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CHAPTERELEVEN
HADES
Carrying a small breakfast tray into the cramped bedroom of the cabin, I set it down with a flourish. Penny eyes me.
“Thanks.”
She obviously has more to say, but frowns at a piece of toast instead.
“You’ve been quiet today,” I tell her. “I expected that you would have started to give me a thousand different opinions about the baby and my mother.”
She arches a brow at me. “I could say the same about you. Besides, I’ve been asleep for most of the last day.”
I push the plate of toast and eggs an inch toward her. She smiles, brief and hard.
“Thank you for breakfast. But it’s been two days since I was at the clinic. I don’t think it’s necessary for you to keep bringing me food on a tray. Not when I am perfectly capable of getting up.” She hesitates. “And I do have a lot of feelings about meeting your mother. Not to mention you finally acknowledging our daughter.”
“That isn’t fair. I only had a day to absorb the fact that you showed up after four months, pregnant.”
She picks up the toast, jerking her chin to indicate the bed. “Please, Hades. Sit down. You’re making me anxious just standing there.”
Penny bites into the bit of toast delicately. I sit on the edge of the bed and look at her posture. She sits with a pillow jammed behind her back, which makes her pregnant belly even more pronounced. A turbulent wave of emotions come over me every time I think about the baby for too long.
Anger. Hope. And a distinct note of fear.
I try to clamp down on my emotions, see things reasonably. But it is very hard with Penny right here.
Persephone notices my glance and puts a protective hand on her stomach. “You haven’t even touched me since we came home from the clinic.”
“You’ve been sick.”
Her eyes narrow. “It’s funny. I thought that we had a breakthrough while we were at the clinic. You were touching my belly and acting… well, honestly, pretty shockingly emotional about her existence. But since then, you’ve been cagey.”
I blow out a breath. “Of course you feel that way. You want me to be weak. You are always poking holes in my armor. It seems like something you can’t help but do.”
She takes a bite of her toast, chewing and swallowing. “I’m interested in seeing how you feel about things. I’m interested in you being vulnerable with me.”
My gaze snaps to hers. “I’m supposed to be an impenetrable wall. I am trying desperately to be untouchable. And you keep looking at me with that pretty (blue) gaze of yours, inviting me to touch you, to feel all the things that I shouldn’t. How about I supposed to be close to you and not be… weak?”
Persephone pushes the tray away, moving closer to me. She takes my hand, placing my palm against her belly. My entire body stiffens.
“This is what I am talking about! It’s killing me to think about what will happen to you and our daughter in the near future. I can’t be an internationally known villain when I have… such obvious weaknesses.”
She purses her lips. “I agree with you. You can’t be an arms dealer and have me stashed away. There will come a point where you will have to choose.”
I scowl at her belly. “Exactly.”
She tilts her head. For a long moment, I have no idea what she could be thinking. But then she draws my hand over her breast, spreading my palm wide so that I can feel her heart beating.
I look at her, uncomfortable. Penny lifts her chin and stares me down.
“I am real. And I’m right here. Your baby is right here. We aren’t going to go away unless you decide to abandon us.”
My gaze hardens. “Ye think I would do that? After my mother left me, I turned out like such a bastard. The thought that I would do that to another child… worse, to my own child—"
“But you can’t have it both ways. You can either have the family you always wanted. Or you can make the same choice as your father likely did and drive out the woman you feel the need to protect.”
Sneering, I shake my head and shoot to my feet.
