The Wife He Forgot to Marry (Winona and Yule) novel Chapter 397

"Actually, before I tell you," Stefan said smoothly, "go pour me a glass of water."

Winona gave him a strange look but dutifully got up, went to the kitchen, and brought him a glass.

Stefan took it with a smile. "Thank you."

He took a sip, then set it down. "The reason I refused to talk about you being sick the other day was because I hadn't figured out how to explain it without us getting into a fight. I decided to drop it.

"But watching Greta today made it click. You two are exactly alike. You're both terrified of inconveniencing the people around you. But being family—being in love—means *bothering* each other. If you're afraid to lean on me, eventually, I'll be afraid to lean on you. We'll just bottle everything up, secretly guessing what the other is feeling, hurting for each other but totally unable to fix it. Winona, if we don't fix this between us, we'll never be able to teach Greta how to fix it in herself."

Winona sat frozen.

Hearing the depth of what he had really been feeling, a sudden prickle of heat rushed to her eyes.

"I'm sorry about the other day," she said softly, meaning it.

Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Ms. Jowett, step one is cutting back on the 'sorrys' and 'thank yous.' If the mood strikes me and I want to kiss you without asking permission, am I supposed to apologize first? That really kills the romance."

Winona couldn't help it. She let out a watery laugh. "You're surprisingly good at this parenting thing."

Stefan leaned back, looking extremely confident. "I figure practicing with Greta will make us pros by the time we have our own kids."

The smile instantly vanished from Winona's face. She looked down at her lap, the old grief pulling at her chest.

"What's wrong?" he asked, instantly catching the shift in her mood.

"I... I can't have children," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "If that's a dealbreaker for you, I completely understand. We can end this right now, no hard feelings..."

He reached out and caught her hand, his thumb brushing gently over her knuckles. "Winona. There are a dozen different ways to build a family. We can adopt. But if you keep doubting my commitment to you and trying to push me away, I am going to be genuinely hurt."

Winona looked up at him. Yulen would have used a moment like this to guilt-trip her. Stefan just held her hand tighter. The heavy weight in her chest lifted. "Okay. I understand."

***

Later that night, Winona called Rhea and recounted the conversation.

"Damn," Rhea breathed. "Stefan Goddard is the real deal. Winona, you seriously hit the jackpot this time."

Winona thought about how Yulen had constantly used her family against her as leverage. Compared to Stefan, Yulen wasn't even half a man.

In the car, Stefan looked in the rearview mirror. "You saw how terrified the principal was yesterday. If anyone even looks at you wrong, call me, and I'll come handle it."

Greta tilted her head. "Aren't you super busy?"

"Not at all," Stefan lied smoothly.

Greta looked unconvinced. "You stayed up all night working, didn't you?"

Stefan blinked. "How did you know that?"

"I read my grandpa's medical journals," Greta said matter-of-factly. "Lack of sleep and high stress change your complexion and cause dark pooling under your eyes. If you keep pushing yourself, you're going to damage your foundational health. You need to rest. Don't drain your body's batteries."

She had noticed her mom looking exhausted lately, too. She had dug through the old holistic journals to find the right restorative herbal soup recipes, double-checked them with Winona, and had Lexie brew them for her mother.

Stefan looked at Winona. "She's got a real gift for holistic medicine."

Winona smiled proudly. "She really does. It's a shame my grandfather passed away. If she could have apprenticed under him, she would have absolutely taken over his clinic one day."