“I think the only people she might struggle to forgive are Jim and maybe Sandra. But even then, she’d try.”
Julian was fine talking about Angela. But given their limited time, he wanted to know how Kiara was doing. How the baby was doing.
“How are you feeling these days?” he asked.
Her hand went to her stomach. “I have good and bad moments, but the good are gradually becoming more than the bad.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Have you felt him move yet?”
“No, not yet,” she said. “Or at least not that I’ve recognized as movement. Given I’m dealing with nausea, I might be missing his early kicks.”
“I’m sure there will come a time when you’ll know for certain.”
“Definitely.” Grinning, she got to her feet and turned sideways. She smoothed her blouse against her stomach. “The growing belly is a pretty good indication that he’s getting bigger.”
Julian stared at the slight swelling of her stomach. Though she hadn’t been thin prior to getting pregnant, it was still clear that the bump was from the pregnancy.
Leaning forward, he reached out but then stopped himself. They didn’t have the type of marriage where he could touch her growing belly without permission.
But then Kiara moved closer to him, took his hand, and placed it on her belly. “You won’t feel any movements, but feel how firm it is. It’s kind of weird.”
It was, but in a good way. In an amazing way. That was his son growing inside her. Julian might never have planned to have children. But now that he knew he was going to become a parentsomeday soon, he was glad, in a way, that the choice had been taken from him.
As he stared at his hand, splayed across Kiara’s belly, Julian knew that he owed his son a sober father. Kiara would probably have their son most of the time, but Julian resolved to be a good dad and to be there as often as he could be. Maybe it was time to take Duncan up on the offer to build a place for himself on the estate.
There was a light knock on the door, then the doctor poked his head in. “You need to finish up soon, Julian.”
Julian nodded as he moved his hand from Kiara’s stomach. “Just give us a couple more minutes.” As the door shut again, Julian got to his feet. “Thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it.”
Kiara smiled. “I’m glad I could be here. When Angie said she wanted me to come with her, I had no problem agreeing.”
He was glad for everything that had transpired over the past hour. It helped him focus on what was important.
Together, they walked to the door and left the office. Dr Carlisle was waiting in the hallway. “We can go to the waiting area so you can say goodbye to your family.”
When they reached the room, Julian saw his dad sitting with Elizabeth, while Jude had his arm around Angela where they sat. All of them stood up as he and Kiara walked into the room.
“Thank you again for coming,” Julian said, addressing his comments mainly to Angela. “I really appreciate it.”
Angela came over to Julian and gave him another hug. “I’m glad I could come. I’ll be praying for you, and I hope to see you at the wedding.”
“I’ll try my best to be there.” Julian gave her a light squeeze, then let her go.
Next, he took the hand Jude held out to him and gave it a firm shake.
“I’ll be praying for you as well,” Jude said, his expression serious.
“Thank you.”
“Take care of yourself, son,” Duncan said as he approached him with Elizabeth at his side. “I apologize again for my reaction yesterday. I understand it might take you time to forgive me, but I hope we can have a conversation again in the near future.”
Julian took the hand he offered and nodded. He still had mixed feelings about his interaction with Duncan the previous day, but hopefully Dr. Carlisle would be able to help him work through it before they had that conversation.
As the others walked toward the exit, Julian turned to Kiara. When she moved closer to him with her arms open, he didn’t hesitate to gather her close. He held her for a long moment, then released her.
“Here,” she said as she stepped back. He looked down to see that she was holding out an envelope. “I wrote it not knowing if I’d see you, but you might as well read it.”
“Thanks.” Julian took it with a smile. “I’ll write you back. I promise.”
