Page 64 of His Housekeeper's Twin Baby Confession
The kitchen, in spite of its size, was cosy. The fire crackled in the huge fireplace, sending out comforting warmth.
After they’d eaten in companionable silence for a few minutes, Carrie said, ‘I was thinking about some things...’
Massimo put down his cutlery. ‘Oh?’
Carrie could see the gleam in his eyes. She said quickly, ‘Not that.’
Massimo took a sip of water. ‘What, then?’
‘About the children. They’ll have this huge legacy, of course, but I don’t want them to go to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere with posh kids.
‘Sorry,’ she said then, in case she might have offended him.
‘I agree.’ Massimo wiped his mouth with a napkin.
Carrie was shocked. ‘You do?’
‘Boarding school did nothing for me and Ric except teach us how to stand up to bullies who thought we were inferior because we were half-Italian. I’d be happy for the children to go to a day school.’
‘Near us?’
Massimo’s gaze narrowed on Carrie. ‘Us?So you’ll be living with me?’
She cursed herself—she hadn’t been thinking. ‘Not necessarily, but I would be nearby.’
Massimo looked exasperated. ‘Carrie, look—’
Suddenly the lights went out.
Massimo cursed. ‘That’s the power gone. I guess it was inevitable.’
‘What do we do now?’
It was pitch-black except for the firelight.
‘Find some torches and candles...they’re in a cupboard here.’
He got up and turned on his phone light, found some torches and thick candles.
Carrie took a torch. Its powerful beam lit up the kitchen enough for her to gather the plates and put them in a pile by the sink.
Massimo said, ‘If the power is still off in the morning we have a generator we can power up.’
Carrie felt panicky. ‘Tom said it was only going to snow tonight.’
‘It’s just a back-up,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing for it now but to go to bed—it’ll soon get cold. I’ll go up and light fires in the bedrooms. You wait here.’
Carrie immediately thought of herself, sitting there in the dark, and said, ‘No, I’ll come with you and help. I don’t mind.’
Massimo shrugged. He led her upstairs, his torch lighting their way.
Carrie asked, ‘Does this happen a lot?’
‘Regularly enough, which is why we have the generator. These days, though, they usually have the power restored within hours. I’m sure it’ll be on again by morning.’ Then he asked, ‘Are you scared of the dark?’
‘I’m not overly keen on it...put it that way.’
Her husband had known she hated the dark, and had insisted on turning off every light at night. It had increased Carrie’s sense of fear even though he’d never lifted a hand to her.
