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rejection...he had severed even the tenuous bond of sex.
    Within days, Bianca, his twin, had been smirking at her like the wicked witch. ‘Fat is a total turn-off for Alessio. Only four months along and already you look like a dumpy little barrel on short legs. He wouldn’t be seen dead with you in public. Now he doesn’t want to sleep with you either. Can you blame him?’
    No blow had been too low for Bianca. Daisy shivered in remembrance. That spiteful tongue had been a constant thorn in her flesh. Brother and sister had been very close. She had often pictured Alessio confiding in Bianca and had cringed at the suspicion that nothing that happened in their marriage was private. She had imagined Alessio describing her as a dumpy little barrel and had wept anguished tears in her lonely bed. Strange that it had occurred to none of them that the sudden increase in her girth was not solely the result of comfort eating but a sign that she was carrying two babies and not one...
    Janet’s house was only round the corner from her flat. Daisy headed for her aunt like a homing pigeon, praying that Tara was still at her friend’s house, wondering if some sixth sense this morning had prompted her to give in to her daughter’s pleas for a little more freedom.
    Janet was on the phone when she came through the back door. ‘Put on the kettle,’ she mouthed, and went back to her call.
    Daisy took off her suit jacket, caught a glimpse of herself in the little mirror on the kitchen wall and stared in horror. She rubbed at her cheeks, bit at her lips for colour but could still only focus on the stricken look in her eyes. She hoped she hadn’t looked stricken to Alessio and then questioned why it should matter to her. Pride, she supposed. Why hadn’t she managed to be cool and distant? Why had she had to rave at him the way she had?
    â€˜You’re quiet. Tough morning?’ Janet was drawing mugs out of a cupboard.
    â€˜I bumped into Alessio today—’
    A mug hit the tiled floor and smashed into about twenty pieces.
    â€˜It affected me like that too,’ Daisy confided unsteadily.
    â€˜Let’s go into the lounge,’ her aunt suggested tautly. ‘We’ll be more comfortable in there.’
    Daisy couldn’t stay still in any case. Her nerves seemed to be leaping up and down with jumping-bean energy. She folded her arms, paced the small room and briefly outlined the bare bones of that meeting. ‘And just wait until you hear this bit... His lousy father told him I took the money he offered me!’
    Her aunt’s angular face was unusually tense. ‘Alessio mentioned the money?’
    â€˜He wouldn’t believe me when I said that I’d refused it!’
    Janet’s bright blue eyes were troubled, her sallow cheeks flushed. ‘Because I accepted it on your behalf.’
    Daisy stopped dead in her tracks. ‘You did...what?’
    Her aunt walked over to her desk and withdrew a slim file from a drawer. She handed it to Daisy. ‘Try to understand. You weren’t thinking about the future. I was worried sick about how you would manage with a baby if anything happened to me.’
    Daisy studied the older woman in a complete daze.
    â€˜It’s all in the file. A financial consultant helped me to set it up. Not a penny of that money has ever been brought into this country or touched. It’s in a Swiss bank account,’ Janet explained. ‘But it’s there for you and Tara should you ever need it.’
    â€˜Alessio was telling the truth?’ Daisy mumbled thickly.
    Her aunt sighed. ‘His father came to see me while you were in hospital. He practically begged me to accept the money. He felt terrible about the way things had turned out—’
    â€˜Like heck he did!’
    Janet’s face set in stern lines. ‘Vittorio was sincere, Daisy. He said that you were miserable and Alessio was equally miserable and that he