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Motherhood came sooner than she’d planned. But Hinako isn’t entirely mad at it.
Part of her trepidation had stemmed from what had become of her sister when she’d fallen pregnant herself.
It had seemed as though she’d caught an illness.
Her skin clammy and pale, her complexion sickly, her days plagued by constant bouts of nausea and getting sick, her body no longer her own and retaliating against her to accommodate the new life growing in her.
Hinako was led to believe all her life such an experience was what she ought to expect out of motherhood.
Yet, she experienced none of that. Not entirely.
The sore feet she could not escape, but they did not bloat and blow up as though water filled balloons. There was a noticeable shift in her complexion but it had not caused her to become ghastly, rather it had brought onto her skin an ever present dewy glow. Even with the morning sickness, it was only that, a sense of dizziness and nausea in the morning.
Her body did not feel quite like her own, but there was no retaliation happening that had her feeling like a stranger in her own skin.
For the most part, she looked the same, was the same.
And yet, despite this, Hinako cannot think of herself spared. She struggled to see herself as one of the lucky ones.
Childbirth will still place her in a precarious state between life and death. Motherhood remained yet another skin she was expected to wear atop that of woman, daughter in law, and wife.
More pressingly, no one told her when a woman was expecting, it drove her further apart from her husband.
Here she thought upon marrying that her every waking moment would revolve around her husband. Though, she must admit, ever since it happened, it has felt the other way around.
Her husband’s world revolved around her.
Kotoyuki was no less sweet, attentive and equally ardent as before.
He liked to spend every waking hour with her.
Walks in the morning, tea in the noon, dinner in the evenings, intimate moments in the sanctuary of their shared room.
That’s one thing he insisted upon, that their sleeping quarters not be separated, despite disapproval from his family.
It was improper. People would talk if word got to the villagers.
Such behavior was reserved for common folk, those of lower ranks.
It was part of the many assumptions they had of commoners, unlike those of their status and rank, that common folk were simple, daft creatures.
They believed poor people had nothing better to do with their time so they shared a room to make babies, more hands to put to work yes, but more mouths to feed if they stopped to think. That was why they remained poor, the sole and only reason.
They retorted, bewildered at their master’s insistent, that adopting such traits of such an unpleasant lifestyle would only hinder progression and work and usher forth the clan's ruin.
It was not as much as a surprise to Hinako such people had such a shallow view of common people as it was a surprise to her how her husband had proudly stood up to his family and declared he planned to have many children with her so it was a non issue.
Perhaps she should’ve cared more, that this declaration had done nothing to soften her in laws to her.
They’d already started whispering that she’d bewitched him and that he was going against long standing tradition certainly wasn’t helping her case.
She knew they’d been giving him a hard time over it. Probably from the day he first set eyes on her.
She just didn’t think it would ever get to him.
What else was she supposed to think-
Now that she’d started showing, the distance between her and her husband has been hard to miss.
It was as though the moment her pregnancy became too noticeable to be hidden by her obi, something shifted in the air.
She hardly saw him these days. Even when she did, it was brief.
He was flanked by retainers who would steal him away the moment he got to close and she was flanked by maids who steered her away before she could tell him anything.
It was frustrating and if she was being honest, it was starting to get on her nerves.
To make matters worse, because apparently being pregnant with the clan's future heir meant she had to be on a 24/7 watch, she had been separated from her husband’s quarters and relocated to another wing so that the maid’s could keep a closer watch on her at all times.
She can only imagine the satisfaction her in laws must feel, that they’d finally managed to put her back in the place she was supposed to occupy when she first came before her husband insisted they not be separated.
One day, they crossed paths walking down the isolated halls near the main garden.
‘Hinako.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why are you so far? Come closer. ’ She did not approach. He frowned lightly, outstretched hand returning to his side. ‘You are upset with me.’
Hinako remained rooted. ‘Why would you think that?’
‘For one, you do not appear happy to see me. Have I done something to upset you?’
‘Is that a serious question or do you just want to hear me say it?’ She realized belatedly that she was harsher than need be. ‘Sorry, I- I’ve just been… very frustrated lately.’
‘It’s fine. Don’t apologize.’ He seemed to be pondering for a moment before he stepped into her space, gently touching her arm. Hinako did not recoil this time, seeing the earnest in him. ‘I’d like to know what has caused my wife this frustration she feels. Tell me the source so I may handle it.’
As she stood there, his warm hand caressing her arm gently, soothingly, she struggled to figure out how to tell him without sounding ridiculous and came up short.
‘It’s… It’s nothing. Just pretend I never said anything. I’ll leave you now, you must be busy.’
She began to slip from him. He grabbed her arm and gently tugged her back before she made it past him.
‘Hinako.’ He said, brows drawn as he looked down at her. ‘ You know I’m never too busy for you. Talk to me please.’
‘… You are.’
He looked at her. Then frowned. Confused.
‘I am?’
He sounded like this was news to him. It was her time to frown back.
What kind of slap stick comedy was this?
‘You are too busy for me these days.’ She retorted heatedly, and unwittingly, this entire conversation triggered her into spewing out what's been weighing heavily on her chest. ‘Is it really work that keeps you away, or does my current body repulse you?’
Her husband’s eyes widened slightly, and he blinked a couple of times before he finally spoke.
‘… Is that what you’ve been thinking this whole time? Do you think that seeing the love of my life carrying my child could ever be something that repulses me?’
‘I don’t know what to think!’ she tells him, exasperated, truly at her wits ends and beguddled. ‘It feels like ever since I’ve started showing I’m not allowed to breathe the same air as you and it’s making me question myself- it’s making me… it’s making me regret letting you put it in me!’
He was quiet for a while. Lips pressed to a thin line.
‘I’m sorry.’ He said eventually, his tone grave, genuinely apologetic. ‘I didn’t realize what you were going through on your own.’
‘Don’t just say that to make me feel better.’
‘I am not.’ He told her firmly. ‘I’m saying this because I really am sorry. I didn’t realize that this would affect you this way. It was explained to me that women in this condition were sensitive and delicate.’
She frowned.
‘I’m not suddenly made of glass because I’m pregnant.’
‘Apologies. I meant, irritable.’
‘… That’s true.’
‘Yes. It was also told to me that they preferred not to be bothered, and that they did not like to be touched. And that-‘
‘Don’t like to be touched?’ she cut him off, bewildered.
He stared at her.
‘Yes.’
‘Who said that?’
‘The priest. The physician. Grandfather.’
She stared at him and realized he was being serious.
‘They’re all men.’ She pointed out, and when he simply looked at her like he wasn’t sure how that explained anything she forced herself not to shout and took a calming breath. ‘Kotoyuki, do you think men would know anything about what is going on through a woman’s head, let alone a pregnant woman?’
It seemed to dawn on him. Slowly, but surely.
‘I never… Thought to look at it from that perspective.’
Right. And she can’t even blame him. He wasn’t raised to.
‘It’s not your fault.’ She said with an exhale.
‘I should’ve paid more attention to you than listened to them.’ He said regretfully, paused then lifted his hand to her face, hovering, hesitant. ‘You wouldn’t hate it if I touched you right now?’
Hinako placed her hand over his, helping him touch her.
‘We’re married. When have I ever been upset when you touched me.’
There was a phase, but they’ve grown past that and matured beautifully, their bond no longer defined by expectations, necessity, duty and obligation, instead by respect, comfort, understanding and affection.
He smiled and pressed his forehead to hers.
‘You’re right, my wife.’ His nose brushed hers, and it seemed he couldn’t help but kiss her, lingering and long. ‘You have no idea, how much I’ve missed this.’ He mumbled against her mouth.
Hinako blushed, and it’s unlike her, to get this riled up over a kiss. But it has been a long. She’s missed this too.
Missed him…
Hinako stared despite herself, getting herself a good look at him- it's been a while since she got to see him up close, be with him this near, feel his warmth. She observed him from head to toe, not even bothering to be very discreet about it.
He was handsome as ever, in that aristocratic way of his, as perfectly crafted as ever, balancedly angular and masculine around the nose and jaw yet gracefully soft around the eyes and mouth. His robes that had seemed to wear him once sit nicely on him, his tall lean frame seeming to have broadened while she wasn't looking.
She suddenly felt inexplicably parched with a familiar thirst and he looked like just what she needed to quench it.
‘Hey,’ she began, decidedly distracted, palm feeling at his firm chest and wetting her lower lip. ‘Do you think- oh!’
She was suddenly tugged to a corner in the hallway, Kotoyuki’s broad frame shielding her. Just when she was about to ask what he was doing, she heard footsteps dangerously close. Soon enough, they faded away.
‘They’re gone now.’ He said, stepping back a little to give her space now that the threat had passed.
Hinako silently looked up at her husband who still had his hands planted beside her head, attention trained to the pathway behind them.
Some of the heat that had been consuming her from earlier gave way as she weighed in the incredulity of all of this, realizing rather unceremoniously, they could not carry on this way.
Hinako couldn't believe they were sneaking around like middle schoolers. Or adulterers even. For crying out loud, they were married.
She gave him a look.
‘You know, we’re way too old for this.’ She told bluntly and he looked at her, blinked, then chuckled.
‘You’re right, my wife.’ He said, pinching her cheeks, then, gently resting his hand on her belly.
This seemed to be the only interaction they were allowed to share whenever they’d meet in the hallways, flanked by watchful, scrutinizing entourages.
(‘have you been eating well?’
‘yes.’
‘how’s the baby?’
‘healthy.’
‘I’m glad. May I?’
Like he even needed to ask to feel his own child.)
Hinako watched him as he caressed her. He seemed to be deep in thought.
She wondered what he was thinking in that moment. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to wonder for very long.
‘I’ve decided.’ He declared with determination, and when his gaze slid to hers, it was steely with resolve.
She blinked, confused, startled.
‘Decided what?’
‘I’ve decided that this farce ends tonight. I will not be kept from my wife any longer.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Just you wait and see.’
He declared and it sounded like a promise. An impending surprise. Hinako was certain she didn’t like surprises.
She knew that she’d have to trust him but secretly hoped it wasn’t something stupid.
He wouldn’t go and confront his grandfather would he?
That would be admirable and attractive, but he’s already pushed back against the old man so much as far as she was involved, she wasn’t sure the patriarch would react very goodly at the moment, especially since work seemed to have gotten more and more demanding if her husband’s absence was anything to go by.
After all she didn’t think he was that petty to pile work onto his grandson just to keep him away from her- Hinako was certain her existence was inconsequential to him at least, a minor inconvenience at most.
She let out a breath and nodded.
‘Alright. Just … Don’t get yourself in trouble, alright?’
He smirked lightly.
‘You underestimate just how much you’ve rubbed on to me my wife.’
She wasn’t certain if that was a compliment or him teasing her. All she knew is that she should go and brace herself before the maids lost their minds looking for her.
Her husband only let her go once she gave him a parting kiss.
-
Hinako’s nightly routine consisted strictly of non strenuous, light work only, like reading…. And reading.
Or at least she was supposed to be, as the maids bustled about to prepare her futon for the night somewhere in the room.
They’d already dressed her in lighter kimono, brushed and oiled her hair, scented the room lightly with mild calmingly fragranced candles meant to aid with a restful sleep.
Her eyes kept flicking to the door. She’d been anticipating since dinner to no avail.
To make matters worse tonight she had dined alone. She had no idea where her husband had gone off to and now there was no sign of him.
She’d already given up expecting anything from him when one of the maids announced it was her bed time and she stood with a sigh, letting them shed her haori from her shoulders.
Only for it to be hastily slid back on when the doors slammed open.
Kotoyuki stood at the doorway, announcing himself with quite the dramatics only to stand there, grand and looming.
The head maid instantly rushed before him, bowing her head and hastily addressing him.
‘Young Master, w-what brings you here?’
‘I wasn’t aware I needed a reason to see my wife.’
‘B-but, the hour is late, young master. Perhaps whatever it is can wait for tomorrow?’
But he was already stepping in, eyes locked with Hinako who watched silently.
Like ants protecting their queen, the maids coordinated a barrier between them, blocking his path to her.
He was not pleased about the blockade whatsoever
‘What is the meaning of this?’ His voice rumbled in a quiet, ominous way.
Even she felt a chill down her spine and the maids visibly looked alarmed as they glanced at each other and shuffled in their prostate.
The head maid spoke again, her voice shaking even more than previously even as she tried to be level before her thunderous lord.
‘L-lord Tsuneki. Please understand, we are only doing what is required of us. T-this is for the lady’s own protection, and that of the child’s and by extension yours and the clans!’
‘Are you insinuating that I would harm my wife? My own child?’
The tenor of his baritone was chilling even without raising his voice.
‘Please master! This is not…. It’s not proper.’
For a moment, the silence stretched.
‘I will say this once and once only. I will not be kept from my wife. If you know what is good for you, you will empty this room and close the door behind you.’
Silence. The ladies trembled and Hinako could feel the tension rise in the room with every second.
‘Don’t makes repeat myself.’
It was time for her step in.
‘Kotoyuki. They heard you.’ The ladies looked up at her hesitantly and she stepped around them to come and stand before her husband, shielding them from his menace. ‘What my husband means to say is that you are relieved of your duties for the night until further notice. He understands your work and appreciates your presence, but at the moment, your services are not required. Shall anyone question your temporary dismissal, they shall take it up with him and not with you. Rest assured, you will be returned to your posts soon as I’ve seen to him regardless of what happens. You have my word. And my husband’s. Don’t they Kotoyuki?’
‘They do.’
‘Thank you. Now, I take I’ve made myself clear. If you would still like be returned to your posts, make haste and vacate the room.’
Hinako was expecting some retaliation. The Tsuneki and their residents were very proud people. To them she was a nobody. Her word held no gravity here.
Yet none came.
With their heads inclined as low as walking with their chin down would allow, they scurried off and shuffled out of the room.
One by one.
Hinako could hardly believe what she had achieved until Kotoyuki pressed up against her, a large hand coming to grope her hip.
‘Are we sure they’re all gone?’ She asked him, eyeing the slides for any shadows.
‘Every last one of them.’ He said at her nape, already husking.
She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and immediately shied away when he bit her neck, making her give him a look as she covered the spot protectively.
‘What’s gotten into you.’ She looked at him strangely, brows drawn.
‘You have no idea what seeing you speaking to them like that has done to me.’ He said hoarsely, pulling her back, kissing her throat and squeezing her behind playfully.
‘Actually I think I have an idea.’ She deadpanned, feeling his erection pressing up against her. His hand came to her obi but she stopped it before it fell. ‘Wait.’
He sobered a little, looking at her questioningly.
‘Is something wrong?’
‘… I haven’t thought about how we’re going to do this.’ She said, then she motioned to her belly. ‘This wasn’t here before.’
‘Hinako, let your husband do all the worrying. All you have to do is relax and let me please you.’
Oh. She didn’t need to be told twice.
‘Alright.’
Kotoyuki arranged them so they were sitting on the futon, her sitting on his lap and hugging his neck as he squeezed her hips and they kissed passionately.
‘Come.’ He said between kisses, moving to lay on his back. ‘Sit on my face.’
She paused to remove her lips from his and stared at him, sitting up straight.
‘You can’t be serious.’
‘I am. There’s no need to be shy, Hinako. We did this before and you enjoyed yourself very much, so much so you thought you wet yourself the first time.’
‘Don’t word it like that! I did not wet myself!’
‘No, you did not. I’m trying to make you remember how good it felt even when you were embarrassed at first. Remember how you ruined the sheets and soaked my entire face with your sweet essence-‘
‘Kotoyuki. Will you please, stop talking.’
‘Yes, my wife.’
‘Thank you. All I’m saying is I’m heavier now. I don’t want to suffocate you.’
‘Nonsense. Even if you grew as big as a house, I’d still want you to sit on my face.’
This was why people think she has bamboozled him.
‘That’s… absurd?’
‘It’s the truth. Now come, Hinako. Will you to continue to deprive your husband the privilege of-‘
She shoved her palms to his mouth to stop him there. She did not wish to know what colorful words he’d used to describe the act today.
‘Please, before you say anything ridiculous.’ Then she shifted, shimmying until she was straddling his neck as he laid on his back. Even though he looked like he was in heaven between her thighs, she still thought safe to ask. ‘Comfortable?’
He nodded, then pat her thigh, impatient and eager for more.
‘Come, Hinako. Your husband is ready for his meal.’
Inwardly she cringed before finally moving.
‘Tell me if it gets too much, okay?’ she said, lifting her hips to gently sit herself on him, trying to gauge his comfort.
What he did in response was roughly tug her down until all her weight was on him, making her gasp and start.
Was he out of his mind? She could kill him!
‘Koto- ah!’
He clearly didn’t have any interest in being reprimanded right now. He was more interested in getting his fill of her after months of deprivation.
It couldn't be more obvious that he had been starving for this.
He ate like he would never eat again, his tongue lashing brutally. He seemed determined to let it be known that he was defiling her, giving her thigh a reprehensive smack when she tried to conceal her sounds with a palm to her shaky mouth.
‘What did I say, Hinako?’ he mumbled against her core, large hands spreading her sodden folds wider as she crumbled over him to brace herself on the futon above his head. ‘Never hide your beautiful sounds from me.’
He worked his tongue on her a man on a mission, the tip of his nose fiddling with that bundle of nerves that tingled and buzzed until finally, she was pouring all over him.
It was a torrent, one he languidly drank from the source, determined not to let a drop go to waste as he held her fast by the hips and took his fill of her.
He wasn't even done when she shuffle back to sit on his heaving chest, and he smiled up at her lazily.
She feigned a face as she brushed his hair from his glistening face, the strands thoroughly soaked. The embarrassment was only half there, though she knew it would hit with vengeance later, in the moment triumph dominated.
‘Look at you, you let me make a mess on you.’ She said, gripping his hair lightly, chuckling. ‘And you look so happy about it too. How dirty.’
He squeezed her thighs.
‘You haven’t seen dirty, Hinako.’
‘Oh?’
She couldn’t lay on her back, so he maneuvered her easily onto his lap as he remained in a seated position, situating her core right above his clothed erection once he’d rid her off all her clothes.
‘Beautiful,’ he murmured as he cupped and kissed her breasts, absolutely taken. Meanwhile, Hinako tried and failed to work the logistics of this positioning.
She doesn't think she can ride him. Her swollen joints were already starting to protest from the sheer idea. She told him as much.
‘Kotoyuki. I don’t think my knees can handle this.’
‘Don’t think about it.’ He said, reaching between them to free himself. ‘Let your husband do all the work and make it up to you, my wife.’
He stroked himself a few times, the length of him hot and pulsing as it touched her skin. Hinako hugged his neck, forehead pressed against his collarbone as he lifted her slightly with one hand and aligned himself at her entrance with the other.
Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look, she chanted in her head.
‘Don’t look.’ He echoed her thoughts, drawing her attention to his face. Then. ‘Kiss me.’
Hinako closed her eyes like she was about to take a leap of fate and pressed her lips to his. When he presses forward, he swallowed her pained cry and let her dig her nails into his shoulder.
He let her adjust, distracting her with the kiss, soothing her with light passes of his thumbs over the peak of her breasts, giving her something else to feel other than the stretch of him inside of her.
It always hurt at first. It was inevitable. He was too big, and that she was already slick from her earlier release helped, but usually he would prep her with his fingers too to make it hurt less.
That was inconsequential now. He was already inside. It was already even starting to feel good, just the weight of him inside her, and he hadn’t even started moving.
‘Are you with me, Hinako?’ he asked softly, caressing her back, peppering faint kisses along the sides of her face.
‘Yes,’ now she was the one slurring, blinking lazily. Shifting her hips, she moaned at how he dragged against her walls, and she couldn’t help but try to start riding him, slow and shallow, rolling her hips and huffing hotly against his collarbone. ‘Kotoyuki… It’s so deep. I can feel your heartbeat inside.’
She was being wanton and embarrassing now, saying things she wouldn’t remember later when he’d tease her about it.
‘I know, Hinako. I can feel yours too. You’re hugging me so tightly.’
He started rolling up into her, meeting her languid movements with his shallow thrusts as he hugged her to him, intimate and tight, panting softly into her shoulder. It felt nice, but it wasn’t quiet scratching her itch.
‘More, please.’ She begged, reaching out to cup his face and even plead with her glazed over eyes.
‘Alright, honey.’
Luckily, he knew how she liked it. He knew her body so well.
He shifted slightly, moving to sit back on his heels and situating her higher on his lap without every removing himself from her.
And then, with her arms on his neck as the only thing anchoring her and his hands on her hips to guide her, he began lifting her on and off of him.
He was serious about not letting her do any of the work. It made her feel a little dirty as he bounced her on him like this, like she was a tool he was using to get himself off rather than a person. It was so lewd. And yet it was so erotic and euphoric.
She came like this on him, convulsing from her head to her toe as she clung to him like she’d fly away otherwise.
When she was so boneless after, he caught her before she could fall back and hurt herself and gently laid her down, shoving a pillow below her hip before he came to hover over her. He arranged her legs around his hip, mindful of her stomach, then lined himself and pushed in with a muted grunt.
As he took her this way, Hinako’s hazy eyes took him in.
Even in the throat of passion, he looked serious, so handsome. She caressed his face, the flawless skin gleaming faintly with a light sheen of sweat, her other hand reaching to take one of his hand braced beside her head to guide his palm to her belly, then up to her breast, where she guided him into squeezing just the way she liked.
His darkened eyes flickered below, to where her hand helped him grope and feel her, and something flashed there.
Before she could decipher what was happening, he dipped his head to capture a nipple into his mouth as he kept thrusting, making Hinako moan and arch.
Her hand slid up from his jaw to slip into his hair and she held him there against her chest, moaning as he switched from one breast to the next, licking the nub wetly before greedily pulling into his warm mouth.
He stayed there for a moment, sucking and licking repeatedly until he finally pulled back, and it was when he brought his lips to kiss hers that she tasted it, a part of her sobering.
‘That’s-‘
‘It seems your body has started preparing nourishment for our child.’ He mumbled, reaching between them to squeeze her breast again, though this time nothing came out. ‘It appears I got carried away and took it for myself. But no worries, soon, this miraculous body of yours will create a new supply. And when it does…’
His dark eyes darkened even more, flashing with something feral and filthy.
‘I will see to it that not a drop goes to waste until our child’s arrival.’
‘Kotoyuki, that’s so lewd,’
He chuckled lowly.
‘It is the truth. That’s how it should be from now on. My milk in your womb, your milk in my mouth.’
‘Koto- ah!’
He smirked and upon feelings her tell tale tightening around him couldn’t help but tease.
‘You’d like that wouldn’t you.’
His hand joined his thrust right above where they were joint and with a few skillful strokes and his terse command, she unraveled.
‘Come on your husband’s cock so he can repay you with his milk, Hinako.’
It hit her like a freight train, her orgasm, gushing out of her with an embarrassingly wet, audible noise. Kotoyuki didn’t fall too far behind, grunting as he thrust as far he could in her and twitching before a familiar warmth spread in her, first thickly, then in short, light spurts.
Usually, he collapsed onto her when they finished this way. He remained mindful of her belly, which means he would have to pull out before settling beside her and pulling her back to his chest, tucking her beneath his chin.
He was softening, but gently slid back into her, making her wince slightly.
‘You’re going soft.’ She told him.
‘It’s leaking,’ He murmured, like that was a major issue.
Which it clearly wasn’t, the sheets could be cleaned after all, nothing to be ashamed of there. Besides, he’d already gotten her pregnant.
‘You’re being unreasonable.’
He hugged her tight, snaking an arm across her shoulders while his other hand settled over her belly.
‘It has been a while since I’ve been able to enjoy this. Let me this indulgence once please.’
Hinako scoffed a light laugh but settled. As they lay there in the aftermath of their lovemaking, something crossed Hinako’s mind, her hand coming to gently rest over his.
‘Do you think the baby can feel it, when you’re-‘
‘Hinako, don’t ask me that.’
‘Do you think that’s the reason why everyone’s been so anal about-‘
‘That’s the last thing I want to think about right now while I’m still in you.’
She hid a laugh into her palm.
‘You seem to be enjoying yourself.’ He sounded very amused.
‘I am.’
His tone softened. ‘I’m glad. I think it’s been a while since I’ve seen your smile.’
Hinako pauses and turned to look at him. Then, she reached out to scratch his jaw as though she were touching a cat. He leaned into her touch, eyes fluttering shut.
‘I missed this.’ he mumbled to her.
Hinako took every inch of him tenderly. 'Me too.’
Her husband opened his eyes and looked at her very seriously.
‘What happened will never happen again. No one will ever get in between us. Not my family or anyone else. I promise, on my mother’s grave.’
She stared at him for a while before a faint smile graced her lips.
‘Even without all that, I still trust you, you know? You don’t have to mention your poor mother in her grave every time.’
‘It’s important to me that you know that I’m serious. I vowed to always be there for you and never let you down Hinako, remember?’
She smiled and it was a little wistful, being pulled back to her wedding day.
‘I do.’
‘I meant every word I said to you at the altar before our families.’
‘I know.’
‘I’ll be there in your birthing room even if they tell me it’s improper.’
‘Haha, okay, now that’s pushing it.’
His brows drew together. ‘You don’t want me to be there with you?’
‘No, I-‘ She pressed her lips into a thin line, not knowing what she could possibly say in the moment. ‘You know what, why don’t we cross that bridge when we get there. Okay?’
‘Okay.’
She was full aware that tomorrow there would be a summon.
Whether it would be a public gathering, where she’d be put on the spot while her in laws chastised her from all angles, or a private audience where she’d be warned about over assuming her importance by his grandfather, who knew.
All she knew for certain is that for the life growing inside of her, she’d stand up for herself and not go down without a fight.
Something else she knew is that her husband would be by her side, supporting her and taking her side while she did.
That was more than many woman in her position could hope for, and for that, for the kind of husband she married and the kind of pregnancy she’d been blessed with, she truly was grateful.