Unmatched Wife: Not His To Claim Anymore novel Chapter 93

Chapter 93

Chapter 93

BIANCA

The morning sun was warm on my face as I watched Louis make his way across the monkey bars at Greenbrook Garden Park, his small tongue poking out in fierce concentration.

“Louis, be careful,” I called from my spot below him, my hands hovering near his waist in case he slipped. “You’re going too fast.”

“I’m not going too fast,” he insisted, his voice strained with effort as he swung from one bar to the next. “I’m going exactly the right amount of fast. This is professional monkey bar speed.”

“There is no such thing as professional monkey bar speed.”

“There absolutely is. I invented it.”

I pressed my lips together to hide my smile, keeping my eyes on his hands gripping the metal rungs. He’d gotten significantly stronger over the past two months, his arms more capable than when I’d first arrived. But the bars were slippery from the early morning dew, and the drop was higher than I was comfortable with.

“Two more bars,” he announced, “and then I’ll have conquered the whole-”

His right hand slipped.

I caught him before he’d dropped more than six inches, my arms wrapping around his waist and swinging him clear of the bars. He landed against my chest, his heart pounding fast against my collarbone.

“See?” I said, keeping my voice steady despite my own racing pulse. “Too fast.”

Louis was quiet for a moment, then wrapped his arms around my neck. “Okay. Maybe slightly too fast.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“But I almost made it,” he added. “Which means next time I will make it.”

“Next time you’ll make it,” I agreed, shifting him onto my hip. He was getting heavy–a fact my back reminded me of regularly –but he still fit against my side like he’d been made for that exact spot. “But for now, I think it’s time to head home. We have to leave in twenty minutes.”

“Can we stay just a little longer?” His most persuasive voice, the one that had successfully extended bedtime stories from one to three on multiple occasions.

“Not today. I have a shift at noon and I need to drop you at school first.” I started walking toward the park exit, Louis still perched on my hip. “But we can come back this weekend. Maybe Saturday morning before your swimming lesson?”

He considered this with the gravity of someone evaluating a significant business proposal. “Can we get ice cream after swimming?”

“If you practice your freestyle without complaining about getting water in your eyes.”

“My eyes are sensitive-

“Deal or no deal, Louis.”

“I

“Deal,” he agreed, resigned to the terms of the negotiation.

The garden park was quiet this early on a Wednesday morning Mostly retirees walking dogs, a few other parents with young children, the occasional jogger. Autumn was beginning to settle over BloodMoon City, the leaves on the trees shifting toward

Chapter 93

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gold and amber, the air carrying that particular crispness that came just before the temperature really dropped.

I’d been living in this city for nearly two months now. I knew which coffee cart did the best flat whites, which route to the hospital was fastest on foot, which days the park was crowded and which days it was peaceful.

I was building a life here. A real one, with routines and rhythms and people I genuinely cared about.

Louis had started telling his kindergarten class that I was his mother in official terms, not just at home. His teacher had pulled me aside during pickup last week to check that this was accurate, and I’d said yes without hesitation. Because it was true. Not biologically, not legally yet, but in every way that actually mattered.

‘Mummy, look at that bird,” Louis said, pointing at a large crow that had landed on the path ahead of us. “It’s looking at us like we owe it something.”

‘Maybe we do,” I said. “Maybe in a past life we borrowed money from a crow and never paid it back.”

Louis dissolved into giggles, and I felt warmth spread through my chest.

My phone alarm beeped from my jacket pocket–the fifteen–minute warning I’d set to make sure we left on time.

‘Okay, that’s us,” I said. “Time to go.”

‘One more minute-”

‘Louis.”

‘Fine.” He tightened his arms around my neck, settling in for the carry to the car despite being perfectly capable of walking. ” Mummy, when I grow up, can I be a doctor too?”

‘You can be whatever you want to be.”

“But specifically, can I be a doctor? Because then we could work at the same hospital and have lunch together every day.”

The image of it–Louis grown up, confident, sitting across from me in BloodMoon General’s cafeteria–made my heart squeeze with something that felt like pure joy.

“I would love that very much,” I said.

“Good.” He seemed satisfied. “I’ll specialize in dinosaur medicine. For when they come back.”

“An excellent specialization-”

“MUMMY!”

The shout came from somewhere behind us, cutting through the morning air with startling clarity.

I spun around, my heart hammering.

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