Melissa laughed. "So you are still considering it."
"That is not what I said."
"It sounded suspiciously close."
Phei kissed her cheek before she could continue ruining his dignity. "Anyway. This is about our baby, not the woman who apparently abandoned her future husband and expects excellent reviews afterward."
Melissa's shoulders shook with another laugh.
Phei smiled against her cheek, then looked down again. His palm returned to that gentle, almost unconscious stroking over her stomach.
"I think that's why a daughter keeps appearing in my head," he admitted. "Maybe I've always wanted that little girl somewhere in my life."
His expression changed as soon as he said it.
The idea was suddenly no longer abstract.
Phei could see pieces of her but of course with not a face. His imagination did not know whether she would have Melissa's features or his, whether her hair would be dark or whether some buried Dragon inheritance would decide ordinary genetics lacked ambition.
