Chapter 45

Would Cedric love this small life as she would? Or had this child ever only been a means to an end? Would their son or daughter grow up knowing that the only reason for their existence was a stipulation in a will? Would they find out somehow that they hadn’t been wanted? That an inheritance and a university degree were more important than they were?

Anna's hand crept down to her stomach, her palm pressed there as if to protect the life growing inside her from the harshness of her thoughts. No. No.

A fierce feeling of protectiveness filled her, a certainty that went down to the bedrock of her soul. Their child would not grow up neglected and hurt the way its parents had been. It would not feel the pain of not being accepted, of being ignored. It would not know what it was like to be unwanted, and she would make sure of that with everything in her.

She’d always thought she wouldn’t make a good mother, but the intensity of the emotion in her heart now made her realize