“I am sorry about making you upset before,” Evan sighed, rubbing her back gently. “If I had known that this is what it would lead to, I would have never let you out of my sight.”
“I suppose we forgot all about our problems, didn’t we?” Isabella smiled.
“But I don’t want to bury them, either. I do not want resentment to build between us. Say what you need to say,” he said quietly.
Isadora drew in a breath.He was right.Never again would she let things between them get so bad again.
“Do youwanta family?” she asked.
It was a blunt question, and one she knew the answer to already. But if they were to move forward, then she was going to have to ask it once again.
“Not for your father,” she continued. “Not out of rage or some desire to punish a man who is no longer here. But forus.”
He said nothing, his fingers digging deeper into her back.
“Because if this is truly what you want,if this is your choice in its finality,then I am willing to compromise. I can live without children, Evan. But I cannot live withoutyou.”
His head snapped up, his eyes locking onto hers with surprise.
“You…” His voice faltered. “You would give that up for me?”
Isadora had thought long and hard about this.
“While I was trapped in that dreadful chamber, while I wondered if I would ever see you again… I did not think about children or what we might have one day,” she swallowed. “I only thought ofyou. I missed you, Evan. And what we havenow.”
Evan’s expression shattered. And then, he kissed her.
It was not urgent, but rather, it was slow, seemingly filled with all the things he had not been able to say. His fingers trailed over her cheeks.
“I thought about this, too,” he admitted in a raw voice. “About what you said, of me doing this only out of spite.”
Isadora searched his face, waiting. Her breath hitched.
Could this be…
No, she was not going to get her hopes up.
“And I…” He took a deep breath. “I do not know if I want children, but I promise you that I will think about it. Only for you.”
“It should not only be for me,” Isadora said immediately, “I want you to want this as well.”
“My dear…” He kissed the top of her head. “… that will take me far longer than you think. Some wounds do not heal so easily.”
“Then I shall wait,” she insisted. “I blamed you for being selfish before, but in a way, I was doing the same exact thing. I was imposing what I needed upon you without considering the baggage you carried.”
Evan only listened to her, his expression shifting to one of vulnerability.
“But if I love you, then I ought to be more understanding,” Isadora continued. “I should have understood this before.”
“My darling,” Evan took her hands in his. “You are more than I deserve.”
His words sounded so sincere that Isadora was rendered speechless for a moment.
“You are,” he repeated. “You have come into my life and turned everything I know upside down. Before you, I did not know how to fully trust people, for I thought that they always only act on their own interests. But you…”
“You’ve been the same for me.” Isadora smiled. It felt like her heart had swelled. “You have taught me to stand up for myself more and take up space when I was only used to shrinking myself.”
Evan brought a hand to cup the side of her face. “Perhaps it was fate all along that we both ended up in each other’s lives, darling.”
