After I left the lawyer's office, I walked thoughtfully down the street.  Absently going into the small coffee house I ordered a sandwich and a Cup of rather tasteless tea. By the time I had consumed my snack and began to walk back toward the hospital, I was still confused as I was looking for a solution to my problems but found none. I know that if I took Marc to the court it would be unforgivable and yet I knew I would never face the alternative solution of seeing Tio only occasionally, perhaps never. I was reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the only way out of the difficulty was to disappear from Marc's life for good. How I will accomplish what I was thinking was a big question. I sighed bitterly as I reflected that with a more reasonable man, it would have been sufficient to have discussed the facts and the lawyer would have put them to her. But as the lawyer had summarized Marc was a very determined man and he would fight every step of the way whatever it cost him. I soon reached the big hospital building and climbed the steps with the main entrance. There were more visitors in the children's ward, when I reached it and I saw Marc was still sitting beside Tio’s bed, watching him intently as he lay sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the noise and clutter around him. “Hey, Carmen!” Marc rose from his seat by the bed and came to meet me and after holding my hand drew me out of the ward into the corridor. “ I want to talk to you.” “Suppose Tio wakes up?” I said hesitantly. “He will assume that I've gone for a meal.” he shot me a glance.” You have accomplished your business?” “Yes yes, thank you and I want to talk to you about it actually. “ I said softly. “Wilde is being difficult about your returning to Milan? “ “Wilde? I don't know what you are talking about ?” “ I assumed that you had gone to meet your fiancé,” he interrupted me smoothly, “To tell him about my proposal. That is his name right.” “Yes, it's his name. But I haven't been to see him,” I stated carefully not explaining that my relationship with Don had become impossible, the moment I met Marc again. “ I've been to see the lawyer .” Marc stiffened momentarily.” And what did the lawyer have to say? “He wants me to ask you about your access. Would you let me see Tio if I will not come to Milan with you?” “I've told you,” Marcs said harshly, his face fuming with anger. “If you choose to stay here with that Don then I shall take Tio away.” “But surely you allow me to see him sometimes?” I protested. “If you choose to come to Milan alone yes, under those circumstances, you can see him but he will not return to London,” Marc said flatly. “Oh, Marc you are so cruel!” I murmured sadly trying to control my emotions as I knew I had reached my breaking point. “And you are not?” He answered harshly. “ I am to assume from the conclusion of this conversation that you are unwilling to return to Milan as my wife ?” I shook my head wordlessly and turning away rushed down the corridor and out of the swinging doors of the entrance. I thought I heard Marc call my name but I couldn’t stop looking behind me. There was little point in pursuing a conversation that so plainly was not going to accomplish a solution and had I stayed longer in his presence, I would undoubtedly have broken down completely. It is becoming increasingly obvious that I would have to pursue my plans to disappear with Tio from Marc’s life and the sooner I put my mind to it with the difficulties involved, the nearer to a solution I would be. I managed to retain myself and controlled my emotions during the journey home but was forced to give aunt Beth an account of Tio's condition before I could reach the peacefulness of my room. If aunt Beth had seen both Marc and Mathias, she must have wondered about their identity but did not press me to tell her and told me not to worry about Tio, who was obviously as strong as a horse and would be up and about in no time. I called up Tio’s ward and immediately was told that he was still asleep and that Marc was still with him. “Will you please pass on a message to him for me, please nurse? “ “For Mr. Garcia you mean? “ “No, Tio when he wakes. Please tell him that I've had to return home as I am not feeling well.” I said unsteadily. “Don't worry Mrs. Garcia, I'll tell him.” “Can I visit him tomorrow?” “Yes any time after nine, I think Tio is being moved to the other wing in the afternoon, so don't come then. I think that would be best if you come in the evening.” “Okay, thank you.” I replaced the phone and put the kettle on the gas and went to sit in front of it. I have not been far too wrong when I had told the nurse that I was ill. The emotions of the past two days had made my stomach feel decidedly unsteady, small meals and lack of sleep were not doing me any good. I realized it was obviously my bed that I needed as it was the only place for me at the moment to forget about my worries. In the event of my worries overcoming my extreme tiredness, I tossed and turned uncomfortably through the long hours of the night. Eventually, after a long time, I fell asleep. The birds were singing noisily, but the morning was wrapped in a dawn grey blanket. I glanced at my watch. It was later than I had thought. The grey light had deceived me. At least it meant that I had less time to waste before I could visit Tio. After I had drunk a Cup of tea I returned to the bathroom and filled the bath, sprinkling a handful of bath salt determined to relax with the essence of it. I had already decided what I needed to do, that they will stop. I would have to get a job in some city, perhaps in Manchester but not in London, I decided because although the chances of bumping into Marc there were less, I was unwilling to leave the smallest hint to let him know where I was. Once we got away it must be a final break. I can rent a flat, to begin with, and I had enough money to help us survive until I could get a suitable job. Tio would have to go to a children's minder after school of course but I deliberately closed my mind to that problem. They would make the move first and will deal with the problems later. A loud banging on the kitchen door roused me from my somewhat lost mind and I sat up with a jolt, aware that the water had cooled. I cleaned up out of the bath and began to dry myself vigorously throwing my bathrobe over my damp body. The knocking had stopped when I reached the kitchen door and I peered out into the garden. The milk was on the steps so it would seem that if the milkman had a query he had decided to leave it for another day. I called him yesterday to deliver the milk. Carefully I stepped out on the gravel path holding the milk bottles firmly in my hand. “Carmen you are here. “ “Marc! You made me jump. I nearly dropped the milk”, I exclaimed clutching the bottles tightly to my chest my breath stuck unevenly in my throat. “I'm sorry, I could not make you hear the front door.” “ I was in the bathroom. I did not hear the doorbell ring.” I was suddenly very conscious of the damp and disabled state of my hair and off-toes visible beneath the bathroom. “Did you want something? “ “May I come in?” He said. “I am not dressed!” I stammered unnecessarily. “It's okay you look fine,” Marc murmured with raised eyebrows. “Do you think you could make me a cup of your excellent tea and then we can talk? “ I shrugged helplessly.” I suppose so if you will just wait until I dress.” “It won't be necessary! You are adequately covered,” he said with a glance at my bathrobe. I stood there silently but I was aware of Marc's figure destructing the atmosphere of the kitchen as I placed the kettle on the gas and set two cups on the table. “Would you like something to eat as well? Have you Eaten?” I inquired. “Yes, I am hungry. could you please make something for me? I confess I could not sleep I've been thinking, walking around the town since quite early.” He came and sat at the table and watched me intently as I prepared the food. “So tell me did you have the time to consider my proposal again are you still in the same mind? “It wouldn't make any difference Marc,” I stared intently at the teapot carefully, avoiding Marc’s eyes. “so! You find my proposal too distasteful?” “I don't want to talk about it, Just leave it, please! I but I must warn you,” I added. “I will fight to have Tio visit me here, you won't have everything your way!” “Did you keep the correspondence from the early days of our separation?” Marc asked abruptly. “Why do you want to know about it?” I asked curiously. “If you have kept those letters then you could easily prevent me from taking Tio to Milan. Legally that is,” he added in a plain conversation “ Surely your lawyer told you this?” As I remained silent he continued. “Why have you decided not to fight with me for custody, Carmen?” “ I haven't,” I said abruptly. “I think so.” I heard Marc stretch and shift on his chair and then I heard the sound of the chair being pushed away from the table as he rose and walked the short distance towards me. “Shall I tell you why you are not going to press the case?” he said softly. I felt his hand grip my shoulders gently as he said, “You don't know.” Inwardly I began to feel a rising panic at his words. Surely he could not have guessed about my plans to disappear with Tio? I stiffened as he began to draw me unyieldingly in his arms. “Well let me ask you something then.” He continued. “ when do you intend to marry Don Wilde?” “You said I couldn't get a divorce!” I protested weakly, overwhelmingly conscious of the nearness of the man I loved so dearly. I felt his hand grip my shoulders gently as he said, “You don't know.” Inwardly I began to feel a rising panic at his words. And I wondered whether he had followed me. Surely he could not have guessed about my plans to disappear with Tio? I stiffened as he began to draw me unyieldingly in his arms. His eyes held mine. “Well let me ask you again then.” He continued. “ when do you intend to marry Don Wilde?” “You said I couldn't get a divorce!” I protested helplessly. I could be like this with him forever but I knew I couldn't be greedy for he wanted his son, not me. And there was no trust in our relationship. "If, for the sake of argument, I agreed to give you a divorce, what then?” Marc asked and looked at me probingly. It was as if he was trying to read my mind. “I don’t know,” I said as my mind had stopped working. As before I went to Milan I only wanted to divorce him and marry Don but things have changed now and I know I will never be able to marry anyone because I still love Marc. Abruptly Marc turned me to face him, grasping my chin firmly in his hand and staring intently at my expressive face. “Let me answer the question for you, Carmen. The answer is never! you will never marry Don. Do you understand? You were never going to marry Don. I went to see your fiancé today after you left the hospital and don’t worry, I have not broken his limbs. He is still in one piece.” He said after he looked at my horrified expression. “There will be no more lawsuits against me.” My eyes had gone wide in shock as he was saying the exact things which were going on in my head but what he said next surprised me. And I never expected him to go and Don. “However, he did give me a long lecture on what he thought of me. And believe me, his comments were to the point and very clear and not exactly complementary to my character.” Marc shook his head, “ After my conversation with you yesterday I was really troubled. I began to see things clearly, which I had all the way long ignored from my consciousness. His comments merely served as an eye-opener for me for the stupidity of my past behavior.” Hastily he released his hold on me and went to stare outside the window. “ I realized I was far too ready to doubt you in the early months of our marriage. I was a fool, Carmen but my experience with women had not encouraged me to trust you. I never told you about my past because I didn't want to hurt you but I didn't have the right to judge the way I did back then.” He gave an uncertain gesture and continued, “ I believe that subconsciously, I always knew that you were not interested in my money. When Mathias first told me that you were not willing to come to Milan to see me when I had the accident, I was angry. And when he said that he did not believe you were that sort of a woman to be interested in my money, I laughed at him, but secretly I suspected and hoped that it was true. Mathias could not understand why I became even angrier when you finally came to Milan only because you agreed to my mother’s wishes.” “I realized that it is asking a great deal to expect you to forgive me, Carmen. My behavior has been selfish and cruel to the extreme. My only defense is that the jealousy that I felt where you were concerned ruled out any possibility of the same reaction.” He shrugged defensively. “ Also your action at the time were not always designed to set my mind at rest. You were so naive and you trusted people very easily. And Taylor …what was I to think when I came home unexpectedly and found you in his arms? I could have killed him!" His hand trembled with remembered violence. He turned and walked towards me once more, placing his hands on my shoulders in a gentle gesture. “ Now you understand? He said quietly. “You are never going to marry Don or anyone else. You are mine, do you hear me? You belong only to me and I shall never permit you to leave me again! “ With a fiercely possessive gesture, he gathered me into his arms, his Mouth descending firmly on my own demanding an instant response from my trembling lips. “Can you deny that you want me?” He murmured unsteadily after a few nerve-shattering moments. Can I deny it? “No! It is true, I do want you,” I said shaking away. “But I don't want to come back with you to Milan, Marc.” I had to save my face and being emotional will not bring any solution. “So ! You still believe the story you were told by Bella Costa....?” He asked after a few seconds. “How did you know?” I asked. Marc lifted his unsteady hand and began to smooth my damp hair from my brow. “Mathias told me. I shall have some things to say to Bella Costa when we return to Milan! That woman should get a nice beating for butting her ass into someone else's affairs.” “Marc you are such a selfish brute, we would have parted anyways as I couldn’t have turned a blind eye to finding you in bed with Bella like that. Whatever she said is true after all and she had been your lover for god knows how long.” I said in a dejected tone. “What you saw did not part us, Carmen.” He said flatly. “Taylor did." I felt shattered then, couldn’t he see it? Couldn’t he understand? Was he so blind to his betrayal of me, to my pain, that he could honestly believe, I would have agreed to ignore his infidelity? “It's impossible.” I groaned, putting my hands to my face. “ we talk a different language, Marc. I can’t accept that a man has the right to break his marriage vows while a woman is expected to be faithful to them.” I lowered my hands, my face had gone white. “ it wouldn’t work any more than it did then. Perhaps an Italian girl could shrug over a thing like that, but I can’t. You have to understand that. I am talking about morals Marc and most importantly I am talking about love and trust." “Love,” he said very softly, his hand sliding up my arm to my throat. My body reacted instantly as it always carved for his touch. “Don’t!" I exclaimed pulling away. “ Oh, you can make me respond, I can’t begin to deny that. But I am not talking about sex, I am talking about trust and honesty and I could give you neither, Marc. Not anymore. Do you think I want a marriage where I am constantly wandering whose bed you are in? What sort of life it would give me? I would drive me mad after a while.” He looked at me expressionlessly for a moment, his mouth was tight and he spoke. “ Very well go and get dressed Carmen. Fix yourself as my mother is coming to meet you. Please Carmen listen to me for the last time. I am begging you.” He said as soon as I opened my mouth to the object. “Cathy? Why is she here?” I stared at him taken aback. His mother had a way of making you agree to whatever she says and I as a fool have already been set up by the mother-son duo. He moved to the door and glanced back at me over his shoulders. “ I asked her to come.” I took my time in getting ready, feeling too embarrassed by what had happened in the past hour to be eager to face Cathy. It was almost half an hour before I left my room to enter the living room. Cathy was talking to Marc and as I walked in, she stood up and walked towards me. “There you are, my dear Carmen,” Cathy said very calmly, as though nothing happened. She pulled me towards the sofa and patted the place beside her. “Come and sit with me, Carmen.” I looked at Marc who was staring at me with many emotions on his face, as I sat beside her. “How are you, Carmen? I am so sorry I couldn’t come and visit you later at Piemonte, as I was quite busy taking care of the business, while Marc was resting.” Cathy gracefully explained her absence. Was I supposed to understand her situation, while she had lied behind me? I did not say anything and kept mum. Cathy felt my withdrawn behavior and leaning over, touched my arm, her face gently looking at me with warmth. “ Carmen I am sorry that you don’t trust me, as I have given no reason for you to trust me at all.” She paused and then continued. “ I want to tell you a story.” She said softly. “I don’t want to hear.” I muttered. I got up and Marc said tensely. “ You have got to listen. I have called mother here so that you hear it. If I told you you wouldn’t have believed me. Listen to my mother, Carmen, Please. It is something which I am not proud of but mother had suffered more and only I know the courage she had to gather to tell you the things she had endured and kept to herself to keep our family together.” “Cathy has proved she will lie if you want her to,” I said angrily. “She is not lying this time,” Marc said desperately. “How do I know that? I will never believe a word she says again.” I said stubbornly. Marc stared at me, then gave a hard glance at his mother. Cathy held my hand and said. “ I don’t need to tell you that many years before Marc met you, my husband had been trying to persuade him to marry Bella.” I bit my lip. “No, you don’t need to tell me that. Your husband made that very clear to me a long time back.” Cathy sighed and then continued. “ Yes, Antonio had an obsessive desire to see Marc marry an Italian girl. He was never in the favour of Marc marrying someone from outside the community. He also did not like the idea that his son had a mind of his own. He wanted to impose his wishes on Marc but Marc had a will of his own. He was very much like his own father not ready to bow down in front of another man’s strength. They fought bitterly about it . Antonio was very open on the subject. Bella knew that she had been selected as my son's bride.” Cathy looked at Marc and sighed. “Unfortunately, Bella was very eager to take that place.” “I'm not listening to any of this,” I said huskily getting up. “Cathy I appreciate whatever you are doing, but for heaven's sake I had enough.” “I have got the proof to show you that, the morning when you saw Marc in Bella’s arms nothing had happened between them.” Cathy said calmly. I stared at her and slowly sat down. “I have Bella’s confession recorded for that matter,” Cathy said gently, looking at me for a second. “ I'll show it to you in a moment. I still haven't told you my whole story. Now be quiet and listen to me.” She looked at me the lines of her face forceful. “That morning when you had fought with Marc and ran away to your flat , Marc had a terrible fight with his father. He was in a disturbed state, Carmen. He got very drunk that evening. I found him in the chair in his library at midnight and I called for four servants to put him to bed.” She grimaced. “ I'm afraid Marc was dead to the world. We couldn't wake him. The men put him to bed and left him there. Bella was in the House of course. She knew what had happened. She came out of her room and made some very unpleasant remarks about his condition and the fight he had with you. I was sharp with her and she went off, boiling with rage.” Marc interrupted then, “I slept like a dead man all night. When I woke up I found Bella in my bed. My head was pounding like a drum. I felt sick and the last thing I wanted was a woman, particularly Bella ." "My God, Carmen, I could have had her any time, if I snapped my finger." He saw me wince and said. “I know that sounds crude but I'm afraid it's the truth. Bella particularly offered herself to me on a platter many times. I just wasn't interested. I wasn't interested then, now, and never will and I told her to get out.” his face glittered with rage and pain .” She laughed then and she told me that I was too drunk and I slept with her and showed me the hickey's all over her body I was shocked as I was sure I hadn't touched her but then when she told me that you had come back and walked in and found her in my bed. I wanted to strangle her. My God, the little bitch. You should have seen her face while she was telling me! She knew damn well what she had done and she was getting quite a kick out of it.” Marc stared at me intensely. “I got dressed and rushed out to see you. But I did not expect to see you in Taylor’s arms and it was a blow for me. Taylor was very lucky that I didn't kill him, first I wanted to but I was really angry with you for betraying me.” Cathy took up the story as he paused. “He came back to me in a terrible state. I was shocked by what he told me but I was coming to see you myself. I knew you would tell me the truth and I told Marc to leave you alone until I had seen you and to know what happened but you vanished and the next thing we know you sent Marc the divorce paper and told us that you were having a baby but did not mention it that it was Marc and your child. So he assumed that it was Taylor’s as you simply vanished without any trace.” “ I know you were angry with me for betraying you and I wanted to explain but what I saw enraged me and I thought that you had given yourself to Taylor and had gone away with him and after that, you sent the divorcee papers, so naturally, I thought that it was his child. But I was not ready to give you divorce because I wanted you to suffer.” Marc concluded with a pleading expression. “Carmen, Marc is not lying as I know how broken he was and he returned to get you back but you vanished and Antonio made sure that Marc would try and forget you. But after a month Bella came to the villa and announced that she was pregnant with Marc's child and we were shocked as I knew that Marc had not touched Bella that night. The servants are proof for that as I told them to keep an eye on him while he was sleeping. And no one could surpass them." My heartbeat stopped for a second Bella was pregnant with Marc's child.