Legally, yes, but I don't want or need his support…'
'Don't be so proud that you cut off your nose to spite your face,' Hilary pleaded. 'It's unfortunate that at this point he's met another woman and it seems to be serious, but that is not your responsibility.'
'He's happy. I don't want to wreck it,' Billie confided heavily. 'In addition, since he's forgotten what happened that night, telling him and convincing him will be a very undignified battle…'
'Even a Drakos can't fight a DNA test,' Hilary opined. 'Perhaps it would be as well to wait until the baby is born before making a claim.'
'I really don't want his money, Hilary. I'm more concerned about finding a way to keep my baby and stay in my job.'
'But how on earth could you do that and work at the same time? If you're thinking of Lauren helping out, I don't think—'
'Of course I'm not—'
'If only it was me that lived on the island and not my sister, the problem would be solved,' Hilary commented. 'I would love to look after your baby.'
'Well, you could if you were willing to move out here. My new house has plenty of room. Of course you couldn't leave John,' Billie realised, referring to her uncle who was living in a care home where Hilary visited him almost every day.
John might not be here for much longer,' her aunt divulged tautly. 'He's fading away before my eyes.'
'I'm so sorry,' Billie responded, having also refused to think about the near impossibility of concealing her baby's parentage if she tried to raise her child on the island. 'I was lost in this wonderful daydream of having you here on the spot, instead of thousands of miles away. I was being silly.'
'No, if it wasn't for John, I would agree like a shot. I would just love a fresh start, new faces, new possibilities…' Hilary confided breathlessly.
The germ of an audacious idea came to Billie. 'I think I know how we could do it and nobody would ever be able to guess that it was Alexei's baby.'
And that was the moment that the plan of concealment was born, laid out at first to an unimpressed Hilary, who thought her niece was utterly crazy to suggest such a thing; there was no question of Hilary leaving her sick husband alone in the UK. 'But who would ever believe that your baby was mine?'
'Why not? You're only thirty-eight. Nobody here but Lauren knows about John's illness,' Billie argued with growing enthusiasm. 'And we wouldn't have to live the lie for ever, Hilary. Once I'd saved enough money up, I'd sell the house and find another job and we would leave the island with the secret intact. But there would be no need to continue the pretence once we settled somewhere new—'
'Even if I was ever in a position to help you, Lauren would know we were lying—'
'I'm sure we could persuade Mum to keep quiet. Hilary, if it was possible—it would allow me to keep my baby without causing a big furore,' Billie reasoned fiercely. 'Please think it over and say yes.'
'If it's what you really want, I would do it simply because I love babies and I'd love to live on the island. But not while John is still alive. He may not recognise me most of the time when I visit,' Hilary admitted painfully as she referred to her husband's dementia, 'but he does have occasional moments when he's quite lucid. I know he hasn't long left but let's not talk about the impossible right now.'
'No, let's not,' Billie said, guiltily aware of her insen-sitivity.
'I don't understand how you're planning to hide the fact that you're pregnant from Alexei,' Hilary declared.
'I'll conceal it for as long as I can and then I'll ask Alexei to give me a career break so that I can return to England to stay with you for a while. It's a reasonable request.'
'If you give birth here you could leave the baby with me to look after. I haven't been able to find another permanent teaching job yet and I could manage fine,' her aunt asserted. 'It wouldn't be easy for you to leave your child behind with me but I'd love him or her like my own.'
'I know you would,' Billie replied warmly.