Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4) by Sarah O'Rourke Page B

to get used to hearing and
knowing.”
    Furious, Honor ground
her teeth together so tightly that her jaw clenched.  “What’s wrong with my
body, Ezekiel?  Why did I need surgery?” she asked, obviously done discussing
their relationship with him.
    Zeke sighed. 
Fuck, but he hated to tell her this shit.  He knew she’d just eventually use it
as one more goddamned reason that they couldn’t be together.  He knew as soon
as he told her, she’d assume her perceived diminished ability to provide him
with a family would be one more nail in their relationship coffin.  It wouldn’t
matter that both Dr. Sanderson and Mack said she’d probably be able to have
kids without a single problem even with having only one set of reproductive
organs.  It wouldn’t matter to her that even if she COULDN’T eventually give
him a biological child, he could care less.  They could hire a surrogate.  They
could adopt.  Or, he could just spend his life being gratefully happy that he
had Honor in his bed.  None of that would matter at all.  Because Zeke KNEW
without a shadow of a doubt that Honor wouldn’t see it that way.
    “Zeke, I’m
waiting.”
    He also knew she
would dig at him until he answered her damn questions.  Lifting his eyes from
where they’d clung to their joined hands to Honor’s impassive face, he decided
to rip of the bandage and just hit her with the truth.  “You lost your left
ovary and fallopian tube.  Doctor Sanderson and Cain tried to save them, but
you started to bleed out and saving your life became the priority.”
    Honor’s breath
caught as she absorbed that blow.  Finally, she slowly nodded.  “Okay,” she
assented softly.  “Now I know.”
    He could tell the
news was killing her by degrees and Zeke automatically moved closer to her. 
“No, you don’t know.  It’s not as bad as I can tell your mind is working this
up to be.  You can still have babies, Kitten.  Your right ovary and tube are
fully functional.”
    “There aren’t
going to be any babies for me, Ezekiel, because there’s not going to be any man
to give them to me.  I don’t WANT a man to give them to me,” Honor denied
softly, shaking her head quickly.  “So, this isn’t a big deal at all,” she
tried to say lightly even though her voice sounded unnaturally thick.
    Catching sight of
the nurse in the orange scrubs heading back down the hallway toward their
cubicle, Zeke intentionally made himself relax.  “We’re about to have company,
baby, but I gotta say, if you think that one day you and I won’t be working on
a little Monroe, you’re not nearly as smart as I gave you credit for being.”
    Honor gasped as
the sliding door opened again and the nurse stepped inside with a syringe in
her hand.
    Zeke merely
shrugged and grinned at his girl.   “Told ya, Kitten.  Done with the tiptoeing
around,” he reminded her with a teasing wink while the nurse injected the dose
of morphine into Honor’s IV.
    Hampered by the
other woman’s presence and the quick-acting medication, Honor wasn’t able to
respond to him before her eyes drooped shut.
    But it wouldn’t
have mattered to Zeke.
    Come hell or high
water, he was going to school Honor McKinnon on her brand new reality. 
    A reality that
would include Ezekiel Monroe in a starring role.
     

Chapter Three
     
    December, 2015
    November bled easily
into December as both Honor and Patience continued to heal inside the safe
confines of Paradise General Hospital under both Abel and Zeke’s watchful
eyes.  And while both their mama and auntie healed, triplets, Bronson, Harriet,
and Granger flourished under the attention of their family. 
    Zeke had gone back to
work while Honor was healing, more determined than ever to find a lead into who
had attempted to run Honor and her sister off the road, but so far he’d come up
with a grand total of nothing.  In a town where everybody always seemed to know
a little something about everything, strangely, nobody claimed