Page 58 of Giorgio

He had no idea he was crying until he felt the wetness on his cheeks.

*****

She had often dreamed about flying first class. She had teasingly told her brother that she could not afford to fly in supreme comfort, because she was not earning as much as he did. Now she was experiencing it, the extra space, the padded seats, the attendant courteous and friendly, arriving at her row to ask if there was anything else she needed.

She had declined the champagne and the cognac (She had never tasted cognac before and was not even sure she would like it!). But she was still on medication. And even so, her appetite was nonexistent. This flight back was so different from the one she had been on – was it four weeks ago? She wondered dismally.

It seemed like it was longer than that. It seemed like it was years instead of weeks. So much had happened. She had been the victim of an accident, lost her memory, broke parts of her body and fallen in love with a man way out of her league.

Now she was returning home, but it was no longer home for her.

She was trying not to cry and even though she was wrung out and exhausted, sleep evaded her. He had left her this morning while she slept. And had not even bothered to see her off. Turning towards the window, she blinked the tears away, her heart shattering into tiny pieces.

*****

“I must really look terrible.” Juliana said wanly as her brother brought her a tray and sat across from her. “You have not said anything derogatory since you picked me up from the airport. And you are treating me like I am made of very delicate China.”

“You have been gone for a month and during that time, you were involved in an accident. You scared the crap out of me,” he said gruffly.

He had seen the drawn look on her face and wanted to find the bastard, who put that look on her face, and beat him to a bloody pulp. He had also wanted to rail at her, reminding her that she had been warned. But how could he, when she looked like she was going to be blown away by the least bit of wind?

“Want to talk?” He asked quietly.

She had asked for the tea but was balancing the cup and saucer in her hands without taking a sip.

She nodded. Putting the tray on the end table, she clasped her hands in her lap and stared off into space. “I am in love with him.” Her eyes met his and she smiled woefully. “I know what you are going to say. You did warn me…”

“It doesn’t matter what I said.”

She stared at him and laughed shakily. “Where is my brother and what have you done with him?”

“He is looking at things in a different light,” he said lightly. “Jules, what happened over there?”

Settling back against the cushions on his butter yellow sofa, she curled her feet beneath her defensively. She had spent half of the journey cursing fate for doing this to her again and the next half deciding that she would get on with her life.

“We ended up together. At first it started out with us just talking,” a smile touched her lips. “He is a very fascinating man. I never expected…” She lifted her hands, palms out. “Iwas prepared for him to be the typical handsome, rich boy and behave as if he was better than everyone else. But he wasn’t.”

She laughed softly. “He has this amazing sense of humor and when we are together, I completely forget who he is. He is not pretentious, at least not with me. We would talk for ages and never run out of topic.”

She paused and he watched as she tried to gather her composure. “I love him more than my life and I don’t blame him for – for choosing to send me home. Losing his mother had an enormous effect on him…”

“Stop trying to justify…”

“No.” She shook her head. “I am not trying to make excuses for him. I felt his suffering as keenly as I am feeling mine. He is conflicted, Julian. This is a first for him and he is grappling with the enormity of what he is feeling.”

Her brother stared at her with narrowed eyes. “Are you saying he feels the same way?”

She nodded, a tremulous smile on her lips. “I am also saying that I am carrying his baby.”

Julian stared at her in shock. “That son of a bitch knocked you up and sent you back here? I am going to tear his head from his body. When I am…”

“He doesn’t know, and it’s not been confirmed. It should be about two weeks old by now.”

Julian felt as if he was in another dimension. “There is no way you can possibly know…”

“I do.” Her hands drifted to her flat stomach, a beatific smile on her face. “And I will be waiting until he realizes that he cannot live without me.”

*****