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She said nothing, just put her ar was the only thing she could think of to make him feel better

‘Dad fell apart And he couldn’t face seeinghe’d lost So randparents, that is—looked after me for the first two years of my life’

‘What about your mother’s parents?’

‘Same as Dad They saw me as the cause of her death’

So they’d abandoned him, too? She could have cried for the little boy he’d been back then Pushed away by those who should have loved hi on ‘Theo, that’s so unfair And it wasn’t your fault’

He sighed ‘Yes and no If she hadn’t had me, she’d still be alive Anyway, I don’t remember the next bit—it’s what Dad and Yiayia told me, years later’

‘Yiayia?’

‘My Greek grandht chickenpox when I o I was pretty ill with it, so randparents called my father Made him see me And from that moment I think he realised that he hadn’t lost my mother completely—he still had part of her, in randparents and me And then he met Eleni, and she ot h every tiet really tense I didn’t understand why until just after she had Stefanos—and then, when they were sure he was their last baby, they told h to understand by then, and they didn’t want to lie to me about my past’

‘And that’s why you became an obstetrician?’

‘Yes So I could stop it happening to another fa Eleni as a stepmother—she’s a sweetheart and I love her dearly—but the idea that h such unhappiness when I was sed in a breath ‘I wanted to stop soh that Wanted to save another child frouilt that his birth had killed his mother’

‘Theo’ She stroked his face ‘It wasn’t your fault I’m sure if you talked to your dad and your stepmother about it, they’d say the same’

‘How can I drag it all up again?’ he asked ‘They’ve been through enough I can’t discuss it with them, hurt them like that’

‘I don’t know them so I can’t speak for them, but I kno my family would react—and they’d hate to think you were still feeling so bad about things’

He shrugged ‘I’ve come to terms with it’

No, he hadn’t And her thoughts ently, ‘Eleni’s always treated me as if I were her natural son, not her stepson I never knew raphs and what randparents told me about her, so it’s not that I haven’t co I just don’t ever want to put a wo, I don’t think I’d ever be able to live with the guilt’

‘Theo, what happened was tragic And I’ in childbirth is rare Really rare And just because it happened to your mother, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen to your partner’

‘I’m not prepared to take that risk, Maddie And you knoell as I do howlabour and in the few hours after birth’ Gently, he wriggled free of her arhtly

Putting distance between theain

He’d let her close, and now she could tell he was panicking about it So the only thing Madison could do was to give hi to breathe a word of what you just told me I’ll keep your confidence,’ she assured hio now Not because I don’t care, but because I think that space is what you need ht now’ She sucked in a breath ‘Just…you knohere I am if you want to talk some more’

Part of Theo knew that he shouldn’t let her go But he also knew that if he asked her to stay, let her that close, he’d end up breaking his unbreakable rule He’d want to be with Maddie And, given that they wanted such different things out of life, that wouldn’t be fair He couldn’t rid hiive her what she wanted, and he definitely couldn’t be selfish enough to ask her to give up her dreams for him