“I am not keen on lying to you.” He pulled her closer. She let her head rest on his chest, engulfed by his embrace.
In that moment, she felt for the first time what her friends had always droned on about. That feeling of unexpected bliss, a connection that felt too strong to sever.
Love.
“Evan—” she opened her mouth to speak, to admit to him thatthiswas what it was, but he brought a finger to her lips.
“I want you to rest now, sweetheart,” his own voice came out hoarse. “Please. For me. I shall have the servants send food to your quarters, and then you will get the rest that you deserve.”
Evan’s thumb brushed against her cheek for the briefest moment before he stepped away, the warmth of his embrace vanishing. She immediately felt the loss.
Isadora swallowed hard but opted not to argue. The moment had drained her and lightened her at the same time. It felt fragile—like one wrong word would break it.
“I shall rest,” she finally said.
A small expression of relief flickered across Evan’s features, and he dipped down to kiss her hand. “Thank you.”
He called for the maid to escort her to her room, but as she left him, all she could think of was what he had admitted to her. And what she had discovered about herself.
I love him.God help her, shelovedhim more than she had ever loved anything else in her life.
CHAPTER 21
Mama.
The sound of the giggle that filled the room was the most beautiful thing that Isadora had ever heard. She held in her arm a bundle of dark curls and chubby limbs. A piece of her own self.
A child of her own.
Her breath hitched as the sound of laughter entered her ears again, but this time, it was much deeper. Evan stood behind her, holding her from the waist.
A mirror placed in front of them reflected back the image of happiness. Evan, Isadora, and a child cradled in her arms. A family.
Isadora woke up at the crack of dawn, instinctively clutching at her belly.
“It was only a dream,” she said to herself, patting the empty side of her bed, but never once in her life had she dreamt of motherhood like this.
Isadora shot up in her bed, all traces of sleep vanishing as her mind began to race. Was that a sign? It must be.
For the ache she felt was something new. She let out a slow breath, pressing her palm flat against the mattress. She had never thought of herself as the kind of woman to yearn for such things.
But now that the idea had rooted itself in her mind—now that she had glimpsed what could be?—
She realized she had never wanted anything more.
A soft smile crept onto her lips, one she did not even try to suppress.
The idea of a child—their child—was no longer something distant or something she might previously have expected herself to scoff at.
“He admitted to you that he feels for you,” she told herself, feeling the same happiness that she did the night before. Their connection had grown, and now, it was to take a different direction all together.
They would start a family together. It was a wild thought and the onset of it had been quite sudden, but Isadora was convinced that she wanted nothing more.
“Good morning, Evan,” Isadora said lovingly to her husband, who joined her for breakfast. She had not been able to keep the smile off her face even for a second since she had woken up.
“Isadora,” he acknowledged her as he took a seat from across her. “How do you feel now?”
Her smile stretched even wider. “Oh, I have never felt any better.”
