Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
She shook her head, her hands fists at her sides as though she was holding in a greater pain.
He couldn’t even think of what would make her cry. Had she lied to him? Was she seeing someone? It wouldn’t matter as long as she chose him now. He wouldn’t hold it against her.
“Baby, are you going to see another man?” It was obvious she was aching inside. He shoved down his jealousy because her pain was far more important. If they needed to, he would call Kai and find a therapist for them. They would get through this. “It’s okay. We haven’t been together. You didn’t do anything wrong. Can you tell me if you’re in love with him?”
It made him physically ill, but he had to ask the question. He wouldn’t pull any more possessive bullshit on her. Now that he was actually thinking about her and not his own needs, he realized he would do almost anything to make this right.
“There isn’t another man.” She looked at him, those clear eyes sending a shockwave through him.
“What’s wrong? Please tell me. We can fix anything, Sarah. Look, I’m not going to hide behind walls with you. I’m going to be open and honest. I love you. I want to marry you. I want to have a family with you. I dream about seeing you pregnant. I think about how I’ll take care of you, how I’ll rub your feet and hold you while we wait for our baby. I want those things with you.”
She’d gone completely white, her face draining of color so quickly he was sure she would faint. But when he reached for her, she pushed his hands away. “Don’t touch me.”
What had he said? He stood when she did, barely managing to not fall back on his ass. She strode around him and grabbed one of the robes hanging on the closet door, another of Sanctum’s small luxuries.
“Sarah, what’s happening?”
She belted the robe and turned. “Nothing is happening between the two of us. I thought I could handle it, but I can’t. I’m not going on some vacation. I’m going to have surgery and at the end of it I won’t be able to have those children you want. So I need you to walk away from me now.”
The bottom dropped out of his stomach. “What are you talking about? What’s happened? What kind of surgery?”
His head was reeling. She was sick? She hadn’t told anyone because Kori would know if she had. Kori wouldn’t have been able to keep it from Kai, and Kai would have told him. Kai wouldn’t have kept Sarah’s illness from him. He knew his brother. He trusted Kai implicitly. So Sarah hadn’t said a word that something dangerous was happening to her, that something was happening to her body.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, that righteous anger of hers seeming to vanish. “I need you to promise me you won’t tell anyone.”
He found there were things he couldn’t give her. “No. Tell me about the surgery. What’s happening? You seem fine. Why on earth would you keep this secret?”
“Maybe because I don’t want everyone looking at me the way you’re looking at me right now. I don’t need anyone’s pity.”
“I don’t pity you. I don’t understand enough to pity anyone but me right now.” He gripped her wrist, trying not to hurt her, but utterly unwilling to let her go. “Talk to me. Now.”
“It was the damn DNA test. That’s what did it. That stupid DNA test we both took. I opted for the one that included health information. My mom died of ovarian cancer and I thought it might be smart to just see if I had the gene. I tested positive. I saw a genetic counselor and an OB-GYN. They believe a proactive hysterectomy is the best course of action given that I have a strong history of cancer in my family line, so it stops with me. No kids. I’m not passing this on to a daughter who can hope for a life and get this shitty news. I lost my mom to this. I won’t force another kid to go through that. I’m not going to be a wife and mother. There’s a chance they get in there and I’ve already got cancer. I’m going to pray I’m alive next year, and that’s all I can handle right now, so let me go.”
“This is why you walked away from me?”
She proved she’d taken a self-defense class or two when she twisted her wrist and broke his hold. “I am not going to be your sweet wife and the mother to your two-point-five perfect children. I don’t get that life. Now you know. Let me go. I’m saying my safe word, Jared.”
He shook his head. “No. We’re not playing right now, and you don’t get to fucking safe word out on me. This is a serious discussion.”