"Oh and Rose, don't expect Mrs Richards and me to wake up early tomorrow morning," Gregory informed his housekeeper, eager to spend some long overdue quality time with his wife after his dreadful meeting in Santa Barbara.
It didn't matter that Cole was snooping around when he opened the master bedroom door, no doubt trying to fall into Olivia's good graces once again. It didn't matter because Olivia told him afterwards, that he, Gregory, was the only man that she found desirable.
When she came back from the bathroom after 'freshening up' (not that she needed it - the perfume on her nightgown was intoxicating enough, but her skin smelled so divinely that he would have made love to her right there and then), Gregory was stunned. "I never thought I could want you more than I do now," he admitted truthfully. "Why the sad face, Liv?," he wanted to know. "Because darling, it was not so long ago that you did not want me at all," she whispered. "We both made mistakes, Liv," Gregory pointed out, kissing her deeply and moving her towards the edge of the dressing table, his desire for her avid, evident and strong.
The pregnancy leaflets that she had haphazardly buried under some magazines fell on the floor in the process. Olivia broke their passionate embrace and immediately felt silly because, Olivia being Olivia, she could not just leave them alone. Gregory noticed that something was wrong and that his wife was obviously hiding crucial information from him - again.
"Olivia, are you pregnant?," he questioned, picking up the flyers.
Olivia knew she had to come up with a credible answer on the spot. He just would not believe her otherwise. "We both made mistakes, Liv," he had reminded her a couple of minutes ago. For a split second, she considered spilling the beans and revealing Caitlin's secret. But she had promised their daughter she would not breathe a word and that pledge could not be broken, not now that Cate and her were finally so close. If sleeping with Cole had been a far-reaching albeit involuntary mistake towards her first-born, telling Gregory that Caitlin was expecting would be a totally voluntary mistake. Olivia sighed, and, avoiding her husband's eyes, she quickly retorted: "Yes, Gregory. Yes, I am pregnant." This was the most simple, authentic reply to provide him with, yet she was terrified of his reaction. Terrified because he had made clear, when she had innocently sounded him out last month, that a baby was out of the question, that they were far too old to even consider the notion of them becoming parents for the third time when Caitlin and Sean were now grown-ups. And that their children being older would mean they would finally have the house all to themselves most of the time. That they could just be a couple again, not merely Mum/Dad, or the estranged and spiteful spouses they had repeatedly, painfully been for the past two decades.
"I - I don't know how to react to this news, Olivia," Gregory stammered. "How far along are you?"
"Remember our 'romp' on the sofa? I can only have conceived then, darling," Olivia somewhat guiltily pinpointed. "We were at our worst back then. Definitely not a good timing to create a new life, but what can I say, drama is all over our place, isn't it?" Still no real reaction from Gregory. He was seemingly at a loss for words - for once. "I tried to tell you during our trip to Carmel, but I just couldn't find the right moment and I was so afraid of ruining our newly found closeness," Olivia confessed. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this."
"When were you going to tell me?," he had to figure that riddle out because he could not bring himself to ask her whether her reason for hiding the truth was because he might not be the father. That she had actually been unfaithful to him at that horrendous Belarus party, despite her claims to the contrary some time later. Del, for one thing and given her nearly inexistent bump, was clearly out of scope.
"Soon," was all she could reply. "I was frightened, oh so afraid that you would turn your back on me, because when I implicitly broached the topic a couple of weeks ago, you said you did not want any more children."
"It's a surprise, Olivia. I didn't expect it - oh boy not at all. But Liv this is wonderful news. A new baby with the woman I love, the only woman I have ever loved... I'm speechless but I am happy. We are going to make it work this time, we totally are," Gregory convincingly conveyed.