Chapter 139
Jennifer’s gaze was sympathetic. “I know we dropped a lot on without much warning. Although I think Mother had this discussion with Charles earlier this week.”
“They did,” I said. “And Charles warned me she might bring up stuff like this. But this was just a shock to the system.”
“You’re okay with all of it, right?”
“W-well,” I stammered. “I don’t know.”
“You do want to marry my brother. Don’t you?”
“Of course,” I said with no hesitation at all.
“And you intend on having his children, right?”
I bit my lip.
She tipped her head back in understanding. “So that’s where the hang-up is. You do know that he’s an alpha and if you intend on being his wife, you will eventually have to give him children?”
“That’s just it,” I said. “Eventually.”
“You’re in your late 20s. And Charles is the same age. How much more time can you afford to take? Even if the alpha thing wasn’t a factor.”
I crossed my arms, resentful. “I can take as much time as I want.”
“No, you can’t,” she said. “We’d all like to think that getting pregnant is easy. We imagine we can just hop into bed with the one we love and hop back out impregnated. But it doesn’t work like that. These things take time to happen, sometimes years. If you don’t start until later, you may not have years. Then you have to go through fertility treatments and all sorts of stuff like that. And even those take time to play out, assuming you’re lucky.”
I folded my hands together, gripping them, unsure whether I wanted to admit that my hesitations had everything to do with my career. She put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.
“Is it the danger that you’re currently facing?”
I glanced up at her sharply. “That’s a big part of it.”
“I thought that might be the case. You’re a very sympathetic person, and I can imagine that you wouldn’t want to endanger your future child. But honestly, I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
“And why not? People have tried to kill Charles and I.”
“I keep tabs on Charles’ situation. But if you have a child, you won’t be reporting anymore. All that danger will diminish significantly.”
Her comment stabbed straight through my chest. This was the heart of the issue. Everyone expected me to just give up my career and everything that I was working on so that I could have someone else’s child. Well, my child too, but on someone else’s timeline.
A small frown creased Jennifer’s face. “You are planning on staying home once you have a child, right?” She asked this with the sort of scorn in her voice that came from a woman who knew that she would be well taken care of no matter how many children she chose to stay home with.
“It’s not a possibility for everyone,” I said.
“But we’re talking about you. If you’re marrying my brother, you’re marrying into significant wealth, not to mention an alpha’s family. Your job is to maintain that standard of living for him. He doesn’t need you distracted with another job.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t speak down to you like that. I know that you’re probably not familiar with all of the obligations that come along with being in an alpha’s family. But you need to know how crucial they really are.”
Her gaze softened back down to sympathetic. “Charles may not have ever mentioned it to you because he doesn’t want to worry you. But there is an insane amount of pressure on him to continue the lineage. You have to understand that now that my father’s gone, my mother is trying to hold the family together. The alpha line passes through the males. My son can’t carry on that direct line. He can take over the family businesses, but he’ll never be an alpha.”
“Oh,” I said.
She patted my hands and then retreated into her own space. “I like you a lot, Elena. And you make my brother extremely happy. But I need you to understand the dire importance of being his wife. This isn’t something that you can just blissfully skip into and ride along with no effort and no sacrifice.”
She motioned toward the door to the living room. “Look at my mother. If my family were an arch, my father would be the loadstone, and my mother would be the columns. Charles replaced him, but without another lodestone, all the work that she’s done holding everything up will be for nothing. We will all fall apart.”
“That’s a big responsibility,” I murmured.
“It is.” She wrapped me in a hug. “I don’t mean to scare you off. Like I said, my brother loves you, and you’re quickly growing into the hearts of the rest of the family. You are such a good person. I don’t want you to feel like I’m warning you away from him or trying to run you out of the family. I would love for you to be the mother of my nieces and nephews. I would love for you to be Charles’ wife and to complete him.”
“There’s a ‘but’ attached to that,” I added for her.
She nodded. “You already know what it is. So, I’m not going to continue to beat you with it. Whatever you choose, we’ll respect your decision.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“No worries. We’re here for the whole moon goddess celebration. You don’t have to have Andy do the ceremony tonight. But if you’re going to join our family, I know my mother’s going to insist that that happened this weekend. So just put yourself in the frame of mind to accept that outcome.”
Jennifer gave me one last small hug and then got up and left. I knew she couldn’t do anything further to help me with my dilemma.
On her way out, Charles came in.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
I took one look at him and burst into tears.
He hurried to the bed and sat beside me, taking my hands and kissing them. “What is it? What did my sister say to you?” He sounded angry.
“She was nice,” I assured him. “It’s just everything. Getting married by your brother-in-law. Having children right now? I-I just can’t.”
I could barely get the words out behind my sobs. “I just broke this story. My career is finally taking off. Our lives are in danger. It’s a horrible time. I’m not ready. I haven’t had any time with you. We haven’t even gotten engaged.” I lost any additional words to tears.
Charles drew me off the bed and pushed me into the living room. I kept trying to squirm away, and he wouldn’t let go.
“Come with me.”
It was a direct order from an alpha. I couldn’t disobey, but I didn’t make it easy on him, dragging my feet the whole way.
When he got me out to the living room, he shot his mother a dirty look. “Do you see?” he said. “Look at what this has done to her. I thought you said you cared about her and me. What hurts Elena hurts me, too.”
His mother huffed and crossed her arms. “If she can’t handle this, then she’s not strong enough to be the wife of an alpha and the mother to the next generation of alphas. I’m sorry neither one of you likes reality, but unfortunately, we can’t readjust the world to fit our desires. Sometimes, we need to readjust our desires to fit the demands of real life.”
When she spoke her next words, her tone had come down from angry to disappointed. “I didn’t expect this much resistance from her. Maybe it’s because she grew up without a family, so she doesn’t understand the obligations. You two need to sort this out amongst yourselves, and you need to do it before we leave for the weekend.”
“So that we can push a marriage forward on your schedule?” Charles snapped.
“This needs to be taken care of promptly,” Gwen said.
“Or what?” Charles challenged. “You’ll insist that I find a new bride? Because that’s going to save time.” Sarcasm dripped across his tongue. “Frankly, I can’t imagine anyone could possibly replace Elena. So, you’re asking me to make some poor woman my consolation prize? And how long do you think it’ll take for me to find somebody who I can stand to be around? If you’re talking about a necessary timeline, then letting things play out naturally between the two of us is the most expedient way to get me married off.”
Charles and his mother glared at each other in a battle of wills. She pointed imperiously toward the main bedroom. “I expect you two to go work this out.”
Charles let out a growl. “Good goddess, Woman. I’m not a child.”
He turned, heading for the bedroom. “Come on, Elena. I think it’s time for bed.”
