Page 96 of Knot Your Baby

Chapter 28

Freya

After my talk withThorne, the lunch table on the balcony feels like a scene from someone else’s life.

It’s too damn perfect.

And I haven’t told Thorne yet, but I won’t make this any harder than it has been.

He gave me the truth, the least I can do is accept it. And I’ll need his arms in the future to stir those eggs in for the gougères it turns out he loves.

Stone sleeps peacefully in a bassinet beside me. The warm air carries the scent of the ocean and my alphas. And across from me sits Zane and Miller, both watching Thorne with smiles as he bites into another gougère and makes sounds that should be confined to the bedroom.

“These are criminal,” he declares, reaching for a third. “How did you learn to make them like this?”

“You helped and my grandmother is French,” I explain, the words coming easier than they have in months. “She taught me everything I know about pastry. Said I had the touch. Probably why baking became my calling.”

“She wasn’t wrong.”

The simple praise loosens something in my chest.

I turn to Miller, who winks at me, and Zane shuffles on his chair until he is sitting beside me. He gives my knee a squeeze.

“Does she still live in France?” Thorne groans as he picks up another gougère and pops it in his mouth.

My eyes pop open.He’s going to be sick.“Yes. I haven’t visited for four years. I really should, but—”

“We can take you,” Miller says. “I’d love to go to France.”

Oh my god, my heart is going to explode.

So, I tell them about my grandmother’s kitchen in Marseille, about the many summers I spent learning to fold laminated dough for croissants, about the way she could tell if butter was the right temperature just by its smell.

“My siblings loved to go to the beach. I loved being in her kitchen and learning. My twin, Freddie, loved to be my taste tester.” I blow out a breath as my eyes fill with tears. “I never talk about him.”

“Maybe you should,” Zane says, rubbing a hand over my spine.

I nod. “Anyway, my grandmother is the best pastry chef. She had so much patience with me–”

“She sounds remarkable,” Thorne says, pouring me more lemonade. “Like her granddaughter.”

The compliment catches me off guard, and I nearly knock over my glass. “I’m not—I haven’t been very remarkable lately.”

“You survived,” he says simply. “Everything that’s happened to you. From the clinic to the pregnancy.” He gulps as he looks at me. His green eyes pierce mine. “I wish I was there for you, seeing you getting bigger with our baby.”

I shake my head, shocked by also wishing it too. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not. I was an absolute jackass and gave you something else to deal with. And the DRA, though I doubt that’s who they were. And the ambush, I’m sorry for so much. Yet—” He sighs. “You’re sitting here making perfect pastry and caring for our son like none of it touched you. You’re so strong, Freya. I’m in awe of you.”

Our son.The words still make my heart skip whenever he acknowledges Stone.

“I’m not strong,” I admit quietly. “But I’m also not the same person I was before.”

“Who were you before?” He leans forward, genuinely curious in a way I’ve never seen from him.

The question opens a door I’ve kept closed for months. “I’m just a boring girl who—” I shrug.

“You’re funny,” Zane interrupts as he turns to his brother. “And she reads firefighter romance.”

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