Kelly looked even more puzzled. ‘Delicate? I’m delicate?’
‘Extremely so,’ he nodded.
She licked her lips. ‘Tell me more.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s the same as before, nothing has changed. You have a weakness to your muscles that makes it extremely difficult for you to carry a child the full nine months. Your husband will have told you—’
‘Jordan?’ she cut in sharply, hardly able to believe what he was telling her.
‘Yes—Jordan. I’m sure he doesn’t relish being banished from your bed once again,’ he gave a sympathetic smile. ‘Although this time you’ll have the advantage of not being newlyweds.’
Kelly was very pale, finding it more and more difficult to take in what the doctor was telling her. ‘Are you saying that you advised Jordan to sleep in a separate bedroom to me five years ago?’
‘Not exactly. But under the circumstances I’m sure he would have found it difficult sharing a bed with you and not being able to continue a normal relationship.’
‘My God!’ she gasped. All this time she had thought Jordan had been disgusted by her pregnancy, and in reality he had merely been protecting her and their unborn child. Oh heavens, what did it all mean?
CHAPTER TEN
WHEN she came to she was lying on top of the black leather couch in the doctor’s surgery, and Paul Anderso
n was anxiously waiting for her to wake up. It all came back to her now—her difficulty in carrying a child, Jordan’s protectiveness in the past. But why hadn’t he told her, explained why he had left her alone in their bed night after night?
‘You didn’t know, did you?’ the doctor sighed.
‘No,’ she said shakily, ‘I—I had no idea.’
‘I naturally assumed that your husband would have told you by now.’
‘My husband and I separated just after I lost the baby,’ she told him dully, swinging her legs to the floor and sitting up.
‘I see.’ He looked slightly taken aback. ‘Then this baby—’
‘Is his,’ Kelly interrupted firmly. ‘A temporary reconciliation,’ she blushed at his questioning look. ‘But that isn’t important now, what is important, to me at least, is that I don’t lose this baby.’
‘It’s important to me too, Mrs Lord,’ Paul Anderson told her gravely.
‘Of course it is—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to appear rude.’ She was just so shocked by what he had told her that she couldn’t even think straight! ‘Just tell me what I have to do to keep this baby and I’ll to it. Anything,’ she stressed vehemently.
‘Well…’
‘Yes?’ she demanded to know. ‘Do you have something in mind?’
He nodded. ‘But it isn’t very pleasant.’
‘I said anything, Dr Anderson, and that’s exactly what I meant.’
‘All right,’ he shrugged. ‘But don’t say I didn’t warn you. The ideal solution is for you to spend the duration of your pregnancy in bed, either at home or in a nursing home.’
‘All of it?’ she asked incredulously.
‘I’m afraid so. That way there would be hardly any risk.’
‘Then I’ll do it,’ Kelly decided. ‘When would it have to start?’
‘As soon as possible.’ The doctor frowned. ‘You’re sure about this? It isn’t a decision to be made lightly. Perhaps you should discuss it with your husband first.’
‘No,’ she looked down at her hands. ‘I told you, our reconciliation was temporary.’ She lifted her head proudly. ‘It’s over.’ She now knew the reason Jordan had moved out of their bedroom, but that in no way excused his affair with Angela Divine. Most men wouldn’t have found it too difficult to remain faithful to a delicately pregnant wife, but with Jordan’s high sex drive he hadn’t been able to remain faithful for even a matter of weeks, let alone months.