Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

very real to him. She hadn’t expected that.
    “I have to go back. She has no one else. And I can’t just walk out on them. They’re fighting for their lives, and they could die at any time. I have to be there, for her and for them.” He sounded surprisingly noble, and Benedetta nodded, unable to speak. She felt shut out of what was happening to him. It was the hardest day of her life. “I’ll call you later and let you know what’s happening.” He was pulling clothes out of the closet as he spoke to her, and changing as she watched. He didn’t take the time to shower or eat—all he wanted was to get back.
    “Should I wait here?” she asked in a flat voice.
    “I don’t know. I’ll tell you later.” He realized that it might be all over by the time he got back to the hospital. He put his wallet in his pants and looked at Benedetta sadly. “I’m sorry. I really am. We’ll get through this somehow, I promise. I’ll make it up to you.” Although he had no idea how, and she didn’t see how he could. And if the twins survived, he had two children now. He walked over to kiss her, and she turned away from him. For the first time in their life together, she couldn’t face him, and maybe not forgive him either. She didn’t know yet. “I’ll call you,” he said gruffly, and then left the room in a hurry, and as soon as he did, she burst into tears. She went back to bed and cried until she fell asleep. And by then Gregorio was back at the hospital, sitting between the two incubators, watching his newborn babies fight for their lives, with an army of people tending to them, and tubes attached to every part of them.
    He went back to Anya in her room an hour later, when they told him she was awake, and he spent the day consoling her, and whenever he thought he could leave her for a few minutes, he went back to see the babies. It was nearly six o’clock when he remembered to call Benedetta, and neither her cellphone nor the hotel room answered.
    She had gone out for a walk, and ran into Dharam as she left the hotel. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, she was wearing jeans and flat shoes, and she looked ravaged. He felt instantly sorry for her, and tried not to let it show. She made distracted small talk as they walked out of the hotel, and he turned to look at her. She was smaller than he remembered, and he realized she’d been wearing high heels the night before. She was a slight, delicate woman and seemed fragile to him now, with huge sad eyes that dwarfed her face.
    “Are you all right?” he asked her gently. He didn’t want to be intrusive, but he was worried about her. She appeared as though something terrible had happened. He wondered if it had to do with her husband leaving the night before. Unlike Jean-Philippe and Valerie, he knew nothing of the fashion world gossip and Gregorio’s affair with the Russian model.
    “I…yes…no.” She started to lie to him and then couldn’t, as tears ran down her cheeks, and she just shook her head. “I’m sorry…I was just going out to get some air.”
    “Do you want company, or do you want to be alone?”
    “I don’t know…” She was confused and he hated to let her leave the hotel by herself. She was so distracted she didn’t seem safe alone. She was in no condition to be on the streets on her own.
    “May I come? We don’t have to talk. I don’t think you should go out alone.”
    “Thank you.” She nodded and he followed her out of the hotel and fell into stride beside her. They walked for several blocks before she spoke. And then she glanced at him hopelessly, as though the world had come to an end, and for her, it had.
    “My husband started having an affair with a model several months ago. He’s done it before, which is embarrassing, but he always came to his senses and got out of it very quickly. This time the girl got pregnant, with twins. She gave birth to them three months early this morning. And now my husband is entangled in all