33. Ivan

33

IVAN

O ne month later…

I adjusted Emily in my arms as I checked my phone.

Alek had texted me again, and I sighed. With Murphy dead and the Rossinis minding their own business, we didn’t have anything crazy happening. For now. I wasn’t so deluded as to think peace would last for good. The peace Becca and I were finding together wouldn’t last long, either. It seemed that having “two under two” would be a challenging trial, but at least we would have staggered ages between our kids. Nik and Amy would have two babies at the same time any day now.

Alek: I think Maxim feels left out.

I rolled my eyes, following Becca through the studio space.

“What?” she insisted playfully, looking back at me. “Why’d you roll your eyes like that? Don’t you think those windows look lopsided?”

I smiled at her. “I was checking in with Alek.” Then I furrowed my brow. “And no, they’re not lopsided.” I bumped her hip, making her step off the thick rug. “You were lopsided.”

She made a silly face at me, walking around and checking out the studio property I wanted to buy for her. If it suited her needs. And if it checked her preferences.

“Da, Da, Da, Da.” Emily babbled away in my arms, filling me with so much joy that she was already identifying me as her daddy.

Just yesterday, I got the papers of official adoption, and I would never forget the soulful euphoria of knowing I really had a daughter.

Alek: He’s mentioned it three times now.

Alek: That he thinks he doesn’t do enough for the family.

I shook my head. He always did. Our youngest brother was more of a behind-the-scenes man, but he was important. He’d moved from doing bookkeeping under our uncle to all kinds of administrative tasks for Alek. He knew how to fight like the rest of us. He stepped up to be backup as needed. I’d forever be grateful for his help tracking Becca when Dom took her from that sex club.

Alek: I think he’s hoping for something more dangerous.

I let Emily down to toddle after Becca in this wide-open space.

Ivan: Or maybe he wants to be trusted with a job or mission on his own.

Ivan: Assign him to something so he can get a taste of what it’s like out there.

Alek: I think I know exactly what to assign him to.

I huffed a laugh, pocketing my phone. Then why ask me?

“Something wrong?” Becca asked, holding Emily’s hand as she approached me.

“No. Just brother stuff.”

She grinned. “Ah.”

I draped my arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. “So, a no on this place?”

She nodded. “It just doesn’t feel right. And kind of far from home.”

Home, as in the brand-new apartment we’d chosen together. It seemed smarter to start over in a new place, not the penthouse where I’d first taken her. Where we lived hardly mattered to me, just as long as it was with her and Emily, with room to grow.

“Ready for the appointment?” I asked, grinning.

She nodded. “Are you sure you want to find out the gender?” she teased.

“Oh, yeah.”

We headed straight there to the private office of the doctor handling Mila’s and Amy’s pregnancies. Dr. Francis was a busy lady with all of us, and I looked forward to seeing all our kids running around together, raised in a full family setting.

After we checked in with the receptionist, I set Emily on my knees and bounced her to entertain her.

“You’re going to be the best dad in the world,” Becca said as she rested her head on my shoulder. Her red hair tumbled down, and Emily giggled, reaching out to grab it.

“I already am,” I corrected her.

She leaned up to kiss me. “That’s right. I still can’t believe the adoption papers came so quickly.”

That’s how things work in the family. The documents were legitimate, but we had our ways of bribing for speedier outcomes. That didn’t hold true here, though, as we waited for the ultrasound appointment well past its scheduled spot.

“Sorry!” Dr. Francis said twenty more minutes later. “Babies. They never go according to my schedule.” She winked at Becca as she moved the wand over her belly. As she asked her a few questions about her pregnancy with Emily, I focused on distracting Emily from wanting to wander and climb in here.

“You’re sure you want to know?” the doctor asked after she confirmed the baby was growing appropriately. I had to give her credit. Not once did she slip with a pronoun when she pointed out all the measurements and whatnot.

I nodded. “I am.”

Becca took my hand. “Me too.”

“You see this here?” Dr. Francis pointed to a shape on the screen. I didn’t want to admit it, but I still had no clue what I was looking at on that contrasted image.

“Is that a penis?” Becca exclaimed.

“Penis!” Emily parroted.

I shook my head, laughing as I hugged her close.

Becca laughed. “Emily!”

“It’s a boy?” I checked, already getting ahead of myself, thinking of names, wondering what sports we’d play first, if he’d have Becca’s red hair…

A son!

She nodded. “Yep. You’ve got a healthy baby boy. Congratulations.”

I stared at the image while Dr. Francis cleaned up the gel on Becca’s stomach. After the doctor left, seeking her assistant to arrange Becca’s next appointment dates, I gazed at my woman and smiled.

I saw the rest of my life in her warm stare of love.

“I’m the luckiest fucking man alive,” I said.

She widened her eyes, sitting up and covering Emily’s ears.

I smirked. Like she wouldn’t hear profanity sooner or later.

“A daughter.” I kissed Emily’s curls. “A son.” I leaned down and kissed Becca’s stomach. “How about you be my wife and we’ll be a complete family?”

Her jaw dropped. “Was that…? Are you proposing?”

I nodded and pulled the ring from my pocket. Emily reached for it, but I was quicker, slipping in on Becca’s finger and feeling smug that it was a perfect fit.

Just like she was in my life.

Grinning, she leaned up and kissed me. “Okay,” she said against my lips.

“I swear I’ll love you forever, Becca Valkov.”

It had a much nicer ring to it than Murphy.

“No matter what,” she promised right back, “I’ll love you, too.”