“And we see where it goes.”
“Yes.” Her hands slide slightly up my chest, fingers curling briefly in the lapel of my jacket. “We take this slow.”
“Slow,” I echo. I kiss her once more, slower this time.
And for the first time since she said the wordfatherin that hallway, the future doesn’t feel like a collision. It feels like a direction.
When the kiss ends, she doesn’t step away immediately. Her hands remain lightly against my chest, fingers curled in the fabric of my jacket like she’s anchoring herself. The suite is quiet again except for the distant pulse of music and the faint hum of lights overhead.
But I can feel something shifting in her. It’s subtle. Her shoulders tighten slightly. Her jaw firms. The relief from moments ago hasn’t erased the weight of what came before. “I know I hurt you.”
“You did,” I answer.
The truth lands without cruelty. It doesn’t need to be softened.
She nods once, accepting it. “I should have told you. I should have trusted you.”
“Yes.”
Her throat works as she swallows. “I thought I was protecting myself. Maybe protecting you. I don’t know.”
“You weren’t protecting me,” I say quietly. “You were protecting yourself.”
She doesn’t argue. “I was terrified. Terrified you’d see the twins as a burden instead of…”
“Instead of mine,” I finish.
Her eyes flicker. “Yes.”
I study her carefully. “You didn’t give me the chance to make that choice.”
“I know.” The repetition isn’t defensive now. It’s remorseful.
I take a breath and let the edge drain from my voice. “I’ll get over it.”
Her head snaps up slightly. “How can you know that?”
“Because I know myself. Yes, there’s part of me that’s still mad about it, but it’s only been an hour or so. I’ll need time to get over it, and when I do, that’ll be that. And it won’t get better if you’re not in my life. You and our sons.”
The words surprise her, and if I’m honest, they surprise me too. But I know it’s true as soon as I say it.
“I don’t know how long it will take,” I continue. “And I don’t know what it will look like. But I’m not walking away just because you were scared. And of course you were scared. On the scale of this, I just found out that I’m a father again. You, on the other hand, have been facing every part of this on your own. If I had been in your shoes, I would have been scared too.”
Her eyes fill again, but this time she doesn’t look like she’s about to flee. “Why are you being so nice about this?”
“Because you’re human, and because I’ve made my own mistakes. We screw up, we learn, we grow. I want to move forward with you.”
She studies my face as if checking for sarcasm. “You won’t hate me forever?”
“That sounds exhausting.”
She giggles. “Yeah, it does.” Her pretty face straightens. “Part of me worried that if I told you and you forgave me, you’d resent what I did for the rest of our lives. I didn’t know if I could live with that.”
“I don’t need perfection from you, Perry. I need honesty.”
She nods quickly. “You’ll have it.”
“I need it even if we fight. Even if we don’t work out as a couple. Especially then.”
