"I think I could watch you nurse him forever," he said in quiet tones from the nursery doorway. The room was dark, with only a tiny nightlight to illuminate the nursery.
I startled, unaware he'd been watching me as I hummed quietly to our son as he nursed. Kade was wearing only his sleep pants, his chest bare, his hands braced against the door frame.
"You look beautiful, so incredibly beautiful you take my breath away."
He was watching me closely, so he didn't miss the grimace I couldn't quite cover up.
"What?"
"Just...stop with the fake compliments. I don't need or want them."
"Not fake," he corrected. "I mean them. You already were so damn pretty you made me ache. Motherhood just adds to your beauty."
Frowning now, I refused to look up from our son's perfect, tiny features. "Trying to make me think you suddenly find me beautiful is not going to make me take you back into my life. It's not going to work, so please just stop."
"That's not why I'm telling you I think you're beautiful. And for the record, I've always found you beautiful. There's nothing sudden about it."
I sighed, tired to my bones. "Just give it a rest. Please?"
He came and hunkered down next to my glider, his eyes intent on me. "Abigail, I know when we were together I did a shit job of expressing how I felt about you –"
"No, you expressed quite perfectly how you felt about me. I was nothing to you, and I don't want to continue this conversation. I think maybe it would be better if you stopped spending the night."
He looked away, his jaw taut, his hands clenched into fists, the epitome of a frustrated man. "Fine. I'll stop. I promise. Just don't make me leave you and our boy."
