My face falls to the side, and Rory pushes it back by my chin, so I look at him. “If we get married, I’d like our marriage to be one of good communication. That starts now.”
I blink. He is right. After last night, I don’t think there’s anything I couldn’t talk to him about. I bite my lip. “Lots of things,” I say.
“Okay.” He kisses me gently, urging me to go on.
“I wanted to be with you last night so you could change your mind if you didn’t like it.”
Rory’s eyebrow raises. “Did it look like I didn’t like it?”
I giggle. “Right. Well, I guess that’s a non-issue, then.”
“Good. One down. What else?”
“I can’t give you children,” I admit.
That gives Rory pause, though I’m sure he had to know. He rolls off me and onto his side next to me, so we face each other. “Do you want children, Valentina?”
I shrug one shoulder. “That’s not a future I ever envisioned, but when Dr. Ramirez asked about freezing eggs, I declined.”
“Why?”
“It didn’t seem important. There are so many children without parents—I guess I figured if I ever really wanted children, it wouldn’t be important if they were biological. I’d rather give good parents to a kid with none.”
Rory tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Valentina Almonte, you couldn’t be more fucking perfect if you tried.”
My eyes search his, and he smiles at me.
“Rory, don’t lie to me. If children are important to you, this can’t work—“
“Theyareimportant to me. And I intend to have them. With you. And they will be adopted, but they will be our children, same as if we made them the other way.”
I laugh. “The other way?”
“You know what I mean.”
He has already thought about this. Of course he has. Even if he didn’t have access to my medical chart, he had to have known I’d more than likely fried my ovaries despite how hard we tried saving them. “You don’t mind, then, if you can’t have a child of your own blood?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “My children will be mine because they were meant to be. Just like you’re meant to be their mom.”
“Okay,” I say.
“Okay?” Rory’s eyes are wide.
“I’m not saying yes yet.”
“What else do you want from me, woman?” We both laugh at his frustration.
“For one, I’d like a proper proposal. Preferably not in a locker room surrounded by the smell of feet.”
“Noted. Won’t happen again. Is that it, then? Are you saying yes?”
I shake my head. “I’d like to live together a little while first. Make sure we both want this and that we’re committed to spending a lifetime together, because if I marry you, Rory Dennis, it’ll be for life.”
Rory smiles wide. “We can live together for a while first. I’m okay with a long engagement.”
I turn to face away from him so he can spoon me because I don’t want to see his face for what I’m about to tell him next.
“I have to confess something,” I say.