Dark love

with the weig

g a porcelain teacup she hadn't sipped from. The terrace doors were open, letting i

ack in a knot that somehow made her look more regal than casual. But the ai

door-measured

need to ask

in," s

ened. Every part of him looked carved and controlled. As if fatherhood-or marriage-

e you f

all my organs with a ham

hours and read fifteen pages of a parenti

ch o

toic F

ghed-short and d

coffee from the silver French press. He didn't ask if

s going?" she asked,

d. I'll have to fly next month. I

me a schedule,"

tone firmer. "We're n

arp as glass. "We're

kind of silence that could be mi

k I don't want this child. That

dn't a

re wr

lution," she sai

I grew up with legacy. Discipline. Str

se your childhood as a shield. So did I.

"You think I'm inca

think you're afraid of wha

ke a punch-qui

close to vulnerability. For a moment, neither of them spoke. The win

low: "You terr

inked.

I am. And I don't know if that makes

e felt flatter

omething entirely m

if ending the convers

. "Doctor's appointmen

no

be t

hut softly

hed kitchen, no longer holdi

y wound for so long-had beg

bend

s the beginning of healing-or the