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I nodded.“Yes.I did have an older brother, but he passed before I was born.”
His grip on my hand tightened.“I’m so sorry.”
“It was obviously far harder on my parents, given I never knew him.He wasn’t a year old when he died.He had a heart defect that made it inevitable.”
“Tragic.”
My parents rarely talked about him, but they often visited his grave.From a window in the back of the house, I could see them in the family cemetery.My father’s arm would be around my mum’s shoulders, and I knew they were both crying.“It was,” I murmured.
“There’s something I need to ask you, and I want you to promise you’ll be honest before you answer.”
“Okay…”
“How do you feel about having children, George?”
The air briefly left my lungs.His question shouldn’t have taken me by surprise.Z was always forthright.I would’ve been honest whether he made me promise to be or not.It was something I’d thought quite a lot about in the years I dreamed of Z and I being together.
“It’s something I let go of quite some time ago.”
His penetrating gaze made me want to look away.
“Why?”
“Do you really have to ask?”I turned my head, focusing on the swing where I’d spent so many hours of my childhood.
He squeezed my hand.“Look at me, George.”
I took a deep breath and faced him.“I want to be withyoumore than anything.When I thought…” My voice was choked with emotion.“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“I tried very hard not to think the worst.However, there were times I feared I’d never see you again.”
“I feared I’d never see you again, either.”
“All I wanted was for you to come back to me.Not just come back.Butto me.That’s all that mattered.”
“And I did.If I recall correctly, it took me all of thirty seconds to declare my undying love for you.”
I smiled.“While hardly that dramatic, I must say, it was a dream come true to hear you say you love me.”
“I do, you know?So much it feels my heart will burst.”He leaned closer to me.If anything, his gaze intensified.“I want to experience everything with you, George.Everything.”
“What are you saying?”
“A family.Children.Watching as my child grows inside you, then raising him or her as well as their siblings here, at Woburn House.”
“I thought…”
He chuckled.“That I was too old?”
I squeezed his hand like he had mine.“No.I just thought you wouldn’t want more children.”
“I do, my darling, very much, in fact.”
“I do too, Z.”I grinned.“On the other hand, you are a grandfather, so perhaps somewhere in the back of my mind, I did imagine you too old.”
Z laughed again, then put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me close enough to kiss.“You little minx.I may see a punishment in your near future.Pleasurable, but a punishment, nonetheless.”
