Page 82 of His Secret Wish

“Let me guess, they couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

“No, so they had to do a hysterectomy. Which means there’s no chance of a baby now.”

“Oh, Izzy, I’m so sorry.” There was a note of sadness in his voice that made her tear ducts burn.

“Yeah, me, too.”

“And you never told Owen about this?”

“No. By the time he got to the hospital, I was already out of surgery and in recovery.” She sniffed, her nose running. “I wanted to tell him, I swear. And I tried, so many times. But the words never came, or the moment wasn’t right.”

“And?”

It was annoying the way her brother could read her so easily. “And I was ashamed. I couldn’t give him the one thing he wanted the most in the world, and I was scared that if he found out, he would leave me.”

It was the first time she’d voiced her biggest fear out loud. And while it didn’t exactly make her feel better, it shifted something inside her. Lifted a weight off her soul.

She laughed, although it sounded hollow even to her own years. “And it happened anyway.”

Antonio pulled into a service station and up to the pumps, and then cut the engine. “Look at me, please.”

She turned toward him, meeting his gaze. Sympathy and anger and annoyance stared back at her.

“I... I mean... you...” He blew out a breath. “This is probably going to sound harsh, and I don’t mean it to be, but I feel like I have to be honest with you. Are you ready to hear what I have to say?”

Her stomach did a couple of flips, trying to get away from all this honesty. She braced herself and nodded.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Hey.”

He held up his hand, palm facing her. “Just let me finish.”

She glared at him, but kept her mouth closed.

“I won’t pretend I understand what you and Owen went through with your pregnancies. That shit is rough, and I completely understand why you would freak out after so many tries.”

Her throat burned, and she wanted to snap at him, tell him that, no he didn’t understand how painful and heartbreaking it was, could never understand unless it happened to him and Camilla, and that he should mind his own business.

But she was the one who’d asked for his opinion, in a roundabout way, so it wasn’t fair to not hear him out.

“But you’ve got to be honest with him, Iz. I know things between you guys are in a bad place right now, and if I’m being honest, I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to make it work. There’s so much baggage the two of you are lugging around, I’m surprised either of you can stand up straight. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve the truth.”

She shook her head. “It’s too late.”

“That may be the case. But I know if I was Owen, I would want to know the reason. It might not make things better, could even make things worse, but I wouldn’t feel like I’d missed something, regretted that I wasn’t able to fix something when I didn’t know even know what was actually broken.”

She stared at him, let his words sink in. Although she didn’t want to admit it, he was right. If the tables were turned, she would absolutely want Owen to tell her everything. “Do you really think so?”

He nodded. “I do. And while I can’t promise it will change anything, I know you’ll both feel better once everything is out in the open.”

Shwe stared at her brother, one side of her mouth ticking up. “When did you get so wise?”

He tossed her a cheeky look and popped his seatbelt. “I’ve always been wise. You were just too dense to see it.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He laughed and jumped out of the SUV. “I’m going to fill up the tank. How about you run inside and grab us some snacks? All this honesty stuff has given me low blood sugar.”