He stared down at her belly in shock and then back up to her face, as if what she was telling him simply didn’t compute.
“I don’t show unless I wear confining clothing. Hence the baggy attire I chose for this trip. Not even the others know. Only my parents and siblings. I had lost so much weight and was so starved that when I got back home, I was literally skin and bones, so the weight I’ve gained with the pregnancy has merely made it appear as though I regained what I’d lost before.”
“Show me,” he said, his voice cracking. “Let me see our child. Please.”
She bunched the hem of her oversized shirt and slowly pulled it upward. Both his hands ever so gently pressed against the mound, his fingers trembling against her skin.
“Are you all right?” he asked anxiously. “You were so hurt and as you said starved. It can’t be healthy for you to be having a baby.”
She smiled, wanting to reassure him. “My OB has me on a strict vitamin regimen as well as an eating schedule that my mother enforces like an army general.”
“Are you happy about it?” he asked, vulnerability creeping into his eyes.
She let him see the full force of her joy as she smiled back. “Oh yes,” she breathed. “The question is, are you?”
“Happy?” he asked hoarsely. “I don’t think happy can aptly describe my utter amazement right now. Oh God, Honor, I don’t deserve you or our child. Do you even know how many enemies I have? Do you understand the danger you’re putting yourself and our child in by wanting a life with me?”
His hands shook even harder, and she laid her palms softly over where his were branded to the swell of her belly.
“God didn’t forget me,” he said in awe, tears glittering brightly in his eyes as they lifted to hers. “I’m not damned. No man without a soul, a man damned for an eternity, could possibly be given two such precious gifts.”
Her heart ached for the pain Guy had suffered for so long. For how so very long he’d been truly alone in the world with no anchor to hold him.
“No, my darling,” she said tenderly. “Indeed you are very blessed. We both are. You’ve now been given a third chance. Tell me. Are you going to take it?”
“Yes,” he said fiercely. “Hell yes.”
He fused his mouth to hers in a hot rush. He was rough, nearly animalistic, his hands roaming possessively up and down her body but instantly gentling when they glided over where their child was nestled in her mother’s womb. He drew away, gasping sharply, his eyes glittering like a predator’s.
“You’ve sealed your fate giving yourself to me twice,” he said gruffly. “I let you go once. I’ll never do it again. So be sure, Honor. Be very sure this is what you want and I’m who you want. Because once you commit to me it’s going to be for goddamn ever.”
“Well thank you, God,” she said, feigning huge relief. “I mean, what does a girl have to do these days?”
“Tell me she loves me,” he said, his voice cracking. Her heart nearly broke as insecurity flashed in his eyes. And fear.
“I love you,” she whispered. “So much. I’ll never love someone as much as I love you.”
“Thank God,” he breathed, crushing her to him, hanging on to her for dear life. Tears burned his eyes and he didn’t care. He’d found redemption when he despaired of ever seeing the sun again.
“You’re a miracle,” he said hoarsely. “My sunshine, Honor.”
“Glad you finally recognize that,” she said with a grin.
EPILOGUE