Page 190 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8

She was alive. But…

Her chest thumping, she turned her head to the side of the bed, to where the crib should be. Where her baby should be.

And her heart, it swelled.

There was her son. On his father’s chest. His black-capped head cradled in a big, wide hand. A hand holding him so carefully, so gently, against his heart.

The heart he wouldn’t let her have.

Sebastian’s head lay back against the green leather of the high-backed armchair, his hair cushioning his cheek, and it fell to his shoulder.

They both slept so peacefully together.

His eyes opened. His green-rimmed irises made the inner amber of his eyes glow.

‘Forgive me,’ he growled.

‘You’re here,’ she said, her heart aching for him. He had punished himself enough. ‘You found us. There is nothing to forgive.’

His gaze sharpened. ‘There iseverythingto forgive.’

He went to stand.

‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘You’ll wake him,’

‘I won’t.’ He stood, moved to her bedside, and he did not wake the baby as he placed him in Aurora’s arms. ‘He should be in your arms. Where he is safe.’

And her heart, it could not take it. How could she make him understand he wasn’t a danger? To either of them?

‘He’s so small,’ she said. ‘So precious.’ And she held him close. Her son. The baby she had carried inside her for all those months. The baby that had brought Sebastian back to her. The baby that would make them a family. She pressed her lips to his head. Kissed him with all the love she had saved for him. Only the baby. But she had more love to give. More love to share with Sebastian. Her true love.

She raised her eyes to his. ‘But heissafe with you,’ she told him. ‘We both are.’

He nodded. ‘I know.’

‘You do?’

‘I know many things,’ he replied. ‘Because of you.’

‘What else do you know?’ she asked.

He sat down on the edge of the bed. And Aurora wanted to yell at him, to scream at him to choose everything. Now. With her. But she didn’t scream. She didn’t yell. She waited for him. Gave him time to tell her.

Because she would wait for him to be ready.

She’d wait for him for what felt like forever.

‘I lied,’ he said, and held her gaze. ‘Amelia didn’t wish for you.I did.Twenty-five years ago, I asked the gods,I begged them, for you, and they delivered my wish. They delivered you for me.’

Her heart broke for him. For all those years he’d spent alone. Waiting for…her.

‘I’m sorry I was late.’

‘I wasn’t ready.’ He shook his head. ‘But I am ready now. I’m ready to change. For you. For our son.’

‘I don’t want you to change.’

‘But I will,’ he said. ‘I will open the doors. I will let love in, and I will not suffocate it. I will not kill it. I will cherish it.’