I have to work on winning my wife back.
“Hey, baby.” I stop about a foot away from her,
She stares at me, something inscrutable in her eyes.
“I stole your hoodie,” she blurts, starting to wiggle out of it.
“Leave the damn hoodie on,” I grunt. “You’re cold.”
She stops trying to take it off and shivers slightly.
“Why are you here?” she asks, her gaze locked on mine. “I treated you so awful and?—”
“Why do you think I’m here?” I ask quietly.
“I don’t…know.”
I sigh because she’s as stubborn as she is beautiful. “Do you think you could do something for me?”
“I…if I can.”
“I need you to tell me the truth.”
“About what?”
“Everything. Why you freaked out that day at the palace. I know you were worried about your mom, but why did you turn away from me when I know damn well you needed me. What have I ever done, aside from the day you first told me you were pregnant, to make you think you couldn’t trust me?”
She looks away, sadness in her eyes. “It’s not easy to…explain.”
“Can you try? Please?” I reach out a hand. “Because I love you, and I thought you had feelings for me too. Then you called me—this thing between us—a mistake. And it fucking hurt.”
She stares, blinking rapidly, as she bites her lip. There are tears shimmering in her eyes, and before I realize what’s happening, she vaults herself into my arms. Head against my chest, fingers digging into my jacket, holding on like she’s never going to let go.
“I didn’t mean we were a mistake. I was talking about me going to Europe and spending so much time away.”
“I don’t believe that. I think you meant it exactly the way it came out. And I want to know why.”
“Because…” She hesitates, like she can’t quite get the words out.
“Because?” I prompt.
“Because…I love you too,” she says in a tiny voice, and relief floods my system.
“Look at me, baby.”
She slowly lifts her head.
“Tell me why that’s a mistake.”
Her golden eyes turn molten. “Because I love you so much I’m scared.”
Fuck, but I love hearing those words.
But we have to dig deep on this so it doesn’t keep happening.
“Of what?”
She hesitates again, but only for a moment, like she’s shoring up the courage to tell me the truth. “That you’re… going to leave me. That a baby isn’t a good enough reason to stay. That you have this amazing life and career, and we’re going to hold you back.”
