CHRISTIAN
A sharp, unfamiliar jealousy stabbed through me, but I pushed it down. This wasn’t about him.
Still, the thought of her leaning on him, of him being there for her when I wasn’t—it made something ugly coil inside me.
"What was Nova like?" I asked instead, trying to focus on what mattered.
She hesitated, then softened. "Small. Barely six pounds. He barely cried when he was born, and I was terrified. The doctors said he was fine, but I… I couldn’t stop worrying."
I swallowed hard, trying to imagine it—her lying in a hospital bed, exhausted and afraid, clutching our newborn son to her chest.
With Leo by her side.
And not me.
I clenched my jaw. "And as a newborn?"
A sad smile played on her lips. "Quiet. He hated his crib, always wanted to be held. He would grab my finger in
