Page 208 of Marrying the Savage

“What was that?”

I ignore him.

He presses my finger down on one key, then another. The sound is simple, not exactly music, but close enough that I can pretend. Then he guides another finger, and I follow because it’s easier than talking for three seconds.

I am pregnant.

The thought hits again, hitting somewhere deep this time because his hand is over mine. My throat tightens, and the note dies under my finger.

He looks at me. “Sofia.”

I pull my hand away. He lets me.

I stand because sitting next to him suddenly feels impossible. My body is too full of news. My chest is too tight. If I wait, I will lose my nerve.

“There’s something else,” I say.

He stands too, slowly. “Tell me.”

I look at his face. It’s controlled and unreadable. Beautiful in a way I still resent because no man this aggravating should also look like that.

“I’m pregnant.”

For a moment, nothing happens. Damir doesn’t speak. He doesn’t react either, just keeps looking at me. The silence stretches too long.

My hand goes to my stomach before I can stop it, and his gaze drops there. Something crosses his face. It isn’t anger, but not happiness either.

Shock, maybe. Fear. Something closed and hard that I don’t know how to read.

I wait. He says nothing.

“Damir?”

His eyes lift to mine. Whatever was there is gone now, locked behind that cold expression I hate.

He turns and walks out. Just like that. He leaves the music room, and the door stays open behind him. I stand beside the piano, one hand still on my stomach, and listen to his footsteps move down the hall.

Then farther.

Then gone.

I walk to the doorway. Damir is already at the end of the corridor.

He doesn’t look back.

For one second, I almost call his name. Then I remember Irina’s voice through the sitting room door.

You’ve known her what, a month?

What was she doing there?

Damir is not thinking clearly with her.

Maybe they’re right.

My vision blurs, and I blink hard until it clears because I refuse to cry or fall apart.

“It’s okay, baby,” I whisper.