It’s all right. A wave of nausea roiled her stomach. Don’t panic. You wanted a baby eventually, right? It’s just coming earlier than you expected.

A few tears trickled down her cheeks, and she sniffled. She had to tell Eli. But how? She’d been so harsh last time she’d spoken to him. How would he react to the news?

He’ll want to be involved, she reassured herself. He might be hesitant around children, but he would learn. Unfortunately, she’d be a burden on him for the rest of his life. How perfectly awful. Aria was sick of being a burden on people. It had taken a lot for her to swallow her pride when she’d turned up on her parents’ doorstep late at night with a suitcase in hand and nowhere to go, having left the Press behind. She’d been doing so well since then. Why had she been so stupid? And why did life have to be so damn difficult?

Eli’s separation from Aria was slow torture as time crawled by. He was working on his plan to win her back, but it was taking longer than he expected, and he was losing enthusiasm for it. Teri sympathized with him, and even hugged him before she boarded a flight back to Auckland. Although he hadn’t seen Aria in weeks, Teri had. The two of them had visited the beach again and gone walking behind the lake a couple of times, but when he asked about Aria, Teri refused to answer any of his questions.

His daily visits to the construction site were the only times he left the house, and even there, he was no longer needed. To be honest, there was no longer any need for him to remain in Itirangi. Things were going smoothly. But, although he knew he should return to Auckland, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. He liked Itirangi—liked waking up to fresh air and the sound of birds rather than traffic. Most of all, he wanted to see Aria once more before he left.

Eli was sitting at the dining table in his rented villa, studying architectural plans on his laptop, when there was a knock on the door. He strode down the hallway and was flabbergasted to find Aria on his porch. He blinked at her. She was a vision in a purple sundress, hair curling over her shoulders and a pair of chunky blue heels on her feet. His pulse stuttered. She was more beautiful than he remembered, and he ached to touch her, but the hurt from her rejection still felt raw.

“Good morning, Eli,” she said softly, a hesitant smile on her lips. Despite the smile, her knuckles, where she was clutching her purse, were white, and her expression was strained.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” he murmured. “What are you doing here?”

The question wasn’t meant to be harsh, but she flinched nonetheless.