Page 20 of Destined
For the longest time, Serena just looked at him, as if she were searching for something on his face, in his eyes. Eventually, she simply said, “I’m sorry about your father, Sebastian.”
“He was a difficult man, but we always knew he loved us. It left my family somewhat adrift for a time, but we’re finding our way.”
His gaze dropped to Serena’s stomach. It held there for a long moment until the silence became awkward. Serena opened her mouth to say something when he spoke again.
“Perhaps there is something you wish to share with me too,dolcezza?”
26
Serena
Serena’s mind reeled.Sebastian rarely apologised, unless he felt himself to be in the wrong. It was one of the qualities that she most admired about him. Despite being a strong, confident man, he was man enough to apologise when he felt it was required. She found it endearing and rather sexy at the same time. But, not about to be distracted from the matter at hand, she gazed up at him.
Serena quirked an eyebrow. “That’s it? You’re sorry?” She waited for him to continue. When he said nothing more, she spoke again. “I see. And that’s meant to make it all better? For heaven’s sake, Sebastian. I need more than just ‘I’m sorry.’ What happened? I don’t understand. I thought we were building a connection, that something was growing between us. Then you simply disappeared. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“I know. It’s that very connection that we were building that had me running scared, Serena. That’s what I’m apologising for. I’m sorry for walking away at the wrong moment. I’m sorry for never contacting you. I’m sorry for being too much of a coward!”
Sebastian’s comment gave Serena pause. She’d never considered him to be a coward. Lately, a jackass maybe, but certainly never a coward. He was, in fact, one of the bravest men she knew. He never backed down from unpleasantness or responsibility. Which is why she had found it so hard to understand how he could just walk away from her without a word.
Taken aback by the statement, all she could say was, “Explain?”
Sebastian sighed deeply before he took a seat on the sofa, pulling her down beside him. As he explained what had been going on in his life since she’d last seen him, Serena felt the ice around her heart begin to thaw.
What he’d done had been thoughtless and hurtful, but she felt for him. The pain he felt at the loss of his father was evident as he spoke. She couldn’t help but feel sympathy for what he’d been through. Then he looked at her and spoke the words she had been dreading since he’d arrived.
She knew he deserved an explanation but was still at a loss for what to say.
She had finally made peace with the fact that she would be bringing their child up alone, but suddenly he was back, and she had no idea how all of this was going to play out. It was her turn to sigh deeply.
“About three weeks after your disappearing act, I woke up feeling ill one morning. At first, I simply thought I had caught a bug. But after nearly two weeks of waking up ill, I could no longer pretend to myself. I went to the doctor and discovered I was pregnant.”
“I don’t understand, Serena. Why did you not let me know? Did you not think I had the right to know?”
Serena didn’t bother to hold back a sarcastic snort.
“I tried contacting your cell number, Sebastian, but it went straight to voicemail each time. Then I phoned your office, and your secretary told me you were out of the country. She said you’d be calling in to the office every few days or so, I could leave it with her, and she would pass it on to you.”
“Why did you not ever leave a message?”
“I did. I would phone her two or three times a week for the first few weeks. But in the end, it became too humiliating to bear, and I stopped calling. You never called, and I gave up hope. I thought you were finished with me.”
27
Sebastian
Sebastian closedhis eyes against the pain on her beautiful face. He didn’t know what to say to make what he’d done better. He didn’t think there were words. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap. Serena stiffened in his embrace. Placing a soft kiss on the top of her head, he took a moment to savour the feeling of having her back in his arms.
“I’m so, so sorry,cuore mio. I never meant to hurt you. Please forgive me. What can I do to make this right?”
“The better question is, Sebastian, what doyou want to doto make it right? Until now, it hasn’t exactly seemed as if you wanted to be with me. There’s no denying the sex is great between us, but when things started getting a little more serious, you ran first opportunity you got.”
“Serena ...”
“No! You know it’s true, Sebastian. I get that you needed to go home, but with modern technology, there were plenty of options for you to use to contact me, yet you chose to withdraw instead of facing this thing between us head on.”
Opening his mouth to try again, Serena overrode him.
“One of the things that I’ve admired about you from the very beginning is that you face difficult situations head on. When your emotions got difficult to deal with, you chose to shut them off instead of dealing with them. Where does that leave me, Sebastian? Where does it leave this baby of ours?”
