Chapter 352: A Father’s Fierce Love (II)
Edmund’s eyes widened at her confession, his chest swelling with warmth so deep it almost ached. He gently pulled Primrose’s hands away from her face, his touch tender as if she were something fragile yet precious. "Wife ..." he murmured, his voice deep with affection. "You don’t need to buy me anything. You are already the greatest gift the world could ever give me."
Primrose squeaked softly and quickly covered her face again, her cheeks blazing red. She didn’t know if it was from embarrassment or from the guilt of being caught trying to do something behind his back.
"You always say that ... but how could I give you nothing more than a pair of knitted gloves, when you’ve given me so much?" she whispered from behind her hands. "You even gave me a rare fur scarf. I ... I just want to give you something truly meaningful too. But if I use your money to buy it, the gift won’t feel like it’s really mine. It won’t feel valuable."
Edmund’s gaze softened, and to Primrose’s surprise, a chuckle slipped past his lips. What startled her even more was the word he chose next, something he had never called her before.
"Silly wife," he whispered. He gently cupped her cheeks, easing her hands away so he could see her blushing face. His thumb brushed lightly against her skin as his eyes held hers. "Do you really think I measure the worth of your love by the price of a gift?"
His lips curved into the faintest smile. "Even if you gave me nothing more than a speck of dust, I would still treasure it because it came from you."
Before Primrose could respond, Edmund pulled her into his embrace, gently settling her on his lap. "Besides, you’ve already given me something far more precious than any luxury in this world."
He placed his hand tenderly on her stomach. "This is something I could never have if it weren’t for you."
Primrose bit her lower lip, whispering, "But... we still don’t know if my body is strong enough for our baby."
Edmund replied, "It’s not just you, my wife, but also me." He lowered his head, wanting to see her face more clearly. "I don’t even know if my strength will be enough to protect both of you."
[I even went as far as talking to the doctor about getting rid of our baby once.] He suddenly confessed in his mind. [Don’t you think our baby will hate me for knowing I once wanted to kill it?]
"Our baby is really smart." Primrose placed her hand gently on his cheek. "I’m sure they’ll understand that you only thought about doing that to protect me. Our baby will know that their father loves their mother more than anything."
Edmund pressed his forehead against hers and, for a while, said nothing. The thought of having a child still left them both overwhelmed, and no matter what they talked about, the conversation always seemed to circle back to the baby.
Moments later, he finally pulled back and said, "What I wanted to tell you earlier is that you don’t need to stress about giving me gifts. I give you presents because I love seeing you happy, not because I expect anything in return."
Primrose opened her mouth to respond, but her husband spoke again before she could. "But if you really want to do something to earn money, you can talk to me about it. I’ll gladly give you the capital."
[Even if my wife started a business that lost money every month, I would still happily support her.]
Her husband spoiled her far too much! If he kept treating her like this, she honestly wouldn’t know how to survive on her own.
And yet, it felt as if he had already prepared everything in case one day Primrose ended up alone, which neither of them ever wanted to face.
Still, what good deed had she ever done in her past life to deserve such a wonderful, adorable husband like him?
"Alright ...," Primrose whispered softly, guilt lacing her words. "I’m sorry for making you look bad in front of my father." She looked into his eyes with determination. "I’ll explain everything to him and make sure he never calls you a ’bastard’ again!"
"You don’t need to worry about that." Edmund gave her a faint smile. "I know he was only angry because he loves you so much."
[Honestly, I’d probably act the same way if my daughter’s husband took her away and didn’t treat her well.]
Primrose didn’t even want to imagine what Edmund would do if he ever heard that his son-in-law had abused his daughter.
Edmund then said, "How about I bring Father here right now? I think I can take him through a hidden passage so no one will notice him leaving, even if he disappears in the middle of the day."
"Is that possible?" Primrose hissed. "I’ve actually been a little worried about his health lately. But it would definitely be more complicated if we were the ones to go to him. If you’re going to bring him here ... can you do it gently?"
Edmund nodded. "Of course. I’ll make sure he doesn’t break his back on the way here."
Primrose wasn’t entirely convinced that Edmund could manage that if he planned to bring Lazarus to Noctvaris using his wolf form. But if they traveled by carriage instead, it would take much longer ... so maybe her father’s back would still be fine.
"Alright, be careful." Primrose pressed a quick kiss to his lips, but Edmund cupped the back of her head and deepened it until she could hardly breathe.
When he finally let her go, he smiled and said, "That’s the first time I’ve given you my saliva today."
Primrose’s cheeks burned even hotter, realizing her shameless husband would probably keep using that excuse just to steal kisses from her again and again.
She gave his chest a light swat, her lips trembling between a pout and a smile. "You ... you don’t have to keep count, you know!"