Page 41 of Pregnancy Clause in Their Paper Marriage

Jack nodded slowly. ‘That’s not a bad idea.’ Already he was shimmying out of the tight-fitting blazer. ‘Now let me get out of this straitjacket.’

Lana was still smiling as she took a cab home later that evening. Jack had changed back into his old clothes, and given a very candid, very geeky interview that had completely surprised and charmed the journalist. The photographer had taken ruefully ironic photos of Jack, not looking smart and sleek, a superstar in the making, but doing goofy things, balancing a pencil on his nose or playing trashcan basketball. It was different and whimsical, and Lana was pretty sure he was going to be a huge hit with the public...and it had nothing to do with her.

‘Why are you smiling like the cat who has the cream?’ Christos asked when she came home. They had an evening charity gala to attend, and, while Lana usually looked forward to such events, she realised tonight she’d rather curl up at home with Christos and Netflix.

‘I did something different today,’ she said, and then told him all about Jack Philips. ‘I’m afraid I may be talking myself out of a career.’

‘Or into an even better one, at least for a little while,’ Christos replied as he pressed a kiss to her bump. They’d had the twenty-week scan six weeks ago, and the baby was healthy and growing; they’d decided not to find out whether it was a girl or boy.

‘Some things,’ Christos had said, ‘are meant to be a surprise.’

‘How’s Junior today?’ he asked as he straightened from greeting their baby to press a kiss on her lips.

‘Fine. Making me a bit achy, so he or she must be growing.’ She rubbed her bump ruefully; now that she wasn’t working, she was conscious of the twinges in her back, along her belly. They’d been bothering her all day, but her OB had told her it was to be expected as the baby grew, and her muscles were forced to stretch.

Christos frowned in concern. ‘We can skip tonight, if you’d rather.’

She would rather, but she knew it was an important event for him; he was about to close on a deal with a tech start-up he was interested in. ‘No, let’s go,’ she told him. ‘But maybe leave early.’

He caught her in his arms for another kiss and a devilish wag of his eyebrows. ‘I’m always up for leaving early.’

Christos watched their limo pull to the kerb from the brownstone’s balcony as he waited for Lana to emerge. He felt almost buoyant with happiness—as he had, amazingly, since that night when he’d confessed everything to her and she’d taken it in her stride, offered him acceptance and love in return.

Wait,love?

Christos let the knowledge spread inside him, as warm and golden as honey. Yes,love. In the end, it was just a word. He thought he’d probably loved Lana for a while—maybe even since she’d first slid onto the stool next to him and ordered a Snake Bite, and he’d been so impressed with her attitude, grit, and determination. That initial feeling had only grown in strength and certainty since then.

That first feeling was, perhaps, why he had been willing to agree to the paper marriage at the start, and then the pregnancy clause made three years later. It was why he hadn’t been willing to embark on affairs, and why he wanted nothing more now than her in his arms, by his side, for ever.

The knowledge, surprisingly, didn’t scare him. Was that what love did to you? Changed you? Made you into a better, stronger version of yourself?

But what if you let her down?

Admittedly, in the last three months, since that heartbroken confession, they hadn’t engaged in that much emotional heavy lifting. Lana had told him a little bit about her childhood, the mother who had always been angry and distant, but she’d also said she’d made peace with it and forgiven her mother before she’d died. Telling him hadn’t been so much about showing vulnerability as demonstrating how it was possible to move on from hard and painful things, and yet the fact that she had showed such vulnerability had made him love hermore, not less.

But what about when the rubber hit the road? When life got hard, when things became uncertain or risky or dangerous? Would he be strong enough to love her then, the way he knew he wanted to?

Because he didn’t have a great track record.

‘I’m ready.’

Lana’s voice floated from the living room and Christos turned, catching his breath at the sight of her. She looked glorious, in a floaty gown of emerald-green satin that draped over her bump and swirled about her calves and ankles. Her hair was drawn up in a loose bun, with tendrils curling about her face.

‘I don’t look like a tank in this, do I?’ she asked with an uncertain laugh, and he strode forward to take her in his arms.

‘You look like a goddess. Athena, as I once thought.’

She gave a little laugh back before he kissed her. ‘Athena and not bodacious Venus?’

‘Athena, goddess of wisdom. Smart and strong and a little bit intimidating but also incredibly lovely.’ He kissed her again and for a second she rested in his arms, her head tucked beneath his chin.

‘I’m so happy,’ she said quietly, almost as if she was afraid of his response, or at least cautious of it. They’d skated on the surface these last few months, enjoying everything in a way that had felt easy, but after his confession on the balcony they hadn’t gone any deeper. Was it because they hadn’t needed to, or because they hadn’t dared?

‘I’m happy, too,’ Christos replied in the same quiet tone.

Lana eased back to gaze up at him, her eyes wide and clear. ‘I’m glad.’

It felt as if they were saying so much more than they actually were, and the import of the moment wasn’t lost on him.