Page 35 of Ivory Legacy

He paused, looking at me with an intensity that made my stomach twist. I picked up the croissant, examining it like it was a lab specimen, then took a slow, deliberate bite. The sweetness did nothing to calm me, and the moment dragged far longer than it should have.

I was stalling. I was terrified.

Dante waited, his eyes never leaving mine.

I took a deep breath, trying to summon the courage. “I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how to reach you.”

Dante’s eyes searched mine. “Tell me what?”

“It’s the…I found out the sex, Dante,” I said. “I know what we’re going to have.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re going to have a little boy, Dante.”

I wasn’t sure how to read the expression on his face. His eyes widened, and for a second, I thought he might be angry.

Instead, his gaze found my eyes.

And then he smiled.

Chapter Seventeen: Dante

It took me a few long seconds to figure out what she said.

I already knew we were going to have a baby–obviously–but the fact that we now knew he was going to be a little boy made this so much more real and scary.

The winter sun peeked through the sheer curtains of Jade’s dining room, casting a soft glow over the half-eaten croissants and empty coffee mugs. I sat back in the creaky wooden chair, my legs stretched out, still clad in the pajamas I’d borrowed from her drawer—ones with little anchors that seemed to mock my current state of drifting uncertainty.

“Hey.” Jade’s voice pulled me back, her hand gentle on mine. “You went quiet all of a sudden.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, rubbing a thumb over the dark wood of the table, a stark reminder of the distance between my world and this quaint Harbor Cove apartment. The news hung between uslike a fog; we were having a son. A little boy. It was supposed to be a moment of pure joy, yet I felt robbed—robbed of the chance to hear it firsthand, to be there beside her when she found out.

“Talk to me, Dante,” she urged softly, her eyes—the color of the stormy sea—searching my face for signs of the tempest within me.

I managed a small smile, one that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “Just trying to wrap my head around it. A boy, huh?” The words felt clumsy, foreign on my tongue.

She leaned forward, her tank top stretching slightly across her chest, and the shirt she wore unbuttoned at the top billowed as she moved. “Yeah, a boy,” she said, her voice a mixture of wonder and worry. “Are you...disappointed? I know you wanted a girl.”

“No, I said a girl might be nice. But I’m not.”

“You seem a little disappointed.”

I almost scoffed. “No. No, it’s not that. It’s just—“ I hesitated, glimpsing the flicker of fear in her gaze and hating myself for putting it there. “It’s just a lot to process, you know? Becoming a dad to a mini version of me.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” There was a teasing lilt to her voice now, an attempt to lighten the mood. “You’re not all that bad.”

I found her gaze. “I always knew you were brilliant. The fact that you’re incredibly kind too always seems to throw me for a loop.”

“You really aren’t all that bad,” she said softly.

“Depends on who you ask,” I replied, letting out a chuckle that felt good, real. “But honestly, Jade, I’m just pissed at myself for not being there. For missing out on things already.”

Her hand squeezed mine, her touch reassuring despite the chill seeping in from the early morning air. “We’ll have other moments, Dante. Plenty of them.”

“Together?” I asked.

She didn’t answer me. “I wanted to tell you. I hope you aren’t angry with me.”

---