Soren smiled. "You don't believe in your son's charisma?"
"They like me now... because they love my son."
"You can call it that."
I felt embarrassed. This wasn't what I meant. "Did they also think I had Hale to use him as a ticket into the family?"
Soren shook his head and sighed. "You've assumed the worst, Taylor. If that were your intention, you could have demanded to join the Kenways when you were pregnant or after he was born. You wouldn't have spent a year or more raising him on your own in secrecy."
I relaxed. Soren understood my way of thinking.
He noticed the smile on my face and took my hand.
"Will you marry me?" he asked.
Back to this again?!
I averted my gaze, looking for anything to focus on. "This isn't a good time!"
My grandmother and his grandfather were sick. Wouldn't getting married now seem tone-deaf?
"Why not?" Soren asked. "Our grandparents might not have much time left. They'd want to see us happy—to see us reach one of life's most important milestones—w
