Chapter 2

My feet are off the ground, my body spinning in the air as Boris holds me tightly.

“We are really doing this?”

I beam down at him, his blue eyes shining as bright as my heart. “Together,” I confirm.

“Together,” he mimics as he places me back on my feet.

“Together,” Cillian agrees, coming up behind me to press a kiss on my neck.

“How did you make this big of a mess baking cupcakes?” Cillian jokes.

I laugh. “A girl never reveals her tricks.”

“I am certain that is only for magicians,” Boris says with a grin.

“Well then, consider me full of magic. Try the cupcake.”

I can’t wait for them to know the gender and read the name I picked out hidden under the desserts. The moment I saw it, I just knew.

They each bite halfway through the cupcake, frosting covering thier lips when they make eye contact right after seeing the color in the center.

“A girl,” Cillian chokes out, tears swimming in his eyes. I nod, suddenly unable to use my words as emotions nearly suffocate me. It’s as terrifying as it is beautiful.

Boris picks up the piece of paper on the plate. “Aiden.”

Cillian lifts me into his arms this time, and Boris crowds me from behind as tears of joy slide down my face.

“She is going to be so loved,” Boris vows.

“Cherished,” Cillian promises.

“Protected,” I swear.

=====

“The nursery is more beautiful than I could have imagined,” I tell Boris as I walk into the finished room.

Soft pink walls are decorated with golden crowns, and a cream-colored crib with a matching plush rocking chair adorns the room.

“That happens when you have endless amounts of money,” Cillian says, plugging in the lamp next to the rocker before placing one of my favorite white blankets on it.

“This little one is going to be spoiled,” I say, rubbing my belly; Aiden kicks me in agreement. I can’t help but laugh at the perfect timing. Her sassiness is coming out before she’s even entered the world. These men really have no idea what they’re in for. Boris and Cillian watch me contentedly before coming over to feel her.

They have only recently been able to feel her move, and I swear most nights their hands never leave my belly.

“Just like her mother,” Boris agrees.

I don’t think I have ever been happier than I am right now.

“I am not spoiled.” I playfully swat him in the chest.

“Oh, Sweetheart,” Cillian says with a chuckle, “you’re treated like a queen, and that little one is going to be a princess. Don’t even try to convince us otherwise.”

It’s true and I know it; but banter is, and always will be, my first love. “We don’t need to be treated like royalty.”

Boris pulls back and looks down at me, his brow furrowed almost in horror.

“Tell that to Alexi, who just bought the bassinet that rocks the baby every time they make a sound.”

I gasp because that’s the one thing I wanted more than anything else on the registry everyone forced me to create.

“Really?” They both laugh then.

“Spoiled rotten,” Cillian says before tickling me.

We run around the nursery as I try to escape him, happiness surrounding us as pure as the light from the sun.

=====

“Tilt your head back a little and relax, Love,” Cillian instructs. I’m lying on the couch in his room while he sketches my very pregnant belly to frame for the nursery.

Pillows prop me up from every direction, and I don’t think I’ve been more comfortable in weeks.

“Are you happy?” Cillian asks, his pencil moving over the paper while his gaze remains on me.

I smile as I look into his dark eyes.

“I’m comfortable, spoiled, and so full of happiness I could puke.”

His lips lift so wide he looks slightly unhinged.

“I thought the nausea phase was over.”

“Oh, it is. Now it’s the hormonal stage where every emotion feels ten times as strong.”

Cillian gets to his feet, stalking over to me like a predator. He insisted I take my clothes off for the sketch so he could get the perfect form of the baby.

It was total bullshit, but I played along because the fuzzy blankets he laid down for me felt amazing beneath my skin.

“Does this feel stronger too?” His fingers trail down between my legs, my breath hitching as he glides them to that perfect spot, humming low in approval.

“Does that answer your question?” I ask, parting my legs for him.

=====

The sweet smell of bubbles surrounds me as I watch candles flicker, the flames casting us in a warm light. Boris holds me close as we soak in these last days of peace together.

Soon, we’ll have a little one to tend to, and these nights will be few and far between. Gentle fingers rub circles on my belly, and Adien kicks as if she knows exactly who is doing it.

“I think that tickles her,” I say.

“Mmm, or she just has the hiccups again.”

Aiden has had relentless hiccups, sometimes so strong that they even wake me in the middle of the night. But right now feels different, as if she is trying to push Boris’ fingers away with her feet.

“She is so strong,” Boris says as he feels her increasing her efforts. I can see the slight outline of her foot as she stretches my stomach, and Boris covers it with a chuckle.

When his movements still, and he holds me close, she finally settles. My head relaxes back on his shoulders as we soak in the peace, and I breathe in my favorite scent.

“I love you, Lisichka.”

“I love you too.” My fingers weave between his on top of my belly. “Together?”

He presses a kiss to my temple as he whispers, “Together.”

=====

I can’t see anything, but I feel it. Pain. All-consuming anguish. The peaceful dream of what life would have been like had we not gotten that phone call begins to fade. In its place is agony.

It drenches me from head to toe, mentally and physically. There’s yelling all around, and I can feel the panic in the atmosphere. It’s like I’m drowning in my own blood.

When my eyes open, that is all I see. Blackness surrounds me as I lay in an ever growing pool of crimson.

My hand flies to my stomach, my first thought of Aiden, but my palm connects with nothing.

She's not there. No one is there.

A bloodcurdling scream rips from my throat, a sound so powerful and full of anguish that I’m sure it splits the realms.

Grief fills me, bringing with it complete devastation and the sensation of loss so potent that my limbs begin to tremble. This can’t be happening. She can’t be gone this quickly.

I had only just allowed myself to love her. To believe that we could do this. I just started to have hope.

But as sure as the sun is going to set, I can feel it in my bones. Aiden is gone, and I am left an empty, lifeless shell.