Then his expression softens.
“I don’t care what people say,” he continues. “Or how far the rumours have gone, Nina. I know who you are. What matters to me is this—us. The three of us.”
His hand moves slowly over my belly, and I close my eyes, letting the promise sink in.
I want to ask him how his mother already knows about the pregnancy. We agreed we’d tell both families together. Lysandra shouldn’t know.
But to ask that, I’d have to admit I saw her—and I’m not ready for that conversation. Not yet.
“Did you manage to book the appointment?” he asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
I raise my brows and shake my head.
“No. No one has availability. I’m starting to think we may need to do prenatal care in Athens.”
He frowns. I don’t like the idea either, but suddenly it’s as if all nine hospitals and three medical centres on the island are fully booked.
Not that we ever had many options here. Still, I’ve never had a problem like this before.
“We can bring a doctor to the island,” Nero suggests casually.
I burst into laughter.
“We absolutely cannot.”
“Yes, we can. And that’s what we’ll do if we can’t find a local doctor,” he says firmly.
I want to argue that it’s ridiculous, but the truth is this exaggerated care is exactly what I needed after today.
I rub my nose against his, gently caressing his face.
“Thank you.”
He smiles.
“I have one more item on tonight’s agenda.”
“Tonight has an agenda?”
“It does. We need to choose our wedding date.”
“The date?” I blink, caught off guard.
Of course I knew we’d need to choose one—I just didn’t expect Nero to want to do it so soon.
For the thousandth time since this afternoon, Lysandra’s words echo in my head:That’s what we’ll see.
I’m not superstitious, but the chill those words sent through me is hard to ignore.
“Yes, Miss Nina. You can’t stall me forever.”
“Stall you? You haven’t even given me a ring yet!” I accuse, raising my right hand, where the elastic band Nero tied around my finger days ago still sits.
“I’m glad you said that,” he says, a smug smile overtaking his face.
He reaches into his pocket, and my eyes widen as a small black velvet box appears.
“Nero—”
