Page 61 of Pregnant After One Forbidden Night

He could not have them if he could not give them the life they needed. His wounds and misconceptions could not be allowed to shape the direction of their lives, no more than her own could.

She would call her friends back and apologize. She would return to her job because it was her passion and calling and she was good at it and loved it.

And she would be a phenomenal mother, just like her own.

“Well, everything looks good to me. I’d say you can head home. No strenuous exercise for a week or so, but as long as you don’t have any more bleeding you can probably just get back to life as normal.”

Sebastian’s voice croaked out, as if rusty, thick and heavy, “Thank you, doctor.”

The doctor nodded after another assessing glance. “Glad to meet you.”

“Likewise,” he said in a voice she’d never heard him use before. She couldn’t call it the real him, but it was warm and friendly with genuine happiness.

He was being cordial to the doctor caring for his unborn child.

The doctor stepped out with the admonition to take as long as they needed, and then they were alone in the room.

Without words, Sebastian wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in warmth that seeped into her pores and tempted her to accept less than she should.

But she had a responsibility to her baby. Sebastian would provide for them while she was on leave and after, ensuring their child would have everything it could ever want or need.

But Jenna didn’t need to live with him for that to be true.

And more than that, she no longer could.

It didn’t matter that she wanted him exponentially more with each taste she got of him. It didn’t matter that he wanted her with equal intensity. It didn’t even matter that they seemed to have been carved out of the same stone, as Priory tradition waxed poetic.

What mattered was the environment and example she provided for their child.

Mothering was about more than meeting basic needs.

It was about creating a home bursting—overflowing, really—with love. It was about showing through actions how to be a decent person in the world. It was about being present and there for the little things so that you could be trusted with the big. Mothering was about getting in arguments and holding the space to get over them, without the fear that things might fall apart. About showing that people grow and change but that authentic love remains.

It was about what her parents had built for her and what she wanted to build for the developing human she carried.

Mothering wasn’t about all-encompassing obsessions and secrets and shame—it didn’t have room for things like that.

Mothering was about love.

She loved Sebastian, and wanted his love in return, but whether destiny had ordained it for her or not, she could not accept him with anything less. That would only be bad for everyone involved.

She wanted him to love her enough to respect the vision she had for her future.

“The baby is safe, Jenna.”

Sebastian’s voice cut through her thoughts, drawing her attention to the long stretch of time that she had gone without speaking.

He thought she was still worried about the baby.

Turning to him, she opened her mouth to correct him. “No. I—” But he didn’t let her finish.

Instead, he kissed her, and in it she felt his fear and wonder, as well as an overwhelming wash of possession, of her, yes, but of their baby, as well—all of it as if they were her own emotions.

If there had been any doubt as to his cherishing of her, she had none now. And if there had been cause to question his intentions toward his child, his reaction had obliterated it.

She should have expected it.

Sebastian did not dote on or love anything. He lifted it up on a pedestal and then proceeded to decimate any threat thereto.

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