He reached across and patted her on the knee. “Don’t worry, Shanal. Everything will be okay once it’s over.”
But would it? She’d still be tied to a man who was more ruthless than she’d ever expected. A man who lived to his own agenda without a thought or a care for others. A man who had blackmailed her into staying with him. Raif had tried to warn her, but she hadn’t listened, hadn’t seen what he’d been talking about. And now an innocent life would be lost because of it.
How many people had Burton hurt in his quest for perfection? Shanal had always admired how he didn’t waver on the level of his standards. In fact, she’d been proud to work for a man who never accepted less than the best. It was how she’d worked her entire life. Always reaching to set the bar higher, to ensure that her marks were that much better, the results of her research unquestionable. They hadn’t been so different, had they?
Nonetheless, there was an edge to Burton that she’d completely misunderstood. She’d thought it was a sign of his quest for excellence, but now it only seemed to be indicative of his quest to dominate.
They completed the journey in silence. Burton escorted her from the car to the admitting area and bent to kiss her on the cheek before he left.
“Call me when you’re done and I’ll come back for you,” he said. “You’re doing the right thing. Our life is going to be perfect together, Shanal. Trust me on this.”
Perfect? She swallowed back the bitterness that rose in her throat. Perfect was lazy days on a houseboat on the Murray River. Perfect was a passionate night in the arms of Raif Masters. Her eyes filmed with unshed tears as she turned to confirm her details with the nurse waiting to admit her. She felt Burton leave, the air around her lightening in his absence.
The nurse was compassionate and professional, briskly showing Shanal through to the room where she’d change into her hospital gown, and discussing what would happen next. After some minor tests, an examination and a brief scan, she would be third on the list that morning. The procedure itself would be short, her recovery would include up to two hours under observation afterward, and then she could go home and rest.
It wasn’t until the scanning equipment was brought in and Shanal bared her stomach that she knew for certain she couldn’t go through with this. While her baby was no more than a blueberry-size bundle of multiplying cells at this point, he or she was still her baby and, she realized with increasing certainty, she wanted this baby with all her heart.
“No!” she said, pushing the sonographer’s hand away. “I’m not doing it. I’m keeping my baby.”
“Are you certain, Miss Peat? It’s not unusual for you to feel undecided about this,” the nurse said, her face a mask of compassion.
“I’ve never been more certain of anything,” she answered. She sat up and wiped the gel from her stomach with her hospital gown. “I’m going home and I’m keeping my baby.”
When the taxi deposited her back on the driveway at her house Shanal could feel only relief. She’d deal with Burton later. First, she had to tell her mum and dad about the baby.
Her parents were at the kitchen table when she let herself inside.
“You’re back from work early, pyaari beti. Is everything okay?”
Beloved daughter. Shanal smiled fleetingly at her mother’s endearment. While her mum had embraced her new Australian lifestyle over thirty years ago with the same love and commitment she showed to her Australian husband, she was at heart still Indian and often peppered her conversation with an odd mix of Hindi and English that left many people scratching their heads.
“I need to speak with you both. Do you have time?”
She sat at the table and accepted the cup of tea her mother had automatically poured for her.
“What...else would...we be doing?” her father asked in his stilted speech. “We’re here...for you. What’s...wrong?”
His struggle to form words seemed worse than usual and Shanal exchanged a look with her mother. Yet another advancement in the illness that was, inch by inch, taking her father’s life away. Even so, there was nothing wrong with his mind and she needed to talk to them both. Initially, she didn’t know where to begin, but eventually she took a deep breath and started with the day she’d run from her wedding. Her parents, to their credit, said very little during her recitation. But she felt her mother’s cry of dismay as if it was a physical thing when she mentioned Burton’s insistence on the termination.