Page 57 of His Housekeeper's Twin Baby Confession
Carrie sat down again and chose some crumble, focusing on it very intently so that she could avoid looking at Massimo.
‘You’ve turned avoiding me into an Olympic sport.’
She couldn’t imagine any of his previous lovers avoiding him as she’d been doing.
Thinking of them made her feel spiky. She hadn’t even thought about what would happen if he did marry. Someone else. The prospect made her feel a little breathless.
Almost accusingly, she said, ‘For someone who never wanted to marry or have a family you seem pretty sanguine about it.’
Massimo took a sip of coffee. Carrie couldn’t help but notice his big hands. It had been so long since she’d felt his hands on her. She ached to be touched...
She scowled inwardly. Pregnancy hormones. Apparently in the second trimester it was common to feel...aroused.
‘It’s one thing to take a position on a hypothetical situation,’ he said. ‘But when that situation is no longer hypothetical and becomes a reality, it’s a very different thing.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that I might not have wanted this, but now that it’s happening I find that I’m not as averse to it as I thought. I want to do things differently. Our children deserve a better life than I experienced or you experienced. We can give that to them.’
We.
Carrie’s head was starting to throb a little. She said, ‘Can we agree to talk about this again in the New Year?’
Massimo looked as if he wanted to disagree, but eventually he said, ‘Fine.’ And then, ‘I have something for you.’
Carrie watched as Massimo went to the Christmas tree in the corner of the room and picked up a small box. Her heart thumped. Surely he wouldn’t...? Flashbacks of her husband giving her a small velvet box made her feel queasy.
Massimo handed it to her. She took it reluctantly. She was afraid to open it.
‘You look terrified. It’s not horrible, I promise.’
Carrie glanced at Massimo and then back down at the box. She took a deep breath and opened it. And was immediately filled with a mixture of relief and—more worryingly—disappointment. It was a stunning pair of diamond drop earrings, glinting in the light.
She looked at Massimo. ‘They’re beautiful but they’re too much.’
When he spoke his tone was dry. ‘I’ve never given jewellery to a woman before. But you’re going to be the mother of my children.’
Relief flooded her to know she was the first woman he’d given anything like this to. ‘Well, thank you, but you really didn’t need to.’
‘Try them on.’
The air became charged again. Carrie cursed her hormones, telling herself it was only natural that he would want to see them on her. She took them out of the box carefully and slipped them into her ears.
Massimo’s gaze narrowed on her. Carrie felt heat rising.
‘They suit you.’
‘Thank you.’ And then, before she could make a fool of herself, Carrie said, ‘I have something for you too.’
She got up and went over to the tree, where she’d put his gift the previous day. She’d panicked, realising she had to give him something.
She picked it up, suddenly feeling incredibly nervous. At the time it hadn’t felt like a particularly intimate thing, but now, in this cocoon-like room, it felt like an unexploded bomb.
She handed it to Massimo before she lost her nerve, saying, ‘I didn’t know what to get you... I mean, what do you get the man who has everything?’
He looked up at her. ‘You really think I have everything?’
Carrie was taken aback at the bleak tone in his voice.
