A Baby To Save Their Marriage

He at least had the good sense to look embarrassed. ‘You know how important this is.’

‘No, Caleb. I know how important you think it is. There’s a difference. I think you’ll find that in the scale of life it’s not that important at all.’

Now he looked annoyed again. ‘Well, in order to pay the mortgage and the bills I think you’ll find work is important.’

‘More important than your family?’

He waved his hand. ‘Now you’re just being ridiculous.’

‘No. No, I’m not. And don’t worry about your business. Harry will deal with everything. He’s more than capable.’

‘And how do you know that?’

She sighed. ‘Because I spoke to him before we left. He knew that once you got here you’d have no phone, no Internet.’

Caleb looked stunned. ‘What? Harry knew?’

She started to walk away. She’d had enough of this. ‘Of course he knew. Seems like he didn’t think it was such a bad idea. And you can stop checking your phone for emails or messages. There are no signal towers out here. I’m actually surprised Harry messaged you at all.’

Caleb shook his head. ‘Earlier? In Tahiti? It wasn’t Harry. It was Reuben.’

She couldn’t help it. She raised her eyebrows. She always did that when she heard this name. ‘Reuben Tyler? What did he want?’

Caleb shrugged. ‘He needed somewhere to stay. His flat’s got asbestos in the roof. I told him he could stay at ours.’

Her mouth fell open. ‘You did what?’

He seemed surprised. ‘What’s the big deal? We’re not there. The house is empty.’

‘Oh, no.’ Now she started pacing. ‘The house isn’t empty. Lara. Lara’s in the house.’

Now Caleb looked confused. ‘Why would Lara be in the house? I never saw her.’

Addison spun around. ‘She appeared just before you did. Seems she went home and found her boyfriend in bed with the neighbour.’ She threw up her hands. ‘This is what I’m talking about, Caleb. She was right there. Right there sitting in our kitchen. You didn’t even notice.’

He frowned. ‘Reuben will be expecting the place to be empty. That’s what I told him.’

‘And Lara will be expecting to have the house to herself. She needs a bit of time to sort herself out. The last thing she needs right now is Reuben Tyler. She won’t even know who he is.’

Caleb shook his head. ‘Well, it’s too late now. They’ll both be in the house and according to you we have no way to get in touch.’

Addison cringed. He was right. There was no way to get in touch. The world seemed to love Reuben Tyler but she didn’t. Probably because she’d walked in one night just as he’d taken a swing at her husband. Caleb had said it was nothing. But it wasn’t nothing to her.

‘There’s really no Internet?’

‘We’re back to that again?’

He nodded. She could see the stress on his face. It was practically emanating from his pores. Part of her felt a tiny bit sorry for him. It was like going cold turkey. But there was nothing he could do.

She folded her arms across her chest. ‘There is no Internet, Caleb. It’s four weeks. Live with it.’

He took a deep breath and turned towards her. His brown eyes fixed on hers. It was the first time in for ever that he’d really looked at her. Really looked at her.

‘What’s going on with you, Addison?’

She blinked. ‘What’s going on with me? Are you serious?’

Why did every conversation feel as if it ended up as a fight?

‘Yeah, I’m serious. I can’t believe what you said to me back home.’

‘And I can’t believe you came home from work an hour before we were due to leave and thought you would tell me you weren’t coming on holiday. At what point in your life did that seem okay to you?’

‘Everything is a fight with you these days.’

He’d just echoed her thoughts. She thought this was all him. Was he trying to imply it was her too?

It lit a fuse in her. How dared he? Didn’t he know what she’d just been told? Didn’t he understand how worried she was?

Of course he didn’t. She hadn’t told him yet.

And at some point she’d need to.

Just not yet. Not until she knew.

She didn’t want to tell him about the pregnancy. She didn’t want to tell him about the scary news. She didn’t need her husband to feel sorry for her. She needed him to love her. To love her enough to feel as if he could be there and support her.

Telling him about the pregnancy right now could make him tell her everything would be fine. And knowing Caleb, he’d probably think it would be. Then he’d go right home and start working hundred-hour weeks again.

She needed more than that. She needed more for this marriage.

‘How can everything be a fight when you’re never there?’

He sighed. ‘You work too. There’s been nights when you’ve been busy too. There have been events you’ve had to go to—people you’ve had to meet.’

She nodded her head. ‘You’re absolutely right. But the difference between you and me is that, when I know I’m going to be out at night, I make sure I’ve spent time with Tristan during the day.’

‘That’s easy for you to do.’

‘Actually, it isn’t. But I make the time.’

She bit her lip. Everything was a fight between them right now. And she hated that.

‘Always fault-finding, always criticising. Can I ever do anything right in your eyes these days?’

And it looked as if this was going to become a fight too.

Trouble was, she was just too tired for this. She wasn’t sure if it was the travel that had exhausted her, or the pregnancy. She could remember at this stage in her pregnancy with Tristan she’d come home from work and go straight to bed. In those days, Caleb would just come to bed with her.

She turned away. She just wanted to sleep now. She couldn’t even be bothered changing out of her swimsuit.

‘You gave me an ultimatum.’ His voice was quiet, almost whispered. It was as if he was still getting over the shock. ‘Why would you do that? It was just straight out of the blue.’

She stopped walking. Her hand was on the door. From here she could see that Tristan was already sleeping. She hadn’t even got around to putting the DVD on. That was fine. She would just climb in next to him.

She kept her voice low too. ‘It wasn’t out of the blue, Caleb. This has been building for the last few years. We’ve slipped away from each other—we’ve lost each other...’ her voice started to break ‘...and I’ve had enough. I can’t live like this any more because I don’t feel as if I’m living.’

She glanced over her shoulder. ‘This is it for us, Caleb. I chose this place deliberately because I didn’t want Tristan and I to compete with your work any more. Some people think this place is paradise. You? I think you’ve barely noticed. We came here because I wanted to see if we had anything left worth saving. Because right now—I just don’t know.’

She took one final look. He looked as if she’d just punched him in the guts.

So she turned, and went to bed.

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