Page 102 of Mistaken Intention

That’s such a big word, and it stretches between us, hovering, threatening, like the doubt in her eyes.

“Aside from that, you’re okay now, though… right? The tumor’s gone. It’s not gonna come back?”

“No. I’m fine now.”

“Then why did you leave?”

She frowns. “I’ve just explained.”

“No. You’ve just told me you were really sick when you were a teenager. You haven’t told me why that’s a reason to run away from me in the middle of the night.”

She breaks free of me, and I let her, watching as she steps back, my hands falling to my sides. “Because you want something I can’t give you, and I won’t ruin your life.”

“Ruin my life?”

“Yes. I can’t take this from you.”

“You think having children is more important to me than being with you?” She looks up at me, blinking, and I pull her back into my arms again, cupping her face with one hand while the other rests in the small of her back, holding her against me. “The only way you could ruin my life would be to let this stand in the way of our happiness.”

“But…”

“But nothing. If we can’t have children, then we can’t have children.”

“Y—You said ‘we’,” she whispers.

“Yeah. Because we’re in this together.”

She shakes her head. “No. That’s not right.”

“Why not?”

“Because you can have children.”

“You don’t know that. Not for sure.” She glances at Hunter and then looks back at me. “And even if I could have children, I wouldn’t want them with anyone but you.”

She bursts into tears, loud sobs building somewhere deep inside her, rising to escape her lips.

“I’ll wait in the car,” Hunter says, opening the door and slipping out through it.

I hold Josie’s head against my chest, stroking her hair as she weeps and weeps.

“Hey… baby…” She looks up, tears still flowing, and I smile down at her. “Don’t cry. Please. It’ll be okay. I love you. I can’t lose you.”

“But what if you change your mind?”

“About loving you? It’s more likely that hell will freeze over.”

“I meant, what if you change your mind about having children?”

“It still won’t change how I feel about you.”

“You really mean that?”

“Yes. If we decide we want to have children in the future, we’ll find a way.”

“There is no medical way for me to make that dream come true.”

“I know. I get that. But there are other options. I just wish you’d told me, rather than running away.”

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