It was a full hour before Garth left the bedroom and Anna was alone again.
“Well?” Cedric’s voice said behind her.
As she slipped out of bed and the huge oversized shirt he had loaned her and padded across the room, Cedric caught her unaware. Anna gave a furious yelp and dived into the bathroom to grab a towel, returning a second or two later, cheeks flaming but thankfully almost decent. From Cedric’s impatient stance he clearly didn’t care about her reaction to him walking in on her naked.
He was dressed in a suit, his hair neatly combed now, a tie hanging around his neck waiting to be knotted, shoes on his feet with the laces still undone, and he looked every bit as sexy as the semi-naked man she had opened her eyes to an hour ago.
“What did he say?” he asked.
“Who?” She saw his eyes narrow, heard his sharp intake of breath.
“Don’t be facetious, Anna. I’ve got a meeting in half an hour and I want to know what’s going on before I leave. We’ll talk properly when I get back; so quickly, please what did the doctor say?”
“I thought patient confidentiality extended beyond the signature on the cheque,”
The air hissed out of his lungs, his face contorting as he attempted to stay calm, knowing if he inflamed her further then he’d find out nothing. “Anna-” his voice was very soft, very low, but she could feel the tension behind every last word “-could you please tell me what the doctor said?”
“That my blood pressure is still up.”
“And?”
“That I need to slow down.”
“And?”
“That apart from that everything is fine.”
“Anna, he was in here for the best part of an hour; surely he said more than that.”
“Look, Cedric,” Exasperated, she ran a hand through her chaotic hair, embarrassed by his scrutiny, desperate to put some space between them, for him to go to his blessed meeting and leave her alone with her jumbled thoughts, to try and make sense of the chaotic situation she had found herself in.
“We were just discussing birthing options, that’s all. And I just got back here yesterday. You can’t expect me to just open up to you.”
“Why the hell not?” He truly sounded as if he didn’t know and Anna shook her head in disbelief, stunned at the arrogance of him.
“After the way you treated me…hurt me. Forced me to come back here, you expect to swan in and demand information, demand details as if it were your God-given right. You have the gall to expect me just to bare all and ‘quickly please’, just because you’ve got a business meeting.”
“After the way I treated you?” Ignoring her last few words, he crossed the room, blocking the entrance to the bathroom, his huge shoulders blocking the door-frame. “You’re the one with gall, Anna! The absolute audacity to stand there and twist things, to make it sound as if I never tried to make things right and I’m still fucking trying! So tell me, Anna, just what is it I’m supposed to have done? When you won’t even try to forgive me?” His voice was rising with each and every word, the confrontation she’d been simultaneously needing and dreading clearly a breath away, and Anna wasn’t sure she was ready, wanting at least to be dressed before having the conversation.
“You walked away from me, Cedric. Those months we shared meant everything to me. You said that you wanted to be with me, and yet immediately I got pregnant your next move was to push me away. I regret falling for you,”
“I fell for you too, dammit,” Cedric roared. “I was an idiot who couldn’t get over his childhood trauma and I made bad decisions, but I came back, Anna. I came back to make things right but you decided not to give me a chance.”
“Please just stop,” Anna begged, but Cedric was shaking his head, black eyes glittering with weeks of unvented fury. “It doesn’t matter any more. Arguing isn’t going to change what has happened. Our marriage was nothing but an agreement between strangers, and the contract and inheritance was all you ever cared about. Coming back after four months doesn’t change anything. You broke my heart, and if you think I’m going to hand it back to you because you apologized, then I’m sorry you’re going to be very disappointed. Now, I’d like to go take a shower, please, Cedric,”
Her voice was supremely calm. “And if you won’t let me have one, then I’ll damn well get dressed and take a taxi back to the cottage this very minute.”
Amazingly he moved, just enough to let her past, but his angry eyes were still on her, his body still in the doorway, and suddenly Anna had had enough. “I’m going to have a shower now, Cedric,”
“You’re damn well not,” Cedric barked. “If you think you can toss a little gem like that at me and then walk off, then you’ve got another thing coming. I told you I didn’t care about the stupid contract but you threw it in my face. I don’t even give a shit about the inheritance anymore but I know you won’t believe me. I have accepted that you hate me, Anna, and I know that after the baby comes you’re going to go as far away from me as you can, and that’s okay. I hurt you, and as much as it pains me, I’m not going to force you to be with me, but I still have a chance with our child, and I don’t intend to blow it too, so you’ll keep it safe. I will do anything to keep you both safe, and I will interfere as many times as possible if that’s what it takes.”
Her hands fluttered to her stomach in a protective gesture as she willed the conversation over, for this conversation to end, but Cedric continued to stand in front of her.
“Some things are best left, Cedric. Some-”
“Anna, please,” Cedric started, but she shook her head. He ignored her. “I noticed you still wear my ring since I gave it back. I like to believe that you still wear it because deep down a part of you doesn’t want us to be over. I like to believe that you still… Love me, but you’re so mad at me and you want to stay mad at me so you don’t feel something for me,”