Page 161 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

This was the impossible dream.

She’d married for practicality, and the reality of that made her fantasies unattainable.

‘I was surprised the other day,’ he said, his tone soft. ‘I was sure we’d have made a baby, and when I got your text, I felt so many things,cara mia. I was angry with myself, devastated for both of us, and all I could think was that I needed to see you, to make sure you were okay.’ One side of his mouth lifted in a half smile. ‘And then I came to you, and you were so dismissive, I handled it badly.’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Or if you did, I did too,’ she conceded. ‘I was angry with you.’ She lifted her shoulders. ‘I felt like you’d cut me out of your life so easily, and I just... I don’t know. But the thing is, I think I needed to go through that, Sebastian, to really understand how much this matters to me. I’ve spent my whole life convinced that I didn’t want children, but this week proved how wrong I was about that.’

He stirred the eggs, folding them neatly. ‘And now?’ he prompted, reaching for two plates.

She waited for him to continue.

‘You’re still committed to this?’

‘Yes.’

He expelled a breath. ‘We can make this work.’

Her smile was wistful. ‘We don’t have to. This was never about you and me. It’s about the royal line of succession. It’s about an heir.’

‘That’s not what you said before the island. Then it was all about getting to know one another.’

She shivered, remembering. It had seemed so sensible back then, but she’d had no idea of the can of worms she’d been about to pry open.

‘Tell me something,’ he said, placing the eggs on two plates and sliding one across the counter to her. It reminded her so much of the island that she had to dig her fingernails into her palm to anchor herself back to this reality.

‘What would you like to know?’

‘The not having kids thing. What’s that about?’

She shook her head to demur. She’d spent a lifetime not talking about this to another soul. But with Sebastian, there was something that pulled to her. Even after everything they’d been through. Even after this past week, she still felt as though she wanted to open up to him. Why?

‘Do you not like kids? Or the idea of childbirth?’

‘I love kids,’ she corrected automatically. ‘But childbirth terrifies me.’

He reached for a fork and lifted some eggs to his mouth, chewing before speaking. ‘But still,’ he said, contemplatively. ‘To decide never to have kids, that’s a leap.’

She arched a brow. ‘Not for me.’

He waited, forking some more eggs into his mouth.

‘You know about my mother,’ Rosie said, pushing her eggs around her plate, her appetite disappearing.

‘That she’s in a coma, yes.’

‘But what you don’t know, because no one really knows besides my father, is that she had a stroke hours after giving birth. It was a complication from the delivery,’ Rosie said, not meeting his eyes. It was easier to talk that way, easier to think. ‘I wanted to get to know you because I was worried that the same thing might happen to me. I mean, I’ve seen doctors, and they say it’s not probable, but no one can tell me it won’t happen. No one’s been able to rule it out. So I just decided I’d never risk it.’

‘I don’t understand. Do you fear this might happen to you or do you think it’s a genuine possibility?’

She frowned. ‘I guess because of how alike we are, the latter. I look like her, I sound like her. I’m just like her. Why would that happen to her and not me?’

Sebastian drew in a sharp breath, drawing her gaze. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this?’

‘I don’t talk about it, generally. It’s personal.’

‘But relevant to us.’ His voice was raw. ‘Relevant to what I’ve asked of you.’

‘Yes,’ she conceded. ‘But ultimately, this decision was mine to make.’

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