Page 51 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

"This was never a war," she began, but he shook his head.

"We were treating it like one. And when a mother and a father fight, the children must be counted as casualties."

She shivered at that. Her parents had stayed together, but plenty of her schoolmates had parents who were torn by divorce and bitter recriminations. She ran her hand over her belly, knowing in that moment that she wanted far better for her triplets. For all of them.

"So then, sheikh," she said softly. "What does a peacetime truce look like between us?"

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"You have been pursuing me," he said with such assurance that she couldn't even begin to deny it. “In your mind, what does it mean to you?"

Bedelia frowned. In some ways, this was everything she had hoped for, but there was something wrong with it. She didn't quite understand what. It felt empty, and it felt strange, but she pushed that aside.

"I want us to continue as we were," she said. "Blank slate, like you said. Until the children are born at least...Jahin, I just want to be with you. I haven't felt good, and I haven't felt safe since I was last in your arms."

The last came out in a rush, and though there was definitely a pleading note in her voice, she couldn't bring herself to pull back from that vulnerability. She wanted to protect her children more than anything in the world, but she also needed Jahin.

She tried to hide her naked need for him by looking down, but he reached across to tilt her chin up with a single finger.

"In my anger, I could not hear you," he said cryptically. "And when I let my anger go, you are as clear as sunlight, as a fresh mountain stream."

"I don't know what that means," Bedelia said, feeling somehow as if she were on the brink of tears.

He smiled at her ruefully. "It means, in my own foolish way, that I should be beaten for how stubborn I can be. No tears now, beautiful one. Let's...let's simply be as we wish to be. We will feel what we want to feel, laugh as we wish to laugh, and for now, just be together."

She looked up at him hopefully, and when he nodded, she came forward to throw herself into his arms. She had thought she would weep, but instead, she simply rested against him and shook. This was what she had been craving. This was what she had needed, and now that she had it back, everything felt too bright, too real.

"I want to be a part of things," he said, almost too quietly for her to hear. "When you go to the doctor, I want to go with you. I want to show you even more of my land, and I want to make sure that you see what your children are inheriting. Will you allow me that?"

"Yes," she murmured without looking up. "I trust you."

She hadn't intended to say the word “trust,” not really. There was another word that sat hot and longing on her tongue, but this wasn't the right time to say it.

Sometimes, she thought that she never would.

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