Episode 13
Author: Pamela.
Aurora stared at the lines in the pregnancy kit which confirmed that she was indeed pregnant.
There it was, ironically, the outcome she had secretly come to fear most.Seemingly,it had taken hardly any time at all for Marco to get her pregnant and it was a discovery that ripped Aurora into emotional shreds and plunged her into violent conflict with herself.She hadn’t expected to conceive so quickly and had simply assumed that it would take at least more than a month.
She loved Marco. She was not yet ready to lose him… could not see when she would ever be ready to.Would she now be returning to her father’s house…there to
wait out the course of her pregnancy with nothing more than occasional phone calls from the man who had fathered her child.
In the circumstances, how much more involved could she expect Marco to be in her life?The whole point of being in his house had been to conceive a child,she reminded herself bleakly.He would not have wanted her otherwise.Now that the baby had become reality,Marco would be free to return to his former lifestyle of wine and women,a possibility that made Aurora feel quite sick with apprehension.
Still,she had to tell him.
Clad in cropped trousers and a silk top.She hurried across the imposing landing and walked downstairs with her obnoxious guards trailing behind her.
She found Marco in his study talking in Spanish on the phone.The guards stood outside.
Eyes tender with love,she watched Marco unnoticed from the doorway for the space of a minute, revelling in the memory of the closeness they had shared and proud of the intimate ache that was the penalty for such passion.
“Aurora….”Marco perceptibly tensed the instant he saw her there,his lean
strong face pulling taut and shuttering.”I’ll be with you in a moment”
A little hurt by the reserve she sensed in him,Aurora asked one of the men outside to bring them coffee and took a seat.
“I’ve got something to tell you”She said as soon as Marco had finished his phone call.
The guard created a welcome hiatus with his return with a tray but he walked out after dropping it.Marco wandered over to the window with his cup cradled in one hand, sunshine glinting over his black hair and adding reflected light to his charismatic dark eyes.
“What is it?”He asked, casually.
Aurora lifted her head high.”I’m pregnant”She told him, quietly.
Marco looked revealingly stunned,as though that was the last piece of news he had expected to hear.His ebony brows pleated in a questioning frown.
“You can’t be…”
“I am, you said it yourself that the kit was expensive and highly effective so it confirmed that I am pregnant”
“But so soon,so..er….quickly?”Marco breathed in stilted English,his
surprise still lingering in spite of her explanation.”I just thought it might take months”
“No.We’ll be parents by the end of February next year”Aurora told him excitedly, wanting to infect him with some of her enthusiasm because he was standing there so still and quiet.
“February next year”Marco repeated, slowly.
She thought he looked pale beneath his bronzed skin and more like a man who had been dealt a severe shock than a man given news he should have been eager to hear.His strong facial bones were clearly defined,his brilliant eyes hooded so that she had not the slightest idea what he might be thinking.It was the most complete non-reaction that she had ever experienced and very far from what she had hoped to receive.
“You’re not pleased”She breathed, unevenly.
Marco unfroze and took a hasty step towards her, only to come to a halt again and then hover with uncharacteristic uncertainty.”Of course.I’m pleased!”
Aurora could feel herself turning stiff and defensive, for any hint of the warm intimacy of the night hours had been well and truly scuppered by his attitude.
“No.You’re not pleased and I don’t understand why you’re not.Isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you let my father go scot-free so that I could give you a child?”She prompted,her voice getting more shrill without her meaning it to, and for a horror-stricken instant,she was afraid she sounded whiny.
“Mierda! What’s the matter with you?”Marco chided, pulling her resistant body to him with firm hands.
“Does falling pregnant make a woman shockingly cross,Nena?”
“No,of course,it doesn’t!”She rebutted tightly, gazing into his breathtakingly handsome features with bewildered eyes.”It’s the way you’re behaving that’s making me feel like this.You’ve changed your mind, haven’t you? You don’t want a baby anymore?”
Marco closed his larger hands firmly over hers.
“I have never heard such nonsense.If you are having my baby…..”
“I am”Aurora slotted in truculently.
“Then naturally I am overjoyed,princesa”Marco insisted forcing a smile out of him,his beautiful dark eyes intent on her troubled face as if he was willing her to believe what he was telling her.
His hold in her hands tightened.”Now that you’re carrying a baby,you’ll have to rest more and I’ll book an appointment with the doctor so as for you to know how to fully take care of yourself during the months of pregnancy”
“I’ll be sensible and you practically don’t allow me to do anything in this house so you don’t have to worry about stress”
Marco nodded.”And another thing,you have to stay with me till I find the person who attacked you so that when we part ways,I want to always feel at ease that you’re safe”
Her chest ached and she pulled free from his arms,so he still wanted them to part ways?
“I want to go upstairs now,see you later”She said trying to sound neutral. “Okay then”
As soon as she left,Marco hurriedly looked up his illness online.
He had done it before but this time he wanted to find something… just anything that might make him live.
He was glad that a child was on the way to bear his name but he wanted to see that child….he wanted to have a life with Aurora.
Almost an hour later found him in doctor Carlos office.
“You see,I saw online that most people with brain tumor suffer from memory loss but my memory is still intact,I can still recall things that happened years ago and I haven’t felt any migraines for a while now, please doc… maybe the tumor isn’t that bad… just please,tell me that I still have hope”He pleaded, desperately.
Carlos brought his palms together staring at him sadly.”It pains me to say this to you,Marco but the tumor is bad and not everyone suffers from memory loss,and I told you before that if you undergo surgery, there’s a very high percentage that you won’t come out alive.The nature of your tumor is that bad to the point that very soon,you would sleep and won’t wake up, I’m sorry,Marco. There are no new neurosurgical techniques for treating brain tumor yet”Carlos said, ruefully.
Marco leaned back in his chair feeling so miserable.
As he drove home,he pictured himself holding a baby with Aurora by his
side.
God!He would give anything to be there for her….to be in her life for a very
long time.
He came to a halt and jammed his arms on the steering wheel, angrily.
He didn’t want to die.He wanted to live for Aurora.
His head fell back on the headrest, frustratedly.
Why does he have to die?
It has been three days since she told him that she was pregnant and suddenly,he had created a distance between them.
Aurora sat up on her bed feeling so sad.At the dining room,he barely talks to her,he hadn’t even stepped into her room and would just dismiss her curtly each time she tries to start a conversation with him.
She was convinced that he had not been pleased.Had he really changed his mind about having a child with her? Admittedly,she had conceived more easily and quickly than either of them had expected and he had been unprepared for her announcement.But could that simple fact have caused him to have second thoughts about fatherhood?She kept on picturing his expression at the instant she had given him the news.
He had looked bleak, disturbed…. guilty?
Her brow furrowed.
From where had she received the impression that he felt guilty?That had to be her imagination because why on earth would he feel guilty about her having fallen pregnant just as he had planned?
Now he was putting more than physical distance between them because he was treating her with detached and impersonal formalities.
She felt as if she was losing him and it unnerved her, for intelligence warned her that she had never had a normal claim to him.He had never loved her and lust was not an advantage now that she was carrying his baby.
But she missed him like hell.She missed his warmth.She missed just having him in bed with her, drowning in his scent….. listening to how much he loves to tease her.
How could she possibly part ways with him?
She didn’t want to let go of him.Fine!It was insane loving a womanizer,maybe… just maybe he felt something for her too but was scared because he is a playboy.
He could change…she had heard of love changing alot of playboys so Marco could change….Marco might change for her.
She wanted him to give them a chance…a chance to have a proper relationship…a chance to have a life together.
Spilling her pride to the floor,she got up from her bed and headed to his bedroom….to look for him…to tell him how she feels about him and perhaps he might love her too.
Staring at her annoying bodyguards,who wouldn’t stop following her,she knocked on Marco’s door.
No answer.
She held the doorknob, realizing that it wasn’t locked,she bent it and walked inside.
She saw him walked out of his bathroom with his towel wrapped around his
waist.
She tried not to be floored by his great body and focus on her purpose of being here.
“What do you want?”He asked, coldly.
“Why have you been avoiding me?”
“I’m not avoiding you, I’m just busy”He snapped.
“Too busy to even talk to me for a few minutes?”
The sadness in her eyes tore at him but he looked away…he was doing what he thought was best for her…the one thing that he didn’t want to hear from her was…..
“I love you, Marco”She confessed.
Tbc.