He nods, “We can start tomorrow.”
“Wait, tomorrow?”
“Sure, why not?” He places his hand on the small of my back and guides me out of the elevator and toward the kitchen.
“Do you not have anything else to do?” I slide onto one of the stools at the kitchen island, watching Bast who has practically moved into my place over the past few weeks as he walks to the fridge.
He gets us a couple of bottles of water before he starts pulling out ingredients to make some food.
“Nothing that should come before you, no,” He answers honestly, keeping his back to me.
“But we can do it another time, it was just a suggestion,” I spin the bottle on the counter, watching him work as he cuts some vegetables and gets a bowl of water boiling.
“You want to go, we can go,” He says, “No questions.”
I melt a little, “Okay,” I whisper.
“Okay,” He grins at me over his shoulder and continues to cook food, not even realizing what it means to me for him to put me and our baby first like that.
If I wasn’t already in love with him, I would have fallen all over again.
Chapter Thirty-eight
My hand brushes across the cribs as we walk through the store, so many to pick and choose from, I don’t even know where to start. We’ve picked out the room for the nursery back at the penthouse, the room directly across from our bedroom and I’m dying to fill it.
Becoming a mother is terrifying, daunting, and exhilarating all at once. I’m so scared that I can feel the fear in my bones but above all that is the overwhelming urge to protect and nurture. And it’s this, that I tell myself when I wake in the middle of the night to my mother’s voice telling me how much I’m going to fail.
She never felt the need to protect or nurture me, Idon’t even think she loved me, and I know that’s where we are different.
Telling Sebastian my history has been freeing in some way, like a weight has been lifted and I don’t have to pretend anymore. He knows and he understands and often he sits awake with me after I’ve had those nightmares and reminds me how much I am not like her.
She may not have scarred me physically, but emotionally, deep in my soul those scars lie. But she hasn’t and will not win.
Beside me, Sebastian’s phone rings. I glance at him as he pulls it out and note Malakai’s name on the screen, but he tucks it away and doesn’t answer.
“Bast,” I stop, “I appreciate you being here, and wanting to do this, but life doesn’t stop, certainly not yours, take the call.”
“But–”
“I’m still going to be here, looking, go take the call. It’s fine.”
“I’ll be right back,” He promises.
“Take your time,” I smile, “I promise it’s okay.”
He gives me a quick kiss before he walks to the exit, leaving me in the store to search for the perfect furniture for the nursery.
Five minutes pass before I feel someone step up tome, and I turn, thinking it’s Sebastian but my heart sinks when I realize it is not.
My fingers curl around the railing of the crib I stopped at, the one I thought would be perfect, it’s white and modern with these sweet engravings up the sides but I forget about that when I take in the face before me.
“Willow,” Georgia Barton says in that sickly sweet tone I’ve always hated to hear. She used to be my mother’s best friend, but it’s been years since I saw her last and there’s a reason for that. She is just as cruel, just as cold as my mother and the years since her death hasn’t changed that fact. I can see it in the way she’s looking at me, the icy disdain sending a chill across my skin. Her lip curls and her perfectly groomed brow quirks, her judgement of me written all over her face.
Her eyes drop to the hand on the railing, notedly my ring finger before they flick to the swell of my stomach.
“No ring?” Her tone remains sweet for anyone else listening in, but I know this woman. I know how she speaks and this right here, this is condescending and filled to the brim with animosity.
It is honestly a wonder how I got through those years with my mother and her group of witches. It makes me realize that I am far stronger than I have ever given myself credit for and if I survivedthem, I can survive whatever the future holds. I managed to keep my humanity, even when the constant beatings triedto take it from me.
