Around a weak later when King and Queen returned, they were back to nagging the two of us about the same thing. Right after our 2-year wedding anniversary, King and Queen began seriously pressuring Reiner and me to have children. With Reiner preparing to take over the business from King and me figuring out the whole orphanage business, having children was the furthest thing from our minds. Now that things have settled down somewhat, my in-laws were back to applying pressure on us.
King had always been outspoken in pushing for us to have children so that there would be at least an heir to inherit this business empire while Queen was a little more understanding. Now that Reiner had taken over the business and my orphanage work had settled down, it seemed like we had run out of excuses not to produce an heir.
Dinner with my in-laws quickly became something that I dreaded because I knew what they would talk to us about. It doesn’t matter how good their moods were or what topic the conversation started off with, in the end, the conversation would steer towards asking us when we would start trying to conceive a child. At first, I tried to laugh it off or offer some kind of excuse. However, as time went by, the extent of their demands became too much to simply ignore or take lightly.
“Knight, when are you planning to have children?” Queen asked from across the dining table.
Great. This conversation has started again. I glanced over at Reiner to gauge his reaction. Reiner stared back at his mother with a set jaw before his hand moved to pierce the steak on his plate with his fork. His parents watched him in silence along with me as Reiner began cutting his steak into a small piece before shoving it into his mouth and chewing on it.
Queen blinked rapidly a couple of times when it became evident that Reiner had decided to completely ignore her and her query. At that point, the tension was so high that I didn’t know what kind of face I should be making. Reiner was probably beyond sick of hearing the same question asked over and over again over dinner and I couldn’t blame him.
“You’ve taken over the company now, it’s time that you start trying to make a baby. I don’t mean think about it, I mean to actually work on it,” King stated firmly.
I glanced over at Reiner. Once again, he had absolutely no reaction and no come back to what his father had said. It was like he didn’t hear anything at all. King’s stern gaze shifted from Reiner to me, and I froze. Great, what am I supposed to say now?
“Natalia, you want to have Knight’s children, right?” King asked cunningly.
“Well, yes…I do…” I replied in a small voice.
“Did you hear that? Your wife is waiting to have your child…” King said as he turned to Reiner.
“Thank you for inviting us to dinner. Natalia, let’s go…” Reiner said emotionlessly.
I didn’t have enough time to react before Reiner had gotten up from his seat and then his hand was yanking up my arm. He pulled me to my feet before dragging me away along with him. I turned to offer King and Queen an apologetic smile before following Reiner out of the room.
“I’m sorry…about that…” I apologized softly.
Although I wasn’t sure what I did wrong, I still felt like I should apologize for myself and also on behalf of King and Queen. Reiner was not in the best of moods and their intervention just now probably just made it worst.
“Come here…” Reiner said softly as he beckoned with his hand for me to come closer.
I took a few steps towards him until I stood right in front of him. Reiner let out a sigh as he pulled me into his warm embrace. His arms around my back felt heavier than usual and so did his head as he leaned it on top of mine.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I know that you’re tired…and sick of it…” I whispered to show him that I understood.
Reiner was beyond sick and tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. It drained him and he didn’t want to deal with it. Even I could guess as much. I was beginning to feel the same way. After that disastrous dinner, no one brought up the topic of us having children again for a few weeks. During that time, I began wondering how our lives would change if we had a child and if we were ready for those changes.
…
When the time came for my routine trip to visit one of the orphanages, I was thrilled to go on a trip. The best was that Reiner had agreed to come along. Miraculously, a few things in his schedule got moved around and he happened to be free for that week. He may have to work while we were away but that wasn’t something that we couldn’t figure out and accommodate.
“You look really happy…” Reiner said observantly.
“I do?” I asked with a laugh as if I didn’t already know that.
I was looking forward to seeing some of the new processes that the team had implemented at the orphanage. In addition, I looked forward to seeing and spending some time with the children. The cherry on top was that I would also get to see Kat. It had been so long since I got a chance to meet her. After trusting me and following me to that orphanage on that day, Kat had become an indispensable part of the team and had remained at that orphanage since.
“You really do…” Reiner stated with certainty.
“I can’t wait to go…” I admitted gleefully before my smile widened even further.
Reiner laughed at me, and I felt so happy that I could still bring a smile to his face. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the relationship between us was strained because of the issue of having children but that topic did become sort of taboo between us, and when faced with it, things did become a little awkward.
–To be continued…