She gave her head a little shake and gazed over at the man across from her. The handsome black Englishman with the laughing coffee eyes had put as much blood, sweat, and tears into her career these past ten years as she had. His eyes weren’t laughing today, though. They were fearful and apprehensive. Worst of all, Julianne saw pity reflected there.
They were seated at a round table in one of the private vestibules Children’s Hospital provided for the families of its NICU patients. The small, windowless area was not quite a room; a curtained partition made up the fourth wall. Aside from the table and four chairs, the only other furniture was a sofa, too small and too hard to sleep on, and a television. She found it hard to conceive that anyone could watch TV while their child was so ill.
“I don’t have a choice.” Julianne’s voice was hoarse. Her hand trembled as she picked up a pen and let it hover over the documents spread out on the table. “I don’t have medical insurance. At least not the kind that will cover all of Owen’s expenses. Selling JV Designs ensures me enough cash that”—her voice began to shake—“if Owen doesn’t get a blood transfusion his body will accept, I can afford whatever treatment I need him to have to keep him alive.” She didn’t want to contemplate the alternative.
“Julianne,” Sebastian coaxed. “There’s still time. The father will come, love. And the doctor said there’s a seventy percent chance he’ll be a match. If that’s the case, Owen will beat this and go on to give you gray hairs before you’re forty. You don’t need to sell. It’s going to work out.” He covered one of her hands with his and squeezed.
“I have to do this.” Julianne was resolute. She no longer had the confidence Sebastian possessed. Owen was already being punished enough for the mistakes she’d made and the lies she’d told. It was only fair that she suffer, too.
Sebastian’s voice was anguished. “They’re going to take your designs and mass-market them.”
Julianne smiled grimly as her eyes met Sebastian’s. They both knew she hadn’t sketched a single design in nearly six months. She’d begged off commissions as soon as she’d found out about the baby. Even if her pregnancy hadn’t been difficult from the start, the guilt Julianne suffered had completely drained her creative juices. There was no telling when she’d get them back—if ever.
“Last I checked, Princess Kate bought clothes off the rack,” Julianne quipped.
“Carly, help me out here!” Sebastian pleaded to the woman seated on the sofa behind her.
Julianne didn’t have to turn around to feel the wave of disappointment emanating from her closest friend, Carly March Devlin. The two had met when both were students in boarding school nearly sixteen years ago. Theirs was a friendship deeper than sisterhood, born out of the shared experience of each losing their mother at a young age. But Julianne’s lies and omissions these past several months had damaged their friendship. This morning’s confession just might have pushed the relationship past the stage of irreparable.
She heard Carly rise from the sofa and closed her eyes to hold back the tears as her friend approached.
“Sebastian is right.” Carly gently massaged Julianne’s shoulders. “You’re not thinking clearly right now. You’re exhausted and worried about Owen. Now’s not the time to be thinking about selling your company. Instead, you need to concentrate on taking care of yourself so you can take care of Owen.” Carly hesitated. “Once Will gets here, he’ll help you through this.”
Julianne’s shoulders sagged underneath the enormous weight of shame she carried. Will Connelly. What must it feel like to suddenly find out you have a child? Would he be furious? And what would he think of her?
She didn’t have any answers because she knew so little about her son’s father. Embarrassment washed over her as she thought of the meeting taking place in her half brother’s office. She hoped Stephen wasn’t too hard on him. Will, like Owen, was innocent in all of this. Not that her brother saw it that way. He was more concerned with the ramifications to his political career. The senator wanted Julianne and her illegitimate son out of the country and away from any reporters who’d yet to snoop out the story.
Carly’s words also grated against Julianne’s fragile confidence. She spoke as if Will would arrive on a white horse and snap his fingers, and miracles would happen. As if his blood would be a match. As if the man rumored to be as cold as ice would forgive her for not telling him he had a son. Of course, Carly knew Will better than she did, which made revealing Owen’s paternity all the more difficult.
Julianne had never meant to put her friend in such a position. Mortified by her fling at a client’s wedding with a man she barely knew, she kept it a secret from Carly. After the shock of discovering her pregnancy, she vowed to keep the baby and raise it herself. She had a successful business and the means to support a child comfortably. Avoiding Carly had been easy while her friend was preoccupied forging a relationship with her new husband, Shane, and his young brother, Troy. To make the deception work, Julianne remained in Italy, away from the prying eyes and a multitude of questions.
In the end, though, Julianne couldn’t keep her secret any longer. Her son was born with advanced hemolytic disease, a dangerous blood disorder treatable with a transfusion. In most cases, blood from the standard blood bank was compatible. But Owen wasn’t one of those babies; he needed blood from a parent. Julianne prayed she’d be able to cure her son without having to reveal the father’s identity, but her prayers went unanswered. Owen’s body rejected her blood transfusion. To save his life, she had to admit that her fling wasn’t with a stranger, but with a man who happened to play football with her best friend’s husband.
“And you shouldn’t worry about the money,” Carly said as she slid into the seat next to her. “Will is worth millions. He can certainly pay for whatever treatments Owen needs to get better.”
Something snapped inside Julianne. She didn’t want Will Connelly to pay for her son’s medical care. Owen was her baby . . . her family. After her mother’s sudden death, her father had abandoned her to a boarding school before remarrying and beginning a new life. One that didn’t include any reminders of Julianne’s late mother. Twelve years her senior, Stephen had a family of his own, leaving Julianne in a sort of purgatory between her two remaining family members. But she would always have Owen to love. And to love her back. Sharing him was not an option. Forcing the pen into her hand, she scrawled her signature on the contract.
“Well done, Carly. That was ever so much help.” Sebastian’s sarcasm shattered the awkward silence that followed the scratching of the pen on paper.
Julianne slid the contract across the table to him as Carly sat stunned, gaping at her.
“With that I think I’ll walk across the street and fetch some of that inferior tea they serve at Starbucks.” Anger and disappointment radiated off his body. He shoved the contract into his computer bag. “I’ll need some fortification before I have to call Nigel and tell him we won’t be spending our month in Tuscany this year, because your wedding gowns will now be made in China.”
Sebastian stood abruptly and Julianne could tell it was costing him to hold the rest of his comments in check, but she was grateful he did. Her body and mind felt battle weary, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
“May I bring you ladies a tea?” Even furious, Sebastian was a well-mannered Brit.
Carly shook her head. She’d closed her mouth, her lips now pursed in an angry line.