The Motherhood Mix-Up. Jennifer Taylor
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got out of the car then turned to unlatch the seat so Harry could get out, frowning when she found herself fumbling with the unfamiliar mechanism.
‘Let me do it.’
Leo gently moved her aside and tipped the seat forward. He offered Harry his hand but the child ignored him. Jumping out of the car, he ran up the path to the house and stood there with his back towards them. Mia sighed softly.
‘Harry hates it when his routine is changed. He prefers it when he knows exactly what is going to happen and when.’
‘It might have helped if I’d made a better impression,’ Leo observed, and Mia frowned when she heard the regret in his voice. He hadn’t struck her as a man who ever regretted his actions; he came across as far too confident for that. However, it appeared she may have been wrong.
It was worrying to think that she might have misjudged him. Mia cleared her throat, not wanting him to guess how unnerved she felt. ‘Children are highly susceptible to people’s moods and Harry has become even more sensitive since Chris died. He was only three when it happened so he didn’t really understand what was going on, but he saw how upset I was and it made a big impression on him.’
‘I see.’ Leo frowned. ‘I didn’t know that you’d lost your husband. I’m very sorry.’
‘Thank you.’ Mia felt a lump come to her throat when she heard the sympathy in his voice. Although she had come to terms with Chris’s death, it touched her that Leo should offer his condolences and mean them too.
‘Was it an accident? He couldn’t have been very old, I imagine.’
‘Indirectly, yes, it was.’ She took a quick breath, knowing that she couldn’t afford to let his response influence her. Until she was sure that she could trust him with regard to Harry, she needed to be objective.
‘Chris was injured in a climbing accident while he was at university. He suffered serious spinal damage and was unable to walk afterwards.’ She shrugged, aware of how hard it was going to be to remain dispassionate. Leo wasn’t the sort of man one could ignore. ‘As you know, being confined to a wheelchair makes people more susceptible to certain conditions and sadly that’s what happened with Chris.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated. ‘It must have been a very difficult time for you.’
Mia inclined her head, deciding it was safer not to pursue the matter. Talking about Chris’s death always upset her and she couldn’t afford to allow her emotions to get the better of her. She quickly changed the subject to one that seemed more fitting.
‘I have the address of a lab that does DNA testing. I’ll collect the samples tonight and post them off first thing tomorrow morning. I should have the results back by the end of the week.’
‘Will there be a problem about providing a sample of your husband’s DNA?’ he queried, frowning.
‘No.’ Mia didn’t elaborate. She didn’t want to explain why she had kept Chris’s hairbrush. It was the last link she had to him, the only thing left of the man who had given her so much; however, there was no way she intended to explain that to Leo. She forced a smile to her lips, hating the fact that she felt so emotional. It wasn’t just thinking about Chris—it was everything else, Harry and Noah and what would happen if it turned out that she and Leo really did have the wrong children.
‘Anyway, I mustn’t keep you. You must be anxious to get home,’ she said, blanking out the thought. Of course she had the right child! Harry was her son and he couldn’t be anyone else’s. As the DNA results would prove. She held out her hand, preferring to end the meeting on a note of formality. ‘Thank you again for driving us home.’
‘It was my pleasure.’
His hand enveloped hers and Mia felt a rush of heat invade her when she felt the strength of his fingers close around hers. She quickly withdrew her hand and hurried up the path. She heard the car start up but she didn’t look round. She didn’t want to think about Leo Forester any more that day. She just wanted to go inside the house and get on with the evening. She and Harry had a set routine and she intended to stick to it—tea, playtime, bath, story, bed. If she stuck to it her life would feel normal but if she deviated in any way then who knew what could happen.
Mia bit her lip. There was one change to their routine she would have to make. She had promised to collect the DNA samples and she couldn’t break her word even if she wanted to. What would happen if the tests proved that Harry wasn’t her son? she wondered sickly. How would she cope with having her whole world torn apart?
Having a child of her own had always been her dream. She had been taken into care when her own mother had been unable to cope with looking after her. Her father had been well off the scene by then. Mia had never met him and didn’t even know his name so she had spent her childhood being shunted from one foster-home to another.
She had longed for someone to love and care for her, but it hadn’t happened. Her mother had refused to allow her to be put up for adoption so Mia had had to make do with temporary placements. Some had been good, others not so good, but the worst thing was that none of them had been permanent.
She had grown up longing for a home and a family of her own, although she had been very choosy about who she had gone out with. She hadn’t intended to make the same mistakes her mother had made and had turned down more dates than she had accepted. She had earned herself a reputation for being very standoffish, in fact, and that in turn had led to the incident that still haunted her.
When the new registrar on the spinal unit where she had worked had invited her out, she had refused at first. Although Steve Parker had seemed pleasant enough, Mia hadn’t been sure if it would be wise to go out with him. Steve was a bit of flirt and she had had no intention of becoming another notch on his bedpost. However, he had persisted and in the end he had worn her down.
They had gone out together several times and Mia had found herself enjoying his company. Steve had been fun and attentive and it had felt good to be on the receiving end of his compliments and feel special. Although she had never slept with a man before, she’d realised that she wanted to sleep with Steve so when he had suggested they should spend the night together, she’d agreed.
It was a complete and utter disaster. Steve was so rough and insensitive, making no allowance for the fact that it was her first time. Mia couldn’t wait for it to be over and left as soon as she could. She tried to write it off to experience but it wasn’t possible, not after she found out that Steve had been spreading stories about her, claiming that she was frigid and that any man foolish enough to get her into bed would regret it. However, the final humiliation came when she learned that he’d also claimed he had only slept with her to win a bet and that he was sorry he had bothered. As he’d put it, it would have been better if he’d forfeited the money!
Mia was mortified and swore she would never allow anything like it to happen again. She never went out on a date after that and might never have seen her dreams come true if Chris hadn’t been admitted to the spinal unit. She nursed him back to health, sat with him while he struggled to come to terms with what had happened, and grew to love him for his humour and his courage. When he asked her to marry him, she accepted immediately, sure that it was the right decision. And when she had Harry, she knew that she had everything she had ever wanted.
Now it appeared that nothing was certain any more. All she knew was that if she lost Harry, her life would be meaningless.
By the time Friday rolled around, Leo felt as though he was walking on a tightrope. Mia had promised that the DNA results would be back by the end of the week and they should arrive that day. His stomach was churning as he made his way to Theatre because the thought of what they would reveal was mind-blowing. If they proved that Harry was his son, what was he going to do?
He scrubbed up, nodding his thanks when the scrub nurse helped him on with his gown. His team was waiting for him, standing silently in Theatre as he preferred them to do. Some surgeons liked to listen to music while they operated but he liked silence, nothing to distract him, nothing to distract them. Heavy metal or