“Must be difficult for you.” Albina frowned. “I cannot imagine a son going through that.”
“Frances has been a constant support for me.” He smiled. “I think I would not have been able to handle this without her.”
Frances felt a warmth bloom in her chest. How nice it was to be loved.
The conversation then shifted to lighter topics, but Frances still kept thinking of what Christopher had said earlier.
What did he mean by that?
So, when the guests left, and the children were put to bed, she decided to broach the subject again.
“Are you coming to bed, love?” Christopher asked.
They no longer slept in separate rooms. She had moved into his chamber, on his request, some weeks ago.
“Just a minute.” She stole one glance at her reflection in the vanity mirror and then sat down on the side of the bed.
“You look a bit distracted,” Christopher noted, looking up from the book he had been reading.
Reading before bedtime was a ritual for him, she had learned. It helped him relax his mind and prepare himself for sleep.
“You believe so?” she asked, wondering how she should broach the subject.
He closed the book and put it on the bedside table. “Mm-hmm. What is going on in that mind of yours?”
“I keep thinking about… well, what you said earlier to my parents.” She swallowed thickly. “About having children of our own someday. What did you mean by that?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “Is that what was bothering you all this time?”
“I would not use the word ‘bothered.’” She bit her lip. “Rather, curious is a better way to say it.”
“I see. What did you want to know?”
He was playing with her now, and she knew it.
“Well, you said that it is a conversation that we will have soon. Is this soon enough for you, you think?” she pressed.
She did not want to outrightly say what she felt. But as their relationship had grown in these last few weeks, she had found herself desiring a child.
It was only natural maternal instinct, something that could not be suppressed.
He gave her a sheepish smile. “It is not.”
“Have you had a change of heart?”
He scooted over so that he was now closer to her and gently took her hands in his own. “I have been thinking about it.”
Her breath hitched in her throat, her eyes fixed on his as she waited for him to continue.
“I think having you in my life has led to a lot of changes in the way that I think. I see how you are with the twins, and I see how nice it is to have a family,” he admitted.
“What about your fears?” she asked, even though she felt nervous to know what his answer would be. “You said that, because of your past, you never want to bring a child in this world.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I used to think that. But it turns out that opinion was not set in stone.”
“Does that mean…”
She could not even bring herself to finish the sentence. Was she dreaming?
