How to Tame My Beastly Husband — Chapter 253. Rain or Tears (2)

Annette glanced pointedly out the windows of the carriage house, and Raphael hesitated, avoiding her gaze.

“It rained,” he said quickly. “A moment ago.”

Annette looked out the window again. The ground wasn’t wet. Indeed, with the winter wind blowing, the air felt drier than usual.

Raphael couldn’t fool her at all. Annette looked into his blue eyes, which were still a little damp.

“Raphael, were you…crying?” She asked cautiously.

“Of course not.” He denied it immediately, which only made her more suspicious.

“Really? You know I hate it when you lie.”

He couldn’t lie again, but he couldn’t tell the truth either, so he just looked down at the ground, and Annette sighed deeply.

He had been hiding his fear from her. And so she had thought he had reconciled himself to fatherhood, and was prepared. But she had been wrong. All this time, his anxieties had been gnawing away at him, when she couldn’t see.

Annette looked up at his wet eyelashes, wondering how long he had been in the garden, and how many times he had cried alone. She was sure this wasn’t the first time.

“Come here,” she said, tugging on his wrist. She has so ridiculously little strength compared to his, and still Raphael couldn’t resist her.

She hugged him. It wasn’t easy with her belly in the way, but Raphael bent down so they clung together. His stiff face relaxed as he felt her warmth, which had grown with her pregnancy.

“So am I,” Raphael said, low. He was happy. Every day felt like a blessing, being married to Annette, and that was why he was so miserable. Having known this happiness, he was terrified of losing it.

Pregnancy was dangerous. Annette could have a difficult delivery, and die, and the thought was making his every day a hell.

It would have been better if he could have carried the child for her. Raphael was confident he would survive that. But unfortunately that was not how things worked, and the anguish of possibly losing his beloved wife was strangling him.

“You fool,” Annette said affectionately. “Of course I will not die and leave you behind. I’m going to live a long time with you and our baby.”

Her eyes were filled with sympathy. Their difference in stature always made it look as if Raphael were embracing her, but really it was Annette that held his heart. Her small hand gently stroked his wide, cold back.

“I know,” Raphael said, kissing her soft hair. He couldn’t even say the thing he was afraid of, for fear that speaking it aloud would make it come true.

He was so anxious, Annette was going to have to play her trump card.

“Would you do me a favor?” She asked, offering him a little wink, and Raphael nodded. His cooperative attitude made her smile.

Rising on tiptoe, she whispered the request in his ear.