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‘I was going to give you this...’ He was about to saywhen the baby was here, or perhaps lie and say he had been going to give her this last night, but the truth was he didn’t know when the time was right to admit to love. ‘I’ve been carrying it around for some time.’
She opened the pouch and into her palm slid a huge red-gold egg.
‘I had Khalid source it.’
Merida swallowed.
‘It took a while—amber is rare in Al-Zahan.’
It was magnificent. There were wide streaks of gold and a dragonfly, deep within.
‘It’s the colour of your hair,’ Ethan said. ‘One of my favourite things.’
Their amulet.
‘I knew we didn’t need help with the fertility part, but...’ And then he hesitated, because maybe they didn’t need help with the other thing either. ‘I know that I love you.’
‘Please don’t just say that.’
‘I’m not.’ Ethan shook his head. ‘In fact, I didn’twantto love you.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because then you’d leave.’ He finally admitted the truth. The gnawing of fear he’d grown up with. ‘But I’ve loved you for a very long time.’
‘When?’ Merida asked. ‘When did you know that you did?’
‘The morning I first left you in the coffee shop.’
She looked at him. There was anger sweeping over her, for all the pain they’d been through, and yet it was doused by the utter relief that truth brought.
‘And I knew again on that opening night, when the curtains parted on the stage and you weren’t there.’
‘So why couldn’t you tell me?’
‘It was easier to pretend to myself you were a gold-digger. And you did a pretty convincing act for a while.’ He met her eyes. ‘I’m putting you back to work as soon as the baby’s old enough, Ms Merida Cartwright! You’re an actress indeed.’
‘Do you blame me for pretending to hate you?’
‘No.’
‘You spoke over and over about when we were through.’
‘Because I believed that we would be.’
He’d simply believed that one day he’d wake up and she’d be gone. Like his mother. Like Meghan.
‘I’m like my father,’ Ethan said. ‘And it used to terrify me, but now I could not be prouder of him. I know why he broke up with Chantelle—because I’m the same. I didn’t want to give you the hard times that I knew were about to come.’
‘But Iwantto be here,’ Merida said. ‘I want to be with your dad. I wantallof you, Ethan.’
The whole thing. The good and the bad and the precious bits in between, when the world just bumped along with love at their side.
* * *
She held on to their amulet as she was examined and told that it was time to push. She was ready—more than ready—for their baby to be here.
It was intense work, but Ethan brought energy to her, and although she could have done it alone, Merida didn’t have to.
