“Huh?” Juniper had been on the verge of sleep, but those words snapped her wide awake.
A sister? She’d never heard Shanley mention a sister. And seeing the grim look on his face, she worried it was his father…
“What are you thinking about?” Shanley, seeing her mind wander, gently tapped her nose.
“It seems my mother is pregnant,” he said, his voice heavy with concern.
“Oh.” Juniper blinked. At least it was his biological mother. Otherwise, this would be… awkward.
“My mother’s almost fifty,” Shanley continued, his voice low as he stared at the ceiling. “That’s a high-risk pregnancy. It could be dangerous.”
Juniper listened quietly. He was right; it was incredibly risky.
“From the sound of it, she seems overjoyed,” Shanley said, his emotions a tangled mess. “They’ve always dreamed of having a daughter, and now their dream is coming true.”
His mother, Miranda, was in fantastic shape from years of working out, but even so… he couldn't help but worry about complications.
What was his father thinking? He usually protected his wife like she was made of glass, so how could he let her take such a huge risk?
Could his parents give him, their son, a single moment of peace? He was already managing their company and looking after his grandparents… and now it looked like he'd have a little brat to deal with, too. He wasn’t a workhorse they could just run into the ground!
“Aren’t they coming back to the country soon?” Juniper mused for a moment before offering a suggestion. “When they do, I can give your mother a check-up and prescribe some herbal remedies to help strengthen her body.”
A pregnancy at this age carried a lot of risks, but some of them could certainly be mitigated.
“Okay.” Shanley leaned in and kissed her forehead.

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