"He's not going to forgive me."

Bastien's hand tightened on the wheel. Padma didn't reply for awhile, so his thoughts drifted to the last time he saw his father—yelled at him, called him a liar, and punched him. Bastien hadn't meant to hit his dad, but he'd never let anyone call his mum names like that; not even his father. The rage took over immediately, and it wasn't Bastien's best hit but his father had twenty years on him. It could have been much worse than it was.

"Lance has already forgiven you. He would have been disappointed if you hadn't defended your mum. He raised you to speak about women a certain way, and when he didn't live up to that …" Padma shrugged. "You snapped. That's your mother, you love her—"

"Not sure I'd say so right now."

Padma was quiet even longer. Bastien watched her pick at her cuticles in his peripheral vision. He said,

"It seems like you've got something to say."

"I think about being a mum differently now I'm going to be one. I think of how terrified I would have been if this happened to me fifteen years ago. I worry I will resent our child for taking up so much of my time. I am afraid our marriage will change in a way I don't anticipate, and I am concerned I may not love our child as much as I love you."

Bastien shook his head.

"That's nonsense."

"It's not—"

"It is. Padma, I've known you a relatively short bit of your life, but three years in, there's a reason we changed our view of what our life looks like. I've got a good gig, it pays well enough, I can go back for my PhD when our kid is ten if it takes that long. I know you well enough, babe, you're concerned having a baby will slow your career." Bastien shrugged. "For most women, it probably does. I want to be a dad more than you want to be a mum, but that's not because you won't love our kid. It's because you think you have to be a better mum than you are a lawyer. That's not true, you just have to be as good."

Padma sighed.

"People will look at me differently. Once they know I'm pregnant, they won't see as much strength any longer. I'll be like every other woman—"

Bastien scoffed, "Let's make one thing quite clear, you are not every other woman. You are Padma Nurunessa Patil, a solicitor taking on the world's biggest tech companies. Most men wouldn't have the balls to do that."

"This was never in my plan. The timeline shifted and I believed I could do this, but my entire identity was my work and my marriage."

"Our child is the best part of both of those things, Dea. You told me two days ago that my mum is part of me and she loves those parts. All you need to do is keep loving yourself, and you'll see how fucking incredible our kid's going to be."

"I know, I know, but it feels so difficult." Padma covered her face with her hands. "I'm scared, Bas. Am I going to be scared for eight more months? When do I stop feeling like I've stepped off my path?"

Bastien shook his head and replied, "Every time I fall down in the ring, I hear your voice in my head. Get up, Bastien. Get up. Every time you start doubting your ability to be a good mum, hear me telling you to love yourself. I wouldn't have married you unless you were, underneath all this work woman exterior, a good person. I would never have offered to father a child with you unless I knew you would be a great mum."

"With boxing, it was always your body being mucked up." Padma admitted, "It's my body, now, and I suppose I haven't entirely accepted this adventure."

"Do you think so little of me?" asked Bastien. "I thought you knew me better than that, than to think I would desire you less after this."

"It has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with how I see myself. What if my body isn't strong enough to carry a baby? Ti and I have the same body, what if—"

"I don't think that's how this works."

"Neither of us knows how this works, Bas, and that scares me. I don't wish to tell anyone about our baby because the only thing worse than this fear would be the pity."

Bastien heard Narcissa in his head and decided it was as good a time as any to say,

"If what happened to Ti happens to you, I won't lose my head like Ced. I'm here for you, and I'm terrified because I thought we'd have more time, but I am here for you. I want you to know that."

Padma smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

"I know you are, but I'm grateful you said it, anyway."

Bastien pulled into the drive in front of that blue-green garage door and put the car in park. He turned his head to look at Padma and found himself smiling. She was so pretty, she had always been pretty, but there was something new in her eyes. Padma was brighter, somehow. Bastien said,

"We're going to be great at this, yeah?"

"So great, Bas." She turned toward the front and said, "Thank you for making me feel safe, even in this." She reached for his hand and twined their fingers together. "I cannot return the favour because I am frightened when I think about this baby. I wish I could be stronger for you."

"You don't need to be strong for me. Your job is ensuring our baby has a safe place to grow, and my job is to protect both of you. That's what it means to be a father, and I am going to protect our little girl."

Padma closed her eyes and grinned.

"You think we will end up with a girl, then?"

"I do." Bastien squeezed Padma's hand. "If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I feel like we're having a girl."

"Your dad would spoil her terribly."

"Terribly," agreed Bastien. He laughed, stepped out of the car, and closed the door behind him. He made to open the passenger door and accepted Padma's proffered hand to help her stand. "We don't have to do this today, if you change your mind."

"Not at all." Padma closed the car door behind her. "Your father will be a far easier audience than my parents."

Bastien rolled his eyes and said, "Don't I know it. What's it your mum said? 'If Bastien did one of those ancestry tests, his result would be a blank sheet of printer paper.'"

Padma giggled as they walked hand-in-hand toward the front door of the Queensbury home. Bastien opened the door and shouted,

"Dad! I'm here, and I've brought your favourite daughter-in-law!"

Bastien could smell Greek food from the entry. He and Padma toed off their shoes before walking into the dining room. The air was heavy all of a sudden. Bastien looked at his father spooning takeaway into serving plates on the table and realised he had no idea what to say. The last time Bastien saw his father, he walked away with red knuckles and his father left with blood dripping from the corner of one eye. Mr. Queensbury looked up and smiled at Padma to say,

"It's good to see my favourite apprentice." His smile vanished as he looked at Bastien. He gestured halfheartedly with the serving spoon toward Bastien and said, "Son."

Bastien dropped Padma's hand and crossed his arms over his chest, ashamed. He'd damaged a thirty-three-year relationship in a single evening. He hurt the person who had loved him more than anyone else, the man who had loved him longest. Bastien quietly replied,

"Dad."

"Bastien Edward Queensbury, why've you come if you can't so much as look at me?"

Bastien shrugged and mumbled, "Felt the need to apologise."

"Apologise for what?"

"For punching you."

"Why?"

"Because I shouldn't've done it."

"Who said you shouldn't've done it?" When he didn't receive a reply, Mr. Queensbury asked, "Do you regret doing it?"

Bastien nodded.

"Perhaps you and Padma should sit, and we can talk this out like a family."

Like a family. Padma gave Bastien a look, prompting him to reveal the true reason for their visit. He shook his head and pulled out a chair for her, before sitting in his own chair across from his father. Bastien placed a hand on Padma's thigh, trying to keep himself together. Part of him wanted to cry and beg his dad for forgiveness, but that wasn't how Queensbury men did things. Bastien's father nodded toward the food in the centre and said,

"The lady first."

"Thank you," said Padma, "I'm starved."

Bastien looked at her with both eyebrows raised. She hadn't mentioned anything about being hungry. Hell, she ate four celery sticks covered in peanut butter in the car ride over.

"Didn't feel like cooking, it was a long day in the workshop. I'm …" Bastien watched his dad wince. "I'm getting old, I think. Slower, at least. I picked up kebabs from the Greek place in town. I'd eat these things every day if I could."

"They smell delicious," replied Padma.

They ate in stilted silence for a bit, neither Queensbury man willing to start conversation and Padma busy inhaling kebabs. Eventually, Bastien said,

"I apologise for hitting you. It wasn't right, wasn't proper, and I should've handled it like a better man."

"I called your mother a whore, Bastien. You were well within your right to act as you did." Mr. Queensbury wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "Speaking of your mother, Ellie phoned me up on Monday, rather distressed."

Bastien rolled his eyes.

"Maybe as distressed as I was to learn she abandoned me at two bloody years old."

"I shouldn't have told you."

"You should have. I mean," Bastien sniffled, "not right then, probably. But I didn't react well, didn't react how you taught me. I confronted mum about it a couple days ago, she confirmed what you said, and I told her I want her to stay away from my family. I don't …" Bastien wiped a tear from his cheek. "I don't know if I'll ever forgive her."

"Son, don't cry over something you didn't remember."

"But—"

"No, you listen to me." Mr. Queensbury insisted, "I don't give a damn that you punched me. I've taken hits from blokes bigger than you, and we both know you weren't putting your weight behind it. If you had, I'd be in hospital with brain damage. There is nobody in this world I love more than you, and that's where Ellie and I diverged. She loves herself more than anyone, and that's fine except those are the people who shouldn't be parents. Did she use you to trap me into providing for her? Yes, she did."

Padma offered, "I am sorry she did that."

"Don't be. I've got the best son any man could ask for. Bas is a good-looking young man, brighter than anyone gives him credit for, humble, and somehow managed to marry a woman far out of his league. I've done better raising my son I had at nineteen than most blokes do when they have kids at thirty-five. Now, Ellie gave me that, she gave me you, Bastien."

Bastien's voice shook when he asked, "But what did she give me?"

Mr. Queensbury pointed at Padma with his fork and said, "That woman, right there. Yes, Ellie is a self-centred bitch much of the time, but it works for her. When you are around someone who believes themselves to be the centre of the universe, sometimes you have to admit they draw people in. People you otherwise would never find in your life. Even I can admit that Ellie has a unique gravitational pull. But do I hate your mother? Yes, Bastien, I do."

"Then why—"

"Because she cheated on me! I gave her everything I had to offer, and she went and found more elsewhere. Ellie made me feel like I could never be enough for anyone, for any woman. I think you kids these days call it 'trauma,' or some shit. Whatever it was, being that young and so thoroughly broken, I never healed right inside. My pride never fully recovered. That's why I was in love with a woman for twenty years and had no idea."

That landed with a resounding thud.

"I love Narcissa, she has been my best friend for well over fifteen years, and I'm sorry that you hate her so much because she is constantly impressed by you."

Bastien admitted, "I know."

"She says—wait, what do you mean you know?"

"I went to talk to Narcissa yesterday."

"Come again?" He asked, "You visited Narcissa of your own will?"

"She answered some questions for me, cleared some things up." Bastien looked at Padma, who nodded for him to go on. This was the moment. "It seems Narcissa is going to be in my life whether I like it or not, so I gave some thought to what my family looks like."

"Bastien, our family is you and me, and Padma. Everyone else are pieces that can change."

"That's just it, dad, they can't change anymore. This puzzle needs to stay where it's at because we are adding a piece."

Bastien's father shook his head and said, "I'm not understanding, son."

"Padma's pregnant."

Mr. Queensbury went eerily still. It was as though he wanted to believe what he just heard, but couldn't quite work out how it was possible. Bastien revealed,

"I had my vasectomy reversed, and we're having a baby." He paused before saying, "Padma's having the baby, I mean, but you're going to be a grandad and we wanted to tell you before anyone else."

"Oh my God." Lance grinned and shook his head. "Oh my God." He walked around the table and hugged Padma around the shoulders. "My beautiful girl, congratulations!"

Padma leaned back into the hug and gripped his arm with her hands. She said,

"Thank you, Lance."

"How far along are you?"

"Five or six weeks."

Bastien stood up from his chair and his father immediately gripped him in the tightest hug Bastien could remember. Bastien wrapped his arms around him and said,

"I saw you with Scorpius at his birthday party and I just knew I wanted to give you that myself. Never thought I could be half as good a father as you were to me, but Padma will be a great mum and together I know we can be good parents."

His father's voice was hoarse when he replied, "I never wanted to pressure you into being a father, but I knew you'd be great at it. I wanted this so badly for you, Bastien."

"Padma and I are both rather terrified."

"As you should be. It's a terrifying thing to have a child." Mr. Queensbury stepped back and placed his hands on Bastien's shoulders, his eyes watery. "But I hope that someday you are even half as proud of your child as I am of you, Bas. If someone had told me thirty years ago that my boy would be running a clinic at London's best pharmacy, helping the city's homeless in his spare time, I'd have said they were mad because your favourite pastime was running 'round with a bowl of mashed potatoes on your head."

Bastien laughed and confirmed, "All I've ever wanted was to make you proud."

"And you keep finding new ways to do it, son." Bastien's father clapped him on the shoulders before turning to Padma and saying, "Come and give me a real hug."

Padma stood and wrapped her arms around Mr. Queensbury's middle. He held her gently and said,

"I told Narcissa not a month ago how great of a mother you would be. There is a tenacity about you, Padma, that will make you a great advocate for your child. So many kids are missing that in their lives, a parent willing to fight for them. You're already fighting for kids across the continent." He teased, "What the hell's one more?"

Padma grinned and admitted, "I knew you would have precisely the words to ease my concerns. You are the best father I could have asked for."

"You're the best daughter I could ask for. If God sees fit to give me a granddaughter, I don't know if I could be any happier."

"Bas just told me he believes we're having a girl, as well."

Bastien's father teased, "Queensbury men know a thing or two."

.oOo.

Dad: Can I tell Narcissa the news?

Padma read the text aloud so Bastien could concentrate on the drive. They were approaching London and he was hardly a fan of the traffic at night. He hadn't mentioned to Padma or his father that Narcissa already knew about the pregnancy, so this solved a couple problems all at once.

"Sure." Bastien said, "Send a text for me?"

Bastien: Yes, but only if she promises not to mention it to Draco.

Bastien: I don't want anyone letting on until we're ready.

"Bas, I thought of something during dinner," said Padma, "and I'd like to know your thoughts."

"English or Bangla?"

"English."

"Good, then, because my brain's already on that setting and it's hard to shift when I'm driving."

"I hardly know how Ti does it so quickly. I only speak two languages and it's hard enough; she does six. You know she is learning a seventh?"

"How many does she need?" asked Bastien. "Bloody hell, if she and Ced have a kid he'll never afford children's books if she wants seven of each."

Padma laughed and said, "Your father took the news of their engagement well."

"I expected he would. Parvati was a bit above the rest in terms of his usual girlfriends, but still like one of them. Little more than a good time. The way he is with Narcissa …" Bastien shook his head. "I don't understand them at all. She's a terrible person—"

"I don't think she's terrible."

"I think she is less terrible than I previously believed."

Padma insisted, "Narcissa has been shamed out of high society for nearly twenty years, yet she is still counted as one of the most powerful women in the country."

"Is that why you like her? Because she's powerful?"

"No, I like her because she thinks I'm quite strong as well. It's validating to have someone of that calibre see me the way I see myself."

"Well I know you would never put our kid in the situation she put Draco in."

"You're right, because I married a better man than she did."

Bastien tried to keep the proud smile off his face. Every time she said something like that, he recalled their first meeting and how terrified he was that she would never phone him. Afraid she would disappear into the greater London thrum never to be seen again, leaving a hole in his life no one else could fill. He managed to say,

"Bar's low, there."

"Marrying you is the best decision I have ever made, Bastien. You have made my life far better than I ever believed it could be."

"Alright, alright, I'm blushing, babe, enough with the praise." Bastien asked, "What was it you wanted my thoughts on, then?"

"If we are having a daughter, I figured out a name."

Bastien's throat tightened up a bit. Narcissa had warned him of this, naming a child so early when there was no guarantee this journey would be successful. He said, hesitantly,

"Isn't it a bit early to consider names?"

"I don't believe so. In fact, it makes this much more real to me." Padma revealed, "It would be easier to discuss our baby in public if we have a name for them. For her. Instead of saying I need something for 'the baby,' I can say I need it for Morgana."

Bastien's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. God, how that woman made the perfect choices with such little effort. He kept his eyes on the road, but reached over with his left hand to give her thigh a gentle squeeze. She said,

"I wished to honour your father and your grandparents. While I never met your grandparents, I feel their influence in you. You are a provider, Bastien, because they provided for their family even amongst rather untraditional and desperate circumstances. I believed a name from the same medieval legend as your father's would be appropriate. As a second name, there was a Bengali poet in the medieval age named Chandravati. A medieval English name and Bengali name should tie the two halves of her together nicely."

"It's perfect." Bastien shook his head and repeated, "It's so perfect I don't have any other words, dea. You make all the things people say are difficult about marriage so easy. You've done nothing but make me feel like the most fortunate man in the world."

"As long as you ease everything people say is difficult about pregnancy," replied Padma, "we'll be even."

"I will do my best, for you and little Morgana Chandravati."

"The name has a nice rhythm to it."

Bastien offered, "Our lives have a nice rhythm."

"Seeing the light in your father's eyes, Bas, when you told him I was pregnant was exactly what I needed. I was scared people would look at me differently, but he saw the same Padma. He didn't think less of me, he was happy."

"Exactly." Bastien squeezed her thigh again and asked, "Have you accepted this adventure?"

Padma nodded and confirmed exactly what Bastien hoped to hear:

"I have."