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“I realize that now.” She lets out a heavy sigh.
“Why?”
“Because I wish I hadn’t found out what I did. I know it makes me sound so damn selfish and awful—”
“You’re not.” My hold on her tightens.
“You don’t know enough to make that call.”
“I knowyou, which is all that matters.”
Her eyes swim with unshed tears.
“What did you find out?” I push.
“I shouldn’t have a child with Oliver—or anyone else, for that matter.”
“Because of some genetic test?”
Her face twists in agony as she nods. “I’m not…compatible… with anybody. I carry recessive genes that shouldn’t be passed down unless I want my child to suffer.”
Fuck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dahlia
I’m not sure how long Julian holds me while I process everything, but I’m grateful for his company.
Slowly, the grief I felt before fades until I’m left with something I didn’t expect.
Relief.
It feels good to talk to someone about everything, even if that someone is Julian. And maybe—just maybe—it was meant to be that way.
He isn’t overly emotional and anxious like my mother, who would probably break down crying with me, and he isn’t like Lily, who would go into graphic detail about the ways she plans on murdering Oliver. Neither one of them would truly understand me and what I need.
I don’t want crying or revenge. I wantthis.
At some point, Julian carries me to one of the booths in theback of the bar. After spending the last twenty minutes using his shirt as a tissue and his chest as my personal punching bag over the subject, I’m emotionally and physically spent.
Julian brushes my hair out of my face. “Aren’t those tests a bunch of probabilities? There’s no way they can be one hundred percent accurate.”
“Yes, but the risk...I can’t consciously bring a child into this world who might spend most of their short life in agony.” My voice sounds so small and uncertain.
“I understand.”
We stay quiet for a few minutes until Julian breaks the silence.
“Oliver and his family are obviously still stuck in the 1700s, but you know there are plenty of ways to have a child.”
My shoulders slump. “I know.”
Oliver said the same thing countless times, but his story eventually changed once the terms of his inheritance became clear. He stopped making an effort while gaslighting me into believing I was the problem.
Everything about our relationship imploded, along with my mental health.
“Then, what’s the matter?” Julian asks.
