A laugh broke out of Nina before she could stop it. Jasper shot her a sharp look—first razor-edged, then weakening into something else entirely. Confusion. Vulnerability.
“What’s funny?” he demanded, still shaken.“We’re talking about serious things here. I haven’t even wrapped my head around the fact that my best friend’s sleeping with my daughter, and now this—” he jabbed a finger in Lynn’s direction. He looked furious, but Nina knew he’d cool down fast. His love for Lynn always outweighed his temper.
“Sorry, it’s just…” Nina managed between breaths,“I wasjust recently thinking about having another child... and I guess instead of that, I’m going to end up with a grandchild.”
Lynn snorted; Jasper’s lips twitched. The tension thinned, just a little.
“I knew you wouldn’t let Dad tear me apart,” Lynn said. Nina looked at her—really looked. And she saw how fragile the girl was beneath her bravado. The girl who never had a mother’s love was about to become a motherherself. So young and yet already so strong.
The realization burned through Nina so sharply her eyes filled with tears. She tried to blink them away but failed.
“Sorry…” she whispered, brushing her cheeks.
Lynn looked at her. Nina looked back. And suddenly Lynn sniffed, and in the next heartbeat they both burst into tears—loud, messy, unstoppable.
Nina stepped forward, but Lynn was already moving fast, impulsive and wrapped her arms around her.
The ground seemed to vanish under Nina’s feet. Her arms closed around Lynn on their own, trembling.
She buried her face in Lynn’s hair, breathing her in—the scent of her daughter. Grown. Unknown. And somehow still hers.
Lynn held her tightly. As if trying to make up for all the years they had lost.
Nina couldn’t remember the last time she had cried like that—openly, helplessly, without shame.
“What’s going on with you two…?” Jasper murmured helplessly.
Lynn laughed through her tears, stepped back a little but kept Nina’s hand in hers.
“It’s fine, Dad,” she said, wiping her cheeks.“It’s just hormones. You’ll have to get used to them.”
“For starters,” Jasper said,“I want to see the father of this child and hear his plans. I’ll book us a table somewhere; you call him. And you’re too pale, Lynn. How do you feel? You shouldn’t have pushed yourself today.”
Lynn snorted.
“Don’t you dare start lecturing me about prenatal vitamins. Reminder: your specialty is cardiothoracic surgery, not OB-GYN.”
All three of them laughed. Exhausted. Bruised. A little broken. But together.
Later, at the restaurant, they sat around a large table, though the atmosphere felt more like a funeral.
On one side—Nina and Jasper. On the other—Lynn and Nolan. The silence pressed like weight on their shoulders.
Nina glanced at Jasper from the corner of her eye. He sat perfectly still, carved out of stone. Lips tight. Hands clenched under the table. His icy stare locked onto Nolan. Had Jasper possessed the power to incinerate someone with a thought, Nolan would’ve turned to ash on the spot.
Lynn shifted nervously in her seat. But whenever Nolan touched her hand, something soft flickered across her face—warmth, fragility. Tenderness mixed with embarrassment.
Lynn kept sighing, she couldn’t force a single bite down. She was here in name only; no one intended to actually ask for her opinion.
Nolan cleared his throat suddenly, trying to break the tension.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect my mother- and father-in-law to be barely older than me…”
He laughed. Lynn squeezed his hand under the table in a clear warning.
The joke landed with the grace of a brick.
Jasper slowly turned his head. His face stayed motionless, carved from stone but his eyes…
