“Isabelle…” I want to snap at her not to cry before taking away her pain with my lips. Instead, I comfort her as her equal should. “You should have told him. He would have been honored to call you his daughter as I am to call Callie mine.” I dance my eyes between hers, which are staring up at me in admiration. “Why do you think Tobias never had children?”
My question was rhetorical, but Isabelle doesn’t take it that way. “Because he was always undercover?”
“No, Isabelle.” Her nose screws up when my denial comes out with a husky laugh. “It’s because he had you. You were more than he could have ever wanted.”
My comment has her choking back a sob, but it also eases the pain in her eyes. “If that’s true, why are you looking at having your procedure reversed?”
“Because I want to give you the world. I can’t do that if I don’t fulfill your every wish.” I didn’t need time to deliberate on my response as it was nothing but honest. I truly do want to give her the world.
Isabelle slides up my body, so we meet eye to eye. The bath oils slicking her skin aid in her slippery incline. “But you have, Isaac. You’ve given me more than I could have ever imagined.”
“Except a family.”
It killed me when she said I had stolen her dreams. Everything I have, I want to share with her, so discovering I might not have the ability to do that utterly destroys me. For years, I’ve lived a selfish life. I put myself above everything and everyone and didn’t care who got hurt in the process.
I’ve grown and matured since then.
Before my charity fight with the Constrictor, I said I was too selfish to give Isabelle up, and I’d show her how she could have both me and her dreams. Only now do I realize how erroneous that was for me to say. If you truly love someone, they should come before anything—even you. That’s why I had Regan draw up the prenup as I did. If my reversal fails, I’ll give up Isabelle, so she can have the family she so desperately craves. That’s how much I love her.
My eyes lower to Isabelle when she says, “I have a family, Isaac.Weare a family… you, Callie, and me. You just said so yourself. You’re her daddy, her protector. You are her family.” A fiery glare sparks through her beautiful chocolate eyes. “But she can’t have you without me. We come as a unit. We’reonepiece. It may take Callie a little bit of time to adjust, but I’m sure she’ll eventually come around. She’s very clever. She’s already realized blood doesn’t make someone family, but love and support does. And knowingwewill be there to hold her hand through any tragedy makes her ours.”
Isabelle cups my cheeks, pretending her hands aren’t shaking. “When I first saw you with Jasper, I wanted nothing in the world than to replicate the joy your eyes held when he cooed at you. Little did I know, you had already taken the steps needed to make my wish come true. Your eyes are holding the same elation now, Isaac. It wasn’t caused by a newborn baby, it came from your daughter,ourdaughter.”
“You don’t want children of your own?” Her speech was as beautiful as her face, but I need to ensure I’m hearing her message right. Time is critical for us, meaning we don’t have years to decide as other couples do. The longer I delay my reversal, the lower the odds are of it being successful.
After dragging her teeth over her bottom lip, Isabelle says, “And risk more competition? No thanks.”
Her eye roll stops halfway when I snap, “This isn’t a game, Isabelle. I need you to answer me truthfully.”
In an instant, a frank mask slips over her face. I hate snapping at her as if she is a member of my staff, but I’d rather be blunt than have her disappointed down the road.
After a few seconds of silent deliberations, Isabelle asks, “Would you love Callie more if she had your blood?”
“No,” I answer without pause for thought. “I love her as your uncle loved you… with everything I have.”
Her smile takes my breath away. “Then why do our children need to have our blood? Why can’t they just have our unconditional love?”
I didn’t think it was possible to love and admire the faultlessly beautiful woman in front of me more than I already do, but she just made a quick liar out of me. Her uncle should be proud because even with the odds against him, he raised a remarkable woman—one I plan to spoil for the rest of my life after I take her in the tub.
13
Isabelle
Love knows no boundaries…
not even age.
“Oh, no. Looks like someone has competition.”
Isaac’s narrowed eyes drift to me. His jaw is ticking, and although his hands are shoved into the pockets of his trousers, I know they’re balled. When I attempted to stifle the tension hanging thickly in the air during our conversation in the tub two nights ago by joking I didn’t want children as I don’t want more competition, I was referencing me, not Isaac.
It appears as if Callie didn’t get the memo. Much to Isaac’s disgrace, she’s smitten on a little brown-haired boy with ringlets of curls and eyes as blue as his daddy’s. Not even Isaac’s offer for Callie to sit with us at the ‘big people’s table’ sees her taking her eyes off her new BFF.
I drag Isaac to the seats Mrs. Marshall assigned to us. “Let them be. Callie could have picked worse than Hugo’s son.”
Isaac grumbles something under his breath as the redness on his face doubles. I’m not surprised. I’ve always said no man will stand a chance in hell of dating Isaac Holt’s daughter. I should probably change that comment to include cute little almost five-year-olds who have no clue about the controversy he’s causing.
A normal person would construe Joel and Callie’s instant connection as cute and adorable. A man like Isaac will scrutinize every sideways glance they share as if they’re the answer to world hunger. Such as, is Callie smitten with Joel because all women with Popov blood have a fascination with Marshall men? It’s far-fetched, but believe me when I say Isaac has considered that theory multiple times since Hugo and Ava’s wedding last night.
