Page 124 of Beneath the Blue Moon
“What new life?”
“With Shae.”
He springs from the chair and takes my hand, stroking myknuckles with his thumb.
“I don’t care about her.I never did.I care aboutyou.I loveyou.I would have been the happiest and proudest man in theuniverse.”
Tears roll down my cheeks as I think about the loss of mybabies.I struggle to speak through sobs and sniffles.“I was… supposed to have…my… first ultrasound… this week.I didn’t even get to see them!”
“So you didn’t know they were twins.”
“No.Not until… until last night.”
“Casey—”
“I had names picked out and everything.”
“Tell me.”
“Katy for a girl and… EJ for a boy.”
“EJ?”
I look up at him, scared he may be angry at me for using hisname without his permission.My lip trembles, and I dab at my cheeks with atissue.
“Ethan Jr.”
He takes a startled breath and runs his fingers through hishair.When he lifts my hand to his lips, I see tears in his eyes.As one rollsdown his cheek, he perches on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry.I shouldn’t have let this go so far.I shouldhave fought harder for you.I should have been there to protect you.”
“What do I do now?”I ask.“I have no one.”
“You have me.”
“No.No, I don’t.”
***Ethan***
I’m not going to get into this with her right now.She’s notin the right frame of mind, and frankly, neither am I.I just need to be herefor her.The rest will come after.
“When did you find out you were pregnant?”
“A couple weeks ago.”She glances at me, the guilt evident inher eyes before her gaze drops, concealing it.“I didn’t know what you wouldthink.I was trying to figure out what to do.”
“Obviously, you decided to keep them.When were you planningon telling me?”
“Like I said, I was trying to figure it out.”
“You know I wouldn’t have let you do it alone, right?”
I was going to marry you anyway.
“I know.”As I stroke her tear-streaked cheek, I think aboutwhat could have been.“I was on the pill, you know.I didn’t—”
“I know.”I stop her before she gets it out.
It’s not like I took any precautions; I already knew she wasmy mate and mother of my children.Besides, protection has never been an issuefor me.Wolves are immune to human diseases, so I hadn’t even thought about it.As for babies, well… I was very careful before her.
