I don't know how Kandi still has a key to the house, but I know I have her book. Being pregnant now, I know I'll have a bit of time on my hands, and there's only so much a person can do in a day. But now that I've started the book, I don't want to wait until I can't see my toes to continue reading it.
"I'm back," Vylad mumbles, leaning over to do his normal kiss on my cheek. He stays near my ear for a moment, scanning his eyes over the visible pages of my book to look for a title. He sees it and chuckles.
I shove my bookmark into the book and toss it onto the table next to me. I bring my feet closer to my body to give him a place to sit on the couch, but he doesn't seem to take it. "How did your talk with your mom go?" My eyes dart up to look at him, but my smile falters when I see the look on his face.
Vylad leans forward and presses a long kiss against my lips, letting them linger there to bypass the conversation completely. I sigh when he stands back up and plops onto the cushion near my feet.
"I'm assuming either not well, or you don't want to talk about it."
He lays his head on the back of the couch, rolling onto his cheek to look at me. He reaches for my hand, and I oblige. Within seconds, he's thumbing the diamond located in the center. Vylad's mind must be swimming because he doesn't normally avoid conversations like this, nor does he come home with this type of attitude after a visit with Zianna.
"She brought up the topic of handing the company down again," he groans, eyes locked on my hand.
"I thought they were considering handing it down to Zane. Garroth has no interest in it, and Garte, frankly, doesn't like you. He doesn't like me either, and I can't see him giving it to Kandi. In his eyes, that's worse than handing it down to you," I respond, eyebrows furrowing together. Now I want to play with my ring. It'd look silly if I lean forward to play with his wedding band.
"They were, but mom likes the idea that I'm married. Dad doesn't like the idea of me having it, for obvious reasons," he mumbles, rolling his eyes afterwards. "They're so hard set on one of us having it that they don't think of what we want."
"Well," I ask, moving my position, so I can sit next to him. My head rests against his shoulder, and he continues to play with my rings. This time, my hand rested on his lap. "What do you want?"
He brushes his lips against the back of my hand for a moment before allowing his thumb to fumble with my ring once more. Vylad takes a moment to admire it and looks at me afterwards. His expression is soft when our eyes meet, and he flicks his eyes down to my stomach before my face again. "I don't know if I want that, but I want this. I didn't tell her that you were pregnant, I haven't told anyone actually, but I don't want our baby to be forced into what we're being forced into. I'm scared if mom knew, she'd be more keen because not only am I the only one married, but I'm the only one who will have children as of right now. Kandi's in a relationship, but I can't see them getting engaged any time soon. You know, Kandi's not one for that type of thing. And neither Garroth nor Zane appear to be entering a romantic relationship either."
This topic seems to upset him more than he lets off to Zianna. I know Vylad well enough that he doesn't want to hurt her by saying they don't want what they want. He doesn't like to see his mother upset. None of them do. Because of this, they dance around the truth instead of being straight with their mother. This only leads to her pushing forward with her motives. I can't say I would be any better because I wouldn't. I don't like seeing Zianna upset, either.
"I don't want our baby being subjected to that," I sigh. "Maybe Zane will take it. There's not much we can do about it right now. I wish you would stop beating yourself up over this as much as you are. You should be happy. I'm newly pregnant."
He stands up and quickly gets down onto his knees. My eyes widen before he grabs my hand to motion me to stand up and presses a kiss against my stomach. I giggle at this, smiling because it's sweet, but I'm not far along enough for this not to look silly. If someone were to walk past our window looking in, they'd think we're crazy or share some weird kink.
Vylad stands back up, grabbing onto my hand loosely and dragging me into the kitchen, claiming the "mommy to be needs to eat" despite my protests. But hey, if Vylad's cooking, at least I know the food will be good.
