My Pretty Sweetheart (Arianna)

"Josiah didn't file a lawsuit to get Anne back, one reason being that you've already raised her for almost five years, the other being our financial situation and living conditions allow us to continue taking care of her. If I remove the contraceptive ring and get you pregnant, it'd be easy for Josiah to win the lawsuit and get Anne back, if he does decide to do so."

He spoke in a low, restrained voice. I couldn't sense any emotions in his words other than a hint of resignation in his tone.

Under the circumstances of equal living conditions and social status, the situation seemed relatively fair when it came to the law. After all, none of us were good characters to offend.

Seeing that I was silent, he held my hand in his and said softly, "There will be plenty of opportunities for us to have children in the future. Don't worry."

"But it's unhealthy for your body to have it for a prolonged period of time. Besides, even if you take it off, we're not in a rush to get pregnant, so it's fine, isn't it?" Even if Josiah did want to get Anne back, it was not necessary for us to remain childless to counteract. If things got dire, I could seek Uncle Charles for help. I was sure Uncle Charles' influence would be strong enough to suppress Josiah.

He smiled and asked, "Are you worried about me?"

lips; that went without saying. "Hendrix, you have to think about this carefully. I'm serious. If we want kids, it's best to do it within these few years. If we drag it out for too long, I'd be treated as a woman of advanced maternal age and two lives could be lost at once; it's not worth it. Then, you'll

was still plausible. I knew why he was unwilling to remove the contraceptive ring. It was

that if she left me, my condition could worsen. Thus, he was able to deal with not

was so long and we've only journeyed through a third of it.

behind good memories while still in love, that would be a true

in his arms and said in a husky voice, "No!" I didn't really know what his response meant; if he was referring to losing two

extremely soundly, having consecutive dreams intermittently. But I

my eyes fluttered open. It was such a long

to find Hendrix still in the room. "Don't you

smiled, still in his comfortable tailor-made royal blue pajamas. "It's the weekend, I'm taking a break today

my body, I felt a