Chapter 16

Lydia

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“Yes. Don’t worry, they’re going to love you.” He reaches for my hand and kisses my knuckles.

“How do you know that?”

“Because anyone who gets anywhere near you is helpless to fall in love.”

Before I can respond, a little blonde-haired girl, about four years old, comes running out with Aleksandr sharp on her heels.

“Ivy!” he snaps. “Get over here!”

“Uncle Viktor! Uncle Viktor!” She holds her arms up. Viktor opens his arms, bends to one knee, and the little girl leaps into them.

Oh my God. My heart. Goddammit.

He rises with her in his arms, his grip protective as he stares at Aleksandr. “What did you do to her?” he snaps.

Aleksandr rolls his eyes. “I didn't do anything. I told her she had to eat her dinner before she could have dessert. Don't you see how she plays you?”

A petite woman with light brown hair and freckles on her nose appears behind Aleksandr in the doorway. “That's not exactly true, Aleks. You told her she had to eat her peas before she got dessert, not her dinner. And she hates peas.”

“They're good for her,” he says, shaking his head with a frown.

“They could be the elixir of eternal life for all I care,” she says, her eyes twinkling. “But she doesn't like them, so we're not going to make her eat them.” She looks over at the little girl in Viktor's arms. “Ivy, Daddy's right. You have to at least eat some of your chicken and something green before you get dessert.”

Ivy is sobbing in Viktor's arms, huge crocodile tears streaming down her cheeks. I hide a smile because she is being so overly dramatic, it’s adorable. And Viktor looks like he’d give her damn near anything she wanted.

He whispers something in her ear, and she giggles, her grip around his neck tightening. I don’t care if I have a wall around my heart as strong as Fort Knox and made of stainless steel and diamond. No woman is impermeable to seeing the man she’s attracted to and about to marry, holding a little girl and making her smile with that tenderness and be immune to it.

I fall like a ton of bricks.

Viktor walks over to my side, opens the door with his free hand, and reaches for mine.

“Ivy, I want to introduce you to someone.”

Ivy gives one last dramatic sniff before she turns to look at me. “She's pretty,” she says to Viktor in a little voice. His lips split into a grin, such a rarity. It feels like I’m seeing the sunshine for the first time in my life.

“She’s beautiful,” he says to her, his voice strangely choked. “And she’s going to be my wife, Ivy. Do you want to be the flower girl at our wedding?”

Oh my God. My heart.

“What is a flower girl? I like being a girl.”

His lips twitch, and the woman behind Aleksandr, who I’m guessing is his wife, giggles from the doorway.

“It means that you get to have a basket with flowers, and before we walk down the aisle, you get to throw the flowers in front of us,” I explain. “Do you like that idea?”

“I think so. Is there cake at a wedding?” Ivy asks, her brows knit together.

“Not at every wedding, but I can promise you there will be cake at mine,” I tell her. “I love cake. Cake is my favorite thing.”

Ivy's eyes widen, and she looks at me in awe. “Mine too.”

“You must be Lydia.” The woman walks over to me and extends a hand. “Pleased to meet you. My name is Harper. I'm Aleksandr's wife and Ivy's mom.” She glances at Viktor. “Your mother is in there with the photographer, and she wants to talk to you about what you want done.”

“She can talk to Lydia about what she wants. You know what I want.”

Harper laughs prettily. “Yes. Lydia on your arm. A wedding ring that you can slide on her finger. And a name change that makes Lydia a Romanov.”

I swallow. She knows, too?

“He's a little possessive,” she says to me. “But you’re going to see really soon that that kind of runs in the family.”

Why does that not surprise me?

“We are so excited to meet you. These guys all have each other, but every time one of them gets married, we get another sister.” She smiles warmly. “And we love Vera.”

It feels strange that they know my sister better than I do.

“She isn’t here, is she?”

Harper shakes her head sadly. “Not yet, but they moved mountains to get her here. She’ll be here tomorrow for sure.”

A lump rises in my throat. “Great. And my mother will be here, too.”

“Yes! We love Zofia, too, of course! Let's go inside.” We walk into the house. It's imposing and majestic, just the way I would imagine Viktor’s family home would be. In another room, I see Mikhail talking to a man with gray hair and a beard. Uniformed staff walk around with trays of appetizers and bottles of champagne. I close my eyes, listening to the strains of music, and take a deep breath.

Viktor comes up behind me. “I told them you’d like that.”

There he goes again, revealing that he knows something about me I never told him. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.

“You must be Lydia.” A woman with elegant silver hair walks into the room. “My name is Ekaterina. I am Viktor’s mother.”

“I’m so pleased to meet you,” I say softly. I am. This woman helped mold Viktor into the man he is today, for better or worse.

“Is Mikhail in the other room?” she asks over her shoulder.

“I’ve heard a lot about Mikhail, too.”

“Yes, let me introduce you.”

She quirks her head at Ivy and Viktor. “Ivy, why do you have your arms around Uncle Viktor’s neck as if you’re trying to strangle him to death? What’s the matter, little one?”

“Aleks was mean to her,” Viktor says soberly. My lips twitch.

“Aleks,” Ekaterina says, turning on her other son.

Aleksandr rolls his eyes.

“He told her that she has to eat good food before she gets dessert,” Viktor says. “Imagine that, telling her she can’t have cake for dinner?”

“So old-fashioned. Never would’ve expected it, Aleksandr.” Ekaterina shakes her head.

“I’ll tell you what,” Viktor says. “If you eat your chicken, you can sit on my lap, and I’ll get you that ketchup you like.”

“Ketchup?” Aleksandr scoffs. “It’s half sugar, Viktor.”

“Says the man who used to put ketchup on his fries, mac and cheese, and filet mignon.”

Aleksandr huffs. “Operative word, used to,” Aleksandr retorts.

“You act like you grew out of it when you were five years old,” Viktor says. “You were twenty.”

I snort and Viktor winks at me. My heart does a little flutter in my chest, and I quickly turn away; I’m so unaccustomed to how this feels.

Aleks shakes his head but caves. I watch as Viktor holds Ivy to his chest with one arm and talks to his brothers. I stand at a distance as she nestles her little head on his shoulder. She’s found rest with the gentle giant.

I get it, girl. I really do. And I'm not sure how I feel about it either.

“We all need to discuss something,” Viktor says as we sit down for dinner. Ivy remains perched on his lap, clinging to him like he’s her personal fortress. “We should put the wedding off.”