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“How about this for truth?” Her voice was lethally quiet. “You want a family. Well, that will never happen with me.”
Something inside me stilled. I hadn’t seen that coming, but if she just trusted me, we could make her dreams come true. Even the ones she believed impossible. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
“What?” She stared at me like I’d sprouted another head.
“What I mean is, there’s more than one way of doing something. Ever think about adoption?” I reached for her, but she batted me away.
“No.”
“It would be okay with me.”
“You’d be okay with not having your own children?” she challenged.
“I’m not gonna sit here and tell you I wouldn’t like to. But just because I don’t share DNA with a kid doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be mine or I’d love them any less.” I leaned against the counter. “If you wanted, we could do in vitro fertilization. I’m up for whatever makes you happy.”
She white-knuckled the barstool. “You can’t talk like this.”
“Because you see the same possibilities I do?”
Unrestrained fury exploded into a scream. “I can’t have children!”
The silence that followed her scream was deafening. Tears pooled in her dark eyes, begging me to take away her pain. In a rush, she disappeared. A door slammed, and I flinched.
The one thing she wanted most, she couldn’t have. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
I hurried after her and hesitated with my hand lifted at her door. No noise came from the room. Did she need me to be with her or to let her be? Because God knew, I needed her more than anything.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Muriella
I sat huddledon my bed in the same spot all night. The sun peeked through the windows at dawn until it bathed the room. If I didn’t move soon, I’d be late for school, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. In all the years of being a teacher’s aide, I’d never missed a day without adequate notice. But the fight with Stone had nearly crushed me. I’d warned him when things got difficult, he wouldn’t want to deal with them. That’s exactly what had happened.
We’d spent the night apart. I’d been too afraid of nightmares and too upset to sleep. He’d left me alone, and I was confused by how much that bothered me. I was the one who’d shut my door. He was so vigilant about letting me control the pace. I’d sent the ‘do not enter’ signal. He’d simply abided by it. For once, I wished he hadn’t.
I unfolded myself and slid from the bed, the children motivation enough to get me moving. If I hurried, I wouldn’t be late.
When I opened my door, Stone was sitting outside of it with his knees up and his arms resting on them. Tired eyes met mine.
“Have you been out here all night?”
“I tried to go to bed but couldn’t sleep.” He roughed a hand through his messy hair. “Wasn’t sure if you wanted me in or out. Figured I’d done enough damage for one night, so I ended up here.”
“I didn’t sleep either,” I confessed, sliding down the wall to join him on the floor.
“I’m sorry I took out my frustration about the ranch on you.”
“We’re both tense. I’m not handling myself well.”
“If I’d known, I never would have brought up anything about kids.” His voice was nothing short of pure anguish.
I placed a hand on his arm. “In the heat of the moment, it came out wrong. Physically, I can bear children, at least I think I can.” I tapped my temple. “Up here, I have too much going on. I won’t bring an innocent child into that.”
He dropped his chin to his chest. “I thought—I thought the worst. That someone had done that to you.” His eyes glistened when he looked at me. “Guess it doesn’t matter the reason if either way you can’t have them.”
I hadn’t considered that, really tried not to think of the reasons at all. “I understand if this changes things between us.”
“After everything, you honestly believe I’d walk? I thought I’d made it clear.” His jaw tightened. “I’m here for you. Only you.”
