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Her voice cracked this time and she looked away.
“The first surgery, the doctor was able to save my uterus. But the second time ... ” The hand on her belly flexed, then curved back in, as if to stroke away wounds long healed. The deeper wounds, though, they still lingered. No babies of her own, no children of her own womb ... no chance for a child that was the echo of their own love. Not ever. “The second time, it was too much. It was either a partial hysterectomy, or she risked losing me on the table. She made the call.”
“It was the right one,” he whispered. “Nothing is worth your life.”
Tears burned her eyes and she turned her face to his, kissed him. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?” He clasped her cheeks in his palms, stared at her with a gaze that seared her all the way. “You were brutalized, isolated, battered, and had to have surgery after that bastard knocked you down a flight of stairs.Whyare you apologizing?”
“We ... ” Her voice cracked. “If we stay together, Travis, we ... I can’t give you children.”
“You think that matters more than you?” His face was anguished. “Isabel, you areeverythingto me. My world has been empty without you ... and now that you are here ... that’s all I need.AllI need.”
He kissed her with breath-stealing intensity but even as she went to respond, he was pulling away. His lips still touched hers, though, as he murmured, “And this may escape your notice, but you’ve got quite a few kids in this house whoadoreyou. You don’thaveto give birth to children to be a parent, baby. If you want children, we can have them. As many as you want. Butyouare what I need.”
Chapter 20
She had nightmaressometimes.
Brooklyn didn’t think it was a baby thing to have nightmares.
As Aaron would say, she’d been through some tough shit. And as far as Brooklyn was concerned, Aaron kneweverything. He’d told her thathehad nightmares. So if he had nightmares at almostfifteen, why couldn’t she still have them at almost six?
She didn’t like waking people up when she had a bad dream.
Before, back when she hadn’t been with Bella, she’d just stay in her room and if she had batteries in her flashlight, she’d read. She didn’t leave the room she shared with Mariah, because sometimes there were men in the house with her mama and there were a few who made her belly turn to knots. She knew what those knots meant even if she couldn’t fully explain it. Fear was something she was too familiar with and she listened when something said she should be afraid.
But she’d learned there was nothing in Ms. Bella’s house to be afraid of. It had taken a little while, but Ms. Bella wasn’t justnice. She’dprotectBrooklyn—and Mariah, and everybody else in the house, too. She wouldn’t mind if Brooklyn got up for some water, or a snack, or even to go get a book to read.
Tonight, she wanted a pop tart and water. Maybe if she got more food, she could sleep.
But as she was walking toward the kitchen, she froze, her sharp little ears picking up voices.
Twovoices—and they weren’t coming from upstairs where Storm, Jacob and Aaron slept.
Nervous now, she crept closer to Ms. Bella’s room. One of the voices was light, pretty and soft and she realized fast it was her foster mom’s. She thought sometimes she’d like to call Ms. BellaMom. Her mom didn’t want her anymore. She knew that. Sometimes she got mad thinking about it. She knew her mom didn’t want her. She didn’t need that stupid jerk Brant telling her to know it, but she got mad at him sometimes because he’d said it and reminded her.
