Braelyn's POV
I couldn't take my eyes off Raphael as he stood there, rigid, his shoulders tense. His jaw was clenched, fists tight at his sides, but it wasn't anger that held him frozen.
It was hesitation. His eyes, so often sharp and confident, flickered with uncertainty. The baby's heartbeat echoed faintly from the monitor, and for the first time that night, I saw the conflict warring behind his calm facade. It was the first time he was hearing a baby heartbeat.
He didn't want this. Not really. He had always wanted a child of his own, yes, but this… this wasn't the plan. This was Amelia's child, and that truth sat like a weight he hadn't yet learned to carry.
I studied him closely, the way his lips pressed into a thin line, the subtle rise and fall of his shoulders as he fought to process the reality of what was happening. And yet, beneath that hesitation, I saw something he didn't know I could see. The part of him that longed for this, that always had.
