Chapter 11

Roman returned home an hour later. He saw Rachel's car outside his house and blanched. He opened the door and saw Rachel walking down the stairs. He could tell from the look on her face that something serious had happened.
"What…?" he began to ask.
"Ella had a fall down the stairs. She's ok. " Rachel told him.
He went to run up the stairs but she placed her hand on his arm.
"She needs some rest Roman." Rachel warned him "And anyway Nic is with her. "
He looked at Rachel's face and knew there was more to come.
"I did a pregnancy test for her this morning," she told him and he gasped.
What had he done he thought, had he caused her to lose another baby, and how would she ever be able to forgive him.
"You are lucky that it was negative." A hint of anger in her normally placid voice and with that she left.
He slowly walked upstairs and saw Nicole sitting outside the bathroom. She looked up when she saw him and he could see she had been crying.
"I'm sorry Nic." He said.
"I'm not the one you should apologise too. She's taking a shower." She said.
He straightened up and walked inside the bathroom. She was sitting in the bottom of the shower letting the warm water fall over her down turned head. He peeled off his top and kicked off his shoes before stepping into the shower. He bent down and pulled her to her feet.
"I'm sorry." He said. He kissed her. "I'm so sorry."
She looked up at him and he could tell she had been crying, her tears mingling with the drops of water from the shower. He lifted her into his arms and held her tight, feeling her start to sob.
"Please don't cry?" he begged. "I'm sorry that I didn't hold you this morning,"
"I hate you." She said at last but she had stopped crying.
"I deserve it." he said. "Especially…" he stopped.
"Especially?" she questioned.
"The only time I wasn't careful with you was the night that Michael died." He said referring to her brother and his colleague. "And I think I wanted you to get pregnant on some level so that you wouldn't be able to leave me."
His words sank in and she moaned in renewed pain. Turning around she flicked the temperature setting to cold and stepped out hurriedly leaving him under the icy spray.
"Ok." He said. He turned off the water and reached for a towel. "Maybe I deserved that."
"No!" she spat. "You deserve much more you pig!"
"Ella?" he looked at her questionably.
"How many other woman have you gotten pregnant?" she sneered really really angry for the first time since they got married.
He held out a hand towards her, which she slapped away.
"I mean you tried to trap me with a pregnancy 12 years ago when hey, you already had a daughter that you didn't even bother to tell me about!" she growled at him. "And then what, there was Martha. Just tell me how many others are out there? Maybe I should check your bank statements to see if you are paying child support to anyone else?" She turned around and marched out of the bathroom slamming the door in his face.
Nic looked up at Ella.
"Come on Nicole we need to go shopping." She told the other girl.
"Er Ella, do you think you should get dressed first?" Nic asked as she saw Ella start to walk downstairs in just a towel.
"What…?" Ella asked, then "Oh." She turned and walked into the bedroom. "I won't be long and if your father has any sense he'll wait in the bathroom until I've finished getting dressed."
Nicole turned around and saw her dad standing in the bathroom doorway.
"It's ok Nic I think I heard." Roman said with a quirky grin, Ella had never shouted at him before.
"Dad, I think everybody heard!" she said softly.