Catherine's palm went cold. Seeing him, the one who ruined her in her past life and was suspiciously clinging to her this life, casual, composed, and…domestic, felt like a slap she hadn't braced for.
Even if he didn't remember the past… didn't he confess to her just this afternoon with that maddening sincerity, and that dangerous softness in his voice?
And this… a whole baby… somehow never came up?
"It didn't seem relevant," Maximilian said, blinking.
Catherine laughed. Once. Short. Sharp. Almost hysterical.
"Of course… Of course, it didn't," she muttered.
Because to Maximilian, this was just life. Perhaps because she hadn't agreed to date him, or whatever ridiculous category he'd mentally filed her under, he hadn't felt the need to disclose minor details. Like, say. A baby.
But to her…
It was everything she'd lost, wrapped in a soft blanket and held effortlessly in his arms.
