A Secret in Her Father's House, A Pregnancy Neither Can Hide novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Her Terms

Henrik got up off his bad knee and sat in the chair across from her.

He put his hands on the table between them, palms up.

"Go ahead," he said.

Alana pulled the blanket tighter and looked at the river.

She had written the list at four that afternoon, on the back of a boat invoice, and she knew it by heart.

"One," she said. "Where I live."

"Here."

"Don't tell me. I'm telling you." She met his eyes. "I live here, because I choose to. It's my house too. Not your guest room, not your study. When I come to the door, I come in as someone who lives here."

"Yes."

"I'm moving into your room. The study is mine. It's an office, with a door that closes, and I work in it."

"Your firm..."

"Wrote to me this morning." She almost smiled. "The partner who got Trenton's call said the firm doesn't discuss its people's private lives. He asked if I'd like to go on working remotely until the spring."

Henrik's eyebrows rose.

"Trenton's call helped me," she said. "I almost feel sorry for him."

"Don't."

"I didn't say I would."

She drew a breath.

"Two. The doctor, and the counselor in Portland, and I choose the days. You come to every appointment, because I want you there, and I say so. If I ever don't, you stay home and you don't ask why."

"Yes."

"Say it properly."

"Yes, Alana."

The word did the same thing to her it always did, low and bright, and she let it.

"Three. The baby."

He went still.

"Its last name is Koskinen. Its first name is mine to choose, and I'm not going to tell you until I'm sure. You can have a vote, and I can say no."

"That's fair."

"And nobody else decides what to tell it. Not you, not my mother, not Sigrid. I'll tell it myself, when it's old enough to ask, with the truth in plain words."

"Yes."

He said it without hesitation, and she saw his eyes were wet.

"Four," Alana said.

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