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Kissed her and kissed her, and at first she fought him and then, oh then, she sobbed his name and leaned into him, wound her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love in her heart.
“Glyka mou,” he said, his voice shaky, “where were you going?”
“Away. From here. From you. From all the lies—”
He caught her face in his hands, kissed her again and again.
“I love you,” he said, “and you love me. Those are not lies.”
“How can you love me now that you know—”
“Don’t you remember what I said this afternoon? That you would tell me your last secret and I would tell you I loved you? That I would love you forever?”
“But the baby—”
“Our baby,” he said, a smile lighting his face. “Truly our baby, sweetheart, neh?”
“Yes. Oh, yes. Our baby, Damian. It’s always been ours.”
“You did it out of love for Kay.”
She nodded. “Yes. No. I thought I did it for her—but I did it for me, too. I was sure I would never marry. Never have sex. Never have children. And I thought, if I do this, if I have this baby, I’ll be its aunt. And its mother. In my heart, I’ll always be its mother, even if the baby never knows.”
“Sweetheart. You’re trembling.” Damian stripped off his jacket and wrapped her in it. “Come back to the palace.”
“No. Not until I’ve told you everything.” Ivy took a d
eep breath. “So—so I let Kay—I let her do the procedure. And it took. I missed my very next period—” Her voice broke. “And that was when I knew I’d made a terrible mistake, that I would never be able to give away the baby.” Her hand went to her belly. “My baby.”
“And mine,” Damian said softly.
Ivy nodded. “My baby, and yours. I called Kay. I told her. I said she had to tell you the truth. She said it was too late, that we’d made a bargain. I said I would never give up the baby. And then—and then—”
“And then,” he said gently, “you thought she’d died.”
“Yes.”
“So, you waited for me to contact you because you thought I knew all about the baby.”
“Not all. I mean, I thought you knew I was carrying your baby but Kay had made it clear she didn’t want you to know it was my egg, not hers, that had been fertilized.”
“But I didn’t contact you.”
“No. I assumed it was because you were devastated, losing Kay. That you’d adored her, just the way she’d said you did. And I thought—I thought I owed it to you to let you know the baby was fine, that you were going to be a father, and—and—”
“And?” he said softly.
Ivy shuddered. “And, I hadn’t figured out the rest. How to tell you I was the baby’s real mother. When to tell you. And then you said you didn’t know anything about a baby, that I was up to some kind of awful scam, and I didn’t know what to do—”
“Come here,” Damian said gruffly, and he gathered her into his arms and kissed her. “Ivy,” he whispered, when finally he raised his head, “glyka mou, I am so sorry.”
“For what?”
“For all you’ve been through. I love you, agapimeni. I love you with all my heart, and I promise to spend the rest of my life making sure you know it. Will you let me?”
Ivy laughed. Or maybe she wept. She couldn’t tell anymore because her joy was so complete.
“Only if you let me do the same thing for you,” she said, and kissed him.
