Page 25 of Braax's Bride
“Braax, dear, how in the world will a frail thing like this be able to bear Hileth offspring?”
All the breath left Sofia’s lungs, the question so similar to ones she’d heard all too often on Earth. Prying questions that were really no one’s business but that of the couple involved.
Braax gave her hand a squeeze, eyes narrowed into a glare.
“Mother, I told you we will not be having offspring.”
Evar scoffed, waving a hand at her son as her husband sat silently next to her.
“Oh, well dear, I thought you were joking. You know how much I want more grandchildren.”
People did that back on Earth too, made your choice—or non-choice—to be childfree about themselves.Theywanted grandchildren,theywanted nieces and nephews,theywanted a playmate for their own kids. Never mind the fact that she had tried for years with no luck, treatments that caused her endo to spiral out of control, the pain utterly overwhelming until her hysterectomy.
All of Braax’s siblings stared at her, and Sofia wished she could disappear straight into the couch.
“Mother!” he barked, exasperated. “I explained this to you. Please do not bring this up further.”
“Oh, but dear, think how wonderful it would be to have your offspring around. You would be such a good father. You always talked about how much you wanted to be a parent when you were young. Your wife is selfish if she plans to deny you the joys of child rearing. Raising you and your siblings was the best thing I have ever done. I was nothing before I had—”
“Enough!” Braax yelled, standing up and dragging Sofia along with him.
Tears welled in her eyes as her husband fumed next to her, a vicious glower eviscerating all in the room.
“You will not speak about my wife that way.Iam the one who does not want offspring, and you can either accept it or let it ruin our relationship.”
He stalked off, pulling Sofia along with him as they made a swift exit, the room utterly silent behind them. Her head swam as the cool breeze blew against her, the sun blinding her for a moment after the dimness of the home. Her husband said nothing as he opened her door, gesturing for her to enter the hovercar before stalking around to the driver’s side.
It was a long moment before he got in, his eyes soft as he looked at her. He took her hand again, giving it another squeeze.
“I am sorry for what my mother said.”
Sofia just smiled, though a knot still blocked her throat, tears stinging her eyes. She needed time to think, her mind moving a mile a minute. Braax had told her he didn’t care about the reproduction aspects of mating, didn’t care that she could provide him no offspring, but that’s not what his mother said. Her heart raced as he released her hand, skillfully directing the hovercar towards the stream of traffic in the distance.
This was all her fault, for believing him, for being difficult. The familiar feelings of guilt and anxiety coursed through her, her little safety cloud struggling to hold form after the confrontation. The ride home was short and silent, tense energy emanating through the confined space.
Back in the relative safety of Braax’s home, Sofia finally spoke.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, as if he didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Pretend that you don’t want kids for my sake. You could’ve just told your mom the truth, that it’s all my fault, that you got a defective wife.”
He looked physically pained at her words, moving close and trying to put his arms around her, but she held her hands out to stop him.
“Sofia, why would you say that? You… you are not defective. You have done nothing wrong.”
“Stop lying to me!” she yelled, anger threatening to bubble over. “You told me you didn’t care about children… when we first met. And I believed you.”
Braax eyed the ground, shuffling his feet with his arms behind his back like he did when he was nervous.
“I… apologize. I will admit, I was shocked when you told me you could not bear offspring. Though my familial obligations were the main reason I contacted the agency, I did think that perhaps I could start a family, have children. But I wanted to try things out with you, and now I am perfectly happy. Please, you must know that.”
“Try things out with me?” Sofia struggled to keep her voice calm. “And if you didn’t like me, were you just going to return me?”
“That is not what I meant…”
But thatiswhat he meant. He had wanted a woman who could satiate his human perversion and his family’s expectations, his own desire for children. And what he got was her, someone who could not accommodate all of those things.