Page 100 of Broken Bonds

“I know you didn’t want this yet, you told me several times,” I tell her, my voice is low but firm. She needs to understand. “But everything happens for a reason, and our baby isn’t a mistake.”

“I never said that!” She defends herself and my heart warms knowing we think the same. Our baby isn’t a mistake, nothing in our relationship is. Maybe it conceived unconventionally, but still.

“What I mean is that he’s here, and it’s for a reason. Now we just have to walk forward, if you decide to give me another chance, that God knows I don’t deserve, but I’ll appreciate it.”

Fool me once it’s your fault… I remember those words she said at the beginning.

“You have a lot of work to do, Kral,” she chides, mischievous sparks coming from her eyes.

“Whatever you want, love,” I add. “I hope that talking to your mother and Aunt Felicia won me some points. And speaking of your aunt, she has some explaining to do.”

As it turns out, when I asked Stella how she found June, the nun, she told me that she’s her Aunt Felicia’s best friend. Because they are so close and talk regularly, Stella could communicate with her aunt without Ethan’s men finding any changes or new numbers in the call logs. As I said, Stella is one of the smartest women I know, she played her cards perfectly.

Stella laughs loudly. At me, of course.

“Oh Lionel,” she says, taking a deep breath. “My aunt likes you, but I’m her spoiled niece and as far as she’s concerned, you’re still on probation.”

I mumble a curse. A house full of women. Hormones in overabundance.

It would be good for our baby to be a boy and balance the equation with some testosterone, but something tells me a girl is on the way.

That makes me smile. A girl. What am I going to know about raising a daughter? I trust that some books will help because she will be in our arms in a few months.

Also, I will have to ask Ethan to introduce me to some of his suppliers. I’m going to buy a couple of weapons. The man has two beautiful daughters. I’m confident he knows what I’m talking about. Simple precaution, I don’t want any stupid, hormonal teen hanging around my daughter.

“What made you frown?” Stella asks me, smoothing the lines on my forehead with her fingers. “I promise you that my aunt won’t stab you while you sleep, she just wanted to make sure that what you feel for me is real and not a desire for revenge.”

I take my hands to her still flat belly, to where she’s growing—or he.

“Do you think it’s a girl?” My eyes don’t stray from the place where my hand rests.

“Do you want a boy to turn him into your mini-me?”

A quick smile appears on my lips, I look into her eyes. “What I want is to be able to live in peace, and if she turns out to be half as pretty as her mother is, I think I’m going to be in serious trouble. Do you think June will accept her at her convent?”

Stella laughs again, I love that sound, it’s hoarse and seductive. I know there’s a room in the back of the plane. But it’s better to have free rein once we are in our own space.

I can hardly wait for it.

“Lionel,” Stella whispers, her tone serious, as her gorgeous blue gaze is.

“Yes, love?”

“There are no more secrets between us, are there?”

This is serious business. There are many things I want to do to her. Celebrate that we’re back together after so many days, but I also know that we need to talk, to be serious.

“No,” I reply sincerely. “I have a couple of surprises in store for you, but no more secrets.”

That makes her eyes roll, my smile widens. “I don’t even want to imagine what you did with my hive. Tell me that my queens are alive.”

“Your bees and their queens are perfect. In this last month, I’ve become a master beekeeper.”

I puff up my chest, I’m an arrogant idiot, I know. Sue me.

“What are you up to?” she insists, looking me in the eyes, but not a word will come out of my mouth. A surprise is a surprise.

“We’ll be in Louisville in a little while and then Carrollton, you know that.”

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