingers and toes. And in the middle of the chest he could see the tiny heart beating away. His mouth was dry, he’d forgotten how to breathe.
‘Is… everything OK?’ Immy said.
‘Baby looks absolutely fine,’ the sonographer said. ‘But to be on the safe side we’ll have you back foranother scan in four weeks. But he or she appears to be fighting fit.’
Immy’s eyes filled with tears and Xander had no idea what to do or say. He wanted to let go of her hand but she was holding onto him so tightly, that wasn’t even possible. He wanted to get out of here because all he could think about was how he had lost Immy for good and it was that reality that made him realise how completely stupid he’d been to push her away all this time. Now it was too late. She was pregnant with another man’s baby and he couldn’t help feeling sick about that.
CHAPTER THREE
Immy sat in Xander’s car on the way back to Lovegrove Bay. Xander had barely said a word to her since he’d found out she was pregnant and now anger was rolling off him in waves.
She decided to break the silence.
‘I’m not sure why you’re so angry, I didn’t get pregnant on my own.’
‘I’m very aware of that. And I’m not angry.’
‘Try telling your face that.’
‘I’m very happy for you,’ he said, though his knuckles were white on the steering wheel and his jaw was clenched. ‘You always wanted a family. I hope the three of you will be very happy together.’
Realisation dawned on her. He thought she was pregnant with someone else’s child. That’s why he was angry. Oh the audacity. She nearly laughed out loud except that made her angry too.
‘You’re angry because you think I’ve slept withanother man? But you don’t want me so you have no right to be upset if I move on with someone else.’
He reached out to stroke her cheek. ‘Wanting you was never the problem.’
Her anger drifted away. ‘Pull over.’
‘What?’
‘Pull over. I need to talk to you.’
He frowned and then pulled over onto the grassy verge on the side of the road, turning the engine off.
‘Come on.’ She climbed out of the car. After a moment he got out too. He walked round to her and shrugged out of his coat, wrapping it round her, which made her heart melt a little.
‘We could talk in the car, it’d be far warmer.’
‘I need to do this face to face so there is no doubt in your mind.’
She chewed her lip for a second wondering how to do this, then she took his hand and placed it on her belly.
