“I have to … show you something.” I grab his hand and walk out to the living room where I stashed something on top of a shelf. “You might wanna sit.”
“Should I be worried?” he asks, raising a brow as he sits down on the stool, which can barely handle his muscle weight while I hide something behind my back.
“No,” I reply. “Unless … well, maybe you don’t like it.”
He frowns and makes a face. “Tell me. Right. Now.”
The commanding voice still makes me lose my breath, but then I remember there’s always time for sex … but this, this needs to come first.
So I show him the stick that I’ve been excited to show him all day.
The one with two pink lines.
And I wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Nothing.
“What am I supposed to see?” he asks.
My face contorts. “You don’t know what it is, do you?”
When he sees the mix of confusion and disappointment on my face, he grabs my hands and pulls me between his legs. “Tell me.”
I pull his hand toward my belly and place it on top. “It means I’m carrying your baby.”
He swallows, and his eyes widen and narrow and then expand again, all in two seconds. “My baby?”
I nod and rub my lips together. “I had this feeling for a long time, ever since the island … well, maybe even before that. I mean, we weren’t safe and—”
I can’t even finish my sentence because he’s already grabbed my face and slammed his lips against my mouth in a way that makes me want to fan myself and fall into his lap all at the same time. And he doesn’t stop, not until we’re both out of breath, and lean away, lingering on the heat.
He places his hand on my belly, murmuring, “Mine.”
And I know right then and there it’s going to be okay.
Soren
Me, a father?
It’s something I could never imagine.
A torturer, a punisher, a killer, becoming a father?
My hand still drifts over her belly, unable to believe this is the truth. But it is. April wouldn’t show me this unless it means it’s true.
My seed … gave her life.
A living human being is growing inside her.
My heir.
The one I thought I’d never have.
The one I thought I didn’t deserve.
Because I broke the rules, I defied my duty, I sinned.
I didn’t earn the maiden promised to me all those years ago, but I didn’t want her.
I wanted this girl … and now she’ll give me the one thing that I was taught was the end of the line. The life I dreamed of with a family … nirvana.
And I bend over and press a kiss to her belly. “I love you already.”
“So, does that mean you’re okay with it?” April asks.
I look up into her eyes, wondering how she could ever ask that question. How she could ever doubt my intentions. Because since the moment I laid eyes on her, I’ve wanted nothing more than to fill her womb with my seed and make her my woman by giving her a child.
But it happened only in my dreams … until now.
I get off the stool and grab her, lifting her into the air. “Yes,” I growl as happiness flourishes in her eyes.
“But are we good enough?” she mutters as I put her down again. “As parents?”
I clutch her chin and make her look at me. “Stop doubting yourself. We are enough.” I lean my forehead against hers. “You are more than enough.”
And she closes her eyes while I press a gentle kiss onto her lips, adding one more, and more, and more, and more until I’m not able to stop anymore.
Because I’m not the only one who’s claimed her heart …
She owns mine too, and I’ll be damned if I ever, ever let that go.
Our journey has led us here. Our choices are what made this possible.
Now all we need to do … is live.
The End.