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Hiljd sighed. “You guys are going to gang up on me, I see.”
“I told you that you can’t do that,” said her mother. “I told you that you can’t just go off and have someone’s child and not tell him about it, and—”
“That’s not what she did,” said Gunnar, putting his arm around Hiljd. “No, it was my fault, really. I should have insisted on some way of getting in touch.”
“The app?” said her mother.
Hiljd and Gunnar exchanged another glance.
“I see,” said Hiljd’s mother.
“This is going spectacularly,” said Hiljd dryly.
Hiljd’s mother wagged a finger at Hiljd. “Give this man a chance, Hiljd. Really, I asked you how bad he could be, didn’t I?”
“Mom, women have children on their own all the time,” said Hiljd.
“Let’s go get some food,” Gunnar spoke up, deciding it was better to halt the family argument before it even got started. “You’re hungry, right? You need to eat?”
Hiljd grinned at him. “Starving, of course.”
She babbled apologies for her mother in the line to fill their plates, talking about how much her mother worried, about how her father had passed away several years ago, and that it was just her mother now, and she was the only child in the family, and her mother didn’t want Hiljd to be alone. Her mother was traditional and she didn’t think Hiljd could do it on her own.
He said there was no reason for her to apologize, and he totally understood traditional parents. He had this urge to… he didn’t know… rescue her. But he thought she probably wouldn’t appreciate it if he did. He wanted to sail in and be her knight in shining armor and take care of all her problems.
Why, he wasn’t sure. To prove to her that he wasn’t worthless? To prove that to himself?
Because that was just what men weresupposedto do if they got a woman pregnant?
He hadn’t even processed this information, he didn’t think.I’m going to be a father.
Fuck.
Anyway, then they sat down at one of the small circular tables with Hiljd’s mother and with her friend, whose name was Mariana, and Mariana’s husband, and everyone else drank beer—he abstained with Hiljd, even though she told him he could drink if he wanted, and he said no, he was driving, and she was pregnant, and no.
This made her smile at him in a way he liked.
He wanted to touch her.
Her mother said that Hiljd was too independent.
He jumped in and said that he understood because he was independent, and that he and Hiljd had that in common.
Her mother said that Hiljd should never have left her fated mate.
He jumped in and said her mate sounded like a jackass. “Really fucking selfish, if you ask me.”
Hiljd beamed at him.
Hiljd’s mother looked at her daughter with sympathetic eyes. “You have been through so much, haven’t you, sweetie?” she whispered.
“I just want to take care of her,” he said.
“Exactly,” said Hiljd’s mother. “That’s what you need. I like him, Hiljd.”
“Me too,” said Hiljd, grinning at him.
He put his arm around her again.
