When Her Death Couldn't Break Him (Cecilia and Nathaniel) novel Chapter 2181

Silence—vast and humming—stretched across the line until she could hear only the blood pounding in her ears.

Her heart lodged in her throat, each beat roaring like thunder between her ears.

Charlotte perched on the edge of the bed, moon-washed light striping her knees. Oh, no... What if Sven doesn't want this baby? What am I supposed to do then?

After what felt like an eternity, Sven's voice rumbled through the speaker again. "Why so sudden?" he asked, the low timbre edged with startled wonder rather than rejection.

Charlotte's pulse stumbled. The single question, weightless yet ambiguous, dropped into her chest like a stone through thin ice.

But Sven kept talking, his tone steadying as though he had found firm ground beneath him. "I'm nowhere near prepared. We're not even married yet... Looks like the wedding schedule needs to move up—fast."

The words sent Charlotte's emotions rocketing like a faulty rollercoaster—plunging into darkness one breath, soaring into sunlight the next.

Disbelief shimmered behind her eyes, fragile and bright, as though hope itself were afraid to be stared at for too long.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was little more than a trembling thread.

"Let's get married, and the sooner the better," Sven replied. "Once your belly starts to show, a gown will be awkward, and tongues will wag. I don't want you to shoulder that kind of stress."

He remembered her quiet complaints about how strict and old-fashioned her relatives could be, and he wrapped his plan around that memory like armor.

Hearing him plan a future instead of an exit made Charlotte's eyes sting with grateful heat.

She realized the tears gathering in her lashes were not born of sorrow but of a wild, irrepressible joy.

"I thought you didn't want children so soon," Charlotte whispered, anxiety fraying the edges of her words. "You said a baby might become our weakness."

On the other end of the line, Sven listened, shoulders squared as though she could actually see the determination settling over him.

"I know I once said I didn't want children so soon, but the child is already on the way, and that means we bring him—or her—into the world with every ounce of care we possess. I refuse to let the idea of a weakness scare me into abandoning the woman and baby I love with every fiber of my being. What sort of man would that make me?"

Charlotte pressed the back of her hand to her trembling lips, the sound that escaped a half-sob of relief and delight.

"H-How silly of me," she hiccupped between soft cries. "If I'd known you'd react like this, I'd have told you sooner."

For days, she had lived in dread of his anger, each hour stretching like wire; now the tension snapped and dissolved.

"Are you crying?" Sven's voice spiked with concern. "Are you feeling unwell?"

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