Chapter 46
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A few weeks later, the crisp air of early autumn began to settle over the city. Emily found herself feeling unusually exhausted, her morning coffee suddenly losing its appeal. She chalked it up to the stress of the impending Chicago facility opening, but when the exhaustion persisted, a quiet, terrifying, and brilliant suspicion began to take root in her mind.
On a quiet Saturday morning, while Nathan was outside raking the first fallen leaves of the season, Emily sat on the edge of their bathtub, staring at a small, white plastic stick resting on the counter.
She closed her eyes, her heart hammering a frantic, beautiful rhythm against her ribs. She thought of her mother's words: Make room for joy that has nothing to do with survival.
She opened her eyes and looked down. Two solid pink lines stared back at her.
Emily gasped, pressing her hands over her mouth as hot, overwhelming tears of absolute joy spilled down her cheeks. She was pregnant. She was going to be a mother.
For a brief, fleeting second, the old fears tried to creep in—the fear of vulnerability, the terror of bringing a child into a world that held men like Daniel and Thorne. But the fear evaporated instantly, burned away by the radiant, unyielding light of the life she had built with Nathan. This child would not be born into a cage. This child would be born into a fortress of love.
Emily wiped her tears, stood up, and walked out to the backyard.
Nathan was leaning on the rake, wiping sweat from his brow, looking incredibly handsome in the autumn sun. He saw her walking toward him and immediately dropped the rake, his expression turning to concern at the sight of her red eyes.
"Emily? What’s wrong? Is it Katherine?" Nathan asked quickly, stepping forward to catch her hands.
"No, Mom is fine," Emily laughed, a bright, beautiful sound that echoed through the crisp air. She looked up into the warm, honest eyes of the man who had healed her heart. "Nathan... we are going to have a baby."
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Nathan froze completely. The world seemed to stop spinning for three agonizing seconds as his brain processed the words. Then, a smile of pure, blinding ecstasy broke across his face.
He didn't say a word. He simply scooped her up into his arms, spinning her around in the autumn leaves, burying his face in her neck as he cried tears of absolute, unfiltered joy.
