as content as could be.
Kitty couldn’t help but notice that Lilly was wearing one of her nice gowns with a blanket covering her lap and legs. Lilly was the only person Kitty knew who would insist on dressing up after something strenuous like giving birth.
“Jackson was born just before dawn,” Lilly told Kitty and Aaron, her face more radiant than Kitty could ever remember seeing it. “Would you like to hold him?”
Kitty wasn’t sure if Lilly was asking that question to her or Aaron, but Roger gently took him from Lilly and held the baby out to Kitty first.
Despite her apprehension at holding such a small human being, Kitty accepted him. A strange sense of awe came over her. She couldn’t recall ever seeing a newborn. She wouldn’t have imagined that something so little could make her heart warm with pleasure. Up to now, babies had seemed more like an idea than a reality. She hadn’t thought about what it might be like to actually have one. But it was just beginning to occur to her that she would not be in agreement to let Aaron take her child and raise him all by himself. She wanted to raise her child, too. Even if some parents didn’t want to be involved in their child’s life, she wanted to be.
There was no way she could carry a child and let Aaron run off with him. She glanced at Aaron, wondering if he was already plotting for the day when she’d give birth to a male child and he’d send her away.
“I’m glad everyone is doing well,” Aaron told Roger and Lilly. His gaze going directly to Roger, he added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so happy.”
“Besides the day I realized Lilly loved me, this is the best day of my life.” Roger rubbed Lilly’s shoulder. “I can’t think of anything that would make my life more perfect.”
Lilly returned his smile, and Kitty had to look away. She didn’t begrudge her friend a love match. She knew Lilly had wanted to marry ever since she met her. She wanted Lilly to be happy. But seeing how happy Lilly was only emphasized the stark differences between them. Kitty couldn’t have been more miserable. She and Aaron would never have the kind of marriage Lilly and Roger did.
“You should hold him, too,” Roger told Aaron when Kitty said she was done holding Jackson. “You should get an idea of what it’ll be like when you hold your own child someday.”
Kitty hesitated to hand Jackson to Aaron. Why did Roger have to say that? Why did he have to remind Aaron that what he wanted most was to have an heir so he could get rid of her? And what right did Aaron have to expect her to hand her child over to him like she didn’t have anything to do with the child’s birth?
“Kitty?” Lilly asked, a worried frown on her face.
Kitty glanced at her friend and had to fight back the tears that stung her eyes.
“Are you all right?” Lilly asked.
Kitty didn’t want to argue. Not here in this room. She’d done nothing but argue with Aaron ever since she married him, and it was exhausting her. It didn’t help that she hadn’t had more than a few minutes alone since her wedding day.
Mustering all the self-control she could manage, she handed Jackson to Roger.
“Maybe you two should go downstairs and play a game,” Lilly told Roger and Aaron.
“No,” Kitty said, her tone sharp. “Aaron and I have to stay together until our chaperones return.” She wasn’t going to let Aaron get a reprieve. It was because of him her life was so miserable. “He made that very clear.”
“I did,” Aaron added after a few moments of awkward silence hung in the air. “Our chaperones have been relieved of duty for the moment, so I insisted we would watch each other.”
Though Lilly’s eyes grew wide, she didn’t say anything. She just turned her gaze to Roger.
“All right. Would you like to hold Jackson?” Roger asked Aaron.
Kitty pretended not to notice the unease in Roger’s voice. Of course, this whole thing made him uncomfortable. It made them all uncomfortable.
Aaron accepted Jackson into his arms. Kitty couldn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see the expression on his face as he plotted for the day he could force her out of the townhouse so he could have their child all to himself. She couldn’t let it happen. She wasn’t going to let