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“Wait,” I said breathlessly. “We can’t do this here.”
“Sure, we can. Now, how do I take this off?”
When Axel was determined, there was no way to deter him, and I reached down, undoing the safety pin, and he flipped the material over my shoulder, leaving my cropped blouse exposed. He stared down at my bare stomach in fascination and cupped it protectively. “You’re going to be a beautiful mother.”
“Why, Axel Thomas…” I guessthank youwould’ve been appropriate, but I was still adjusting to the situation.
He walked us over to the bed. “And you’ll be my wife.” He kissed me as he pulled up my cropped blouse. “I’m glad I put a baby in you.” I opened my mouth to make a retort, but it died on my lips when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.
“Kanchu!” my mother screeched, with her hands over her mouth, standing by the door. Could this day be more dramatic? Kiran stood behind her, shrugging apologetically.
Axel set me on my feet, straightened my top, and I scrambled to adjust the material over my shoulder again. “Mom—”
“What? What is happening?” Her voice was shaky, and she glared at both of us. “I come in here to check on you, and I hear… and I see you…” She pressed her fingers to her forehead as if she couldn’t ever fathom this. “I can’t…”
My heart dropped at seeing Mom’s confusion and disappointment. I took a step toward her. “Mom, please let me explain.”
“What is there to explain? How could you do this? How could you? You’ve been sleeping with that boy, and now you are pregnant?Pregnant?” Her voice rose to incredible decibels when she was shocked or angry. “You were betrothed to Kiran, and you go behind our backs and do this?How could you?”
“Please, let me explain.”
She shook her head, repeating the word “Why” over and over.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen.” Tears burned the backs of my eyes because it hurt to disappoint my mother. “Axel and I fell for each other. It just happened.”
“You’ve been doing god knows what with him and all you can say is it just happened?”
“Mom, please listen.”
“I do not even know you anymore.”
“You do know me. I’m the same person. I’m your daughter.”
She looked pained and reached out and touched my cheek. “All I ever wanted was the best for you.”
“I know you do. I never wanted to disappoint you. Please know that, Mom.”
Axel came up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulder. “I love your daughter, Mrs. Pradhan. I promise I will always love, cherish, and support her in every way.”
“Why did you keep this from me?” she asked in an accusing voice pointing at my stomach.
“I didn’t know. I just found out. I swear. I promise I would’ve told you.”
She peered up at Axel with skepticism before sighing. “How will you manage to support her? How do I know you’re not some deadbeat guy trying to take advantage of her?” This was the kicker. Remember when I said my mother was clueless about professional sports? Shereallywas clueless about professional sports, and the salaries athletes made.
If you weren’t a doctor, engineer, or the CEO of a company, then you weren’t going to impress her. Not that I needed a man to support me, but Axel could easily take care of me financially if she’d just listen.
“He has the means to support her,” Kiran said with a slight tilt to his lips. For the first time in a while, I saw a teasing glint in his eyes that had been missing.
“How do you know?” Mom turned her attention to him. She studied Kiran for a second before adding, “How can you stand here and allow this?”
He eyed me with admiration before turning to my mom. “Because we don’t love each other. We only agreed to this to please our families. Because you pressured us.” He spread his hands out wide. “Natalie and I will always be close, but she is clearly in love with someone else… and I am, too.”
My mother furrowed her brows. “Why weren’t you two honest with us to begin with?”
“Because I didn’t want to disappoint you, Mom. I knew you were still dealing with Father’s death, and I wanted to please you. Make you happy. Kiran and I were trying to be respectful of you and Rajina’s wishes.”
“You could’ve told me. You’ve always shared everything with me.” She had a sad smile on her face, and a lone tear leaked down the corner of her eye. “You’ve never kept secrets from me.”
