Tina’s deep sigh dragged from her throat. “I’m tired of fighting.”
“So I’ll keep fighting for us,” he vowed as he watched her intently. “But if I can’t have that, then let me support you. Let me be a part of this.”
She wanted Dev to be part of every step in this journey. She needed to rely on him if something went wrong. But if he knew what could happen, why was he volunteering to stay? “You’ve been through this before. Why would you want to go through it again?”
“Is that why you’re not telling me? Is this your way of protecting me? Or were you keeping the baby a secret so I didn’t take it away from you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters!” He swore and lowered his voice. “I love you and I want to look after you. Why is it so hard to accept that?”
“You love me?” she repeated in a daze.
“Yes, I have always loved you.” He looked away, almost shyly. “I tried to fight it, but it overpowers me. I thought that the love I have was strong enough that it could carry the both of us. I was wrong. I want you to love me. Trust me. Need me.”
She hesitated, feeling like she was on the edge of a big cliff and ready to take a leap of faith. “Dev, did you wonder why I went to your office a month ago?”
“I thought you had come back from the lawyers and were going to ask for a divorce.”
Her skin felt hot as nervousness raced through her veins. “I was going to ask for you to give our marriage a second chance.”
He winced. “You were?”
“I wore a sari, Dev. That should have been your first clue that I was going to ask for something important.”
Dev leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his eyes. “You wanted to try again. And I threw you out.”
“I want you as my husband,” she said, her heart pounding against her ribs. If he rejected her now she wouldn’t recover. “But not for a limited time. I’m staying with you through thick and thin. If you don’t want this, you need to tell me now.”
“Tina, you are what I want, and I will show that to you every day.”