All Chapters of Married to my Fiancé Uncle: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

ELENA POVBy the fourth month, the morning sickness had finally eased, replaced by a steady, constant hunger that sent me raiding the kitchen at odd hours and a new habit of resting one hand against the small, barely visible curve of my stomach whenever I paused between tasks. Damien noticed every time, though he'd learned not to comment on it unless I invited him to, simply watching with the same quiet fondness that had become, over the past months, one of my favorite things about him.The studio kept growing busier despite everything, the Vance scandal still generating steady attention months later, and I found myself balancing design meetings against doctor's appointments with an efficiency that surprised even me. Priya had become something closer to a business partner than a favor owed, handling the financial side of the label while I focused on the creative work I'd spent years dreaming about before any of this life had found me."You should slow down," Damien said one evening,

ELENA POVTessa organized the baby shower with the same relentless enthusiasm she'd brought to every major event in my life since we were children, transforming the estate's smaller sitting room into something soft and bright with pale yellow ribbons and more flowers than seemed strictly necessary for a gathering of fifteen people."You didn't have to go this big," I said, watching caterers arrange tiny pastries on tiered trays while Tessa directed traffic with the confidence of someone who'd clearly been planning this for months."I absolutely did," she said. "You spent your entire first pregnancy announcement hiding in a bathroom crying about a cheating fiancé. This baby deserves a proper celebration, and so do you."I couldn't argue with that logic, settling into the chair of honor she'd arranged near the center of the room. At the same time, guests slowly filtered in, Beatrice Marchetti arriving with a gift wrapped so elaborately it looked more like art than baby clothes, Priya

ELENA POVLabor started for real two weeks past my due date, in the middle of the night, with a kind of unmistakable certainty that made the earlier false alarm feel almost laughable in comparison. I woke Damien with a hand pressed hard against his shoulder, my breath already catching against a pain sharper than anything the Braxton Hicks contractions had managed to produce."It's time," I said. "This is different. I can feel the difference."He was out of bed before I'd even finished speaking, moving with the same focused efficiency I remembered from every crisis we'd survived together, though something in his hands shook slightly as he helped me into the car, betraying the calm he was clearly working hard to maintain for my benefit.The drive felt both endless and impossibly short, contractions arriving closer together with every passing mile, and by the time we reached the hospital I'd stopped trying to speak through them entirely, simply gripping Damien's hand hard enough that he

ELENA POVThe email arrived three months after Carolina's birth, sitting unread in my inbox for nearly a full day before I finally found the energy to open it properly. A buyer from a well-established boutique chain in Milan, expressing interest in carrying my label internationally, citing the Vance scandal coverage that had apparently traveled considerably further than I'd ever imagined possible."This is enormous," Priya said, reading over my shoulder with the same sharp focus she brought to everything. "Elena, this isn't just one boutique. They're talking about a full European distribution deal. This could genuinely transform the label.""I have a three-month-old.""I'm aware," Priya said dryly. "I'm simply pointing out that opportunities like this don't typically wait politely for convenient timing."I brought it to Damien that evening, finding him in the library with Carolina asleep against his chest, a position he'd perfected over the past months despite his early uncertainty

ELENA POVTessa called me at eleven that Thursday night, her voice pitched somewhere between breathless excitement and genuine disbelief, barely giving me time to say hello before launching into a detailed account of her evening."He pulled out my chair," she said. "Actually pulled it out, Elena, like some gentleman from a different century. And he asked real questions. Not the performative kind people ask while waiting for their turn to talk. He actually listened to my answers and followed up on them.""That sounds promising.""It was better than promising. It was terrifying, honestly, how easy it felt." Her voice grew quieter, the usual chaotic energy settling into something more vulnerable. "I haven't let myself want this kind of thing in a long time, you know. Easier to focus on everyone else crisis than risk my own disappointment.""I know," I said gently, thinking of all the years Tessa had spent prioritizing my own disasters over any version of a life for herself. Drivin