Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
53
Alexei
I am vaguely aware of someone trying to wake me, but I ignore the hand on my shoulder and keep my eyes closed.
When they are closed, I can dream of her. I can forget for a brief time that it isn’t real.
But the hand on my shoulder becomes more insistent. When I blink up and see Nikolai, I shove him away. He has not left my house for the last three days, and he is grating on my last nerve.
This is what I’m thinking when the ice water hits my face, followed by a stinging slap. I’m already wheeling back my chair, preparing to murder my half-brother once and for all, when I am met by Magda’s angry gaze.
“Pull yourself together,” she demands. “And drink this, you will need it.”
I look down at the coffee in her hands and try to reach for my cognac instead. But she grabs the bottle and throws it against the wall, smashing it to pieces.
“Magda.”
“No.” She forces the cup into my hands, and I have never seen her look so crazed. “I have news for you, Alyoshka. But you must pull yourself together first. You look like death.”
I don’t know what other news she could possibly have, but when Magda is insistent I know there is no arguing about it. So I drink the coffee while they both watch me. When I have finished, I set down the cup and Magda hands me my jacket.
“I will tell you in the car. We must go, now.”
“I am not going until you tell me.”
“The news is about your wife,” she says.
And then she walks out of the room, leaving me to trail after her and Nikolai in my annoyance.
“What about my wife?”
I try to reach out and grab her arm, but for a woman of sixty, Magda is surprisingly fast. The car is already waiting outside when they open the door, and my body is growing tense. Anxious.
Nikolai slips into the driver’s seat while I reach out and stop Magda.
“Tell me now.”
“She is not gone, Alyoshka,” she says. “There is still hope.”
It occurs to me as I yell at Nikolai to drive faster the reason they waited to tell me the news.
I need to get to her now.
To see it firsthand before I can believe it.
I need to see my sun.
Finally, my phone buzzes and Lachlan’s name flashes on the screen. When I accept the video call, the first words out of his mouth are the ones I need.
“She is resting up now,” he tells me. “She did a grand job of it, Alexei. Baby Nikolaev did not want to wait any longer.”
It relieves me and angers me at the same time. I want to see her now. See her alive and breathing. But there is still so much distance between us.
“I should have been there.”
“I know,” Lachlan agrees. “I’m sorry, Alexei. I thought I was doing what was best.”
Magda looks at me from across the car, and I ignore her. She does not need to tell me, I am already aware of my shortcomings.
“You were,” I tell Lachlan. “But if you ever hide my wife from me again…”
“I know,” he cuts me off. “I know, Alexei.”
“We are still twenty miles out,” I say.
“Mack and I are here,” he assures me. “We’ll hold it down until you get here.”
“Don’t leave her side,” I order. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”
“She’s not going anywhere, mate,” he assures me. “She was the one who asked us to call you.”
“Tell her that we are on our way,” Magda says, grabbing the phone from my hand. “And I’m going to take good care of her.”
She is tearing up, and so is Nikolai when I meet his gaze in the mirror.
We all look away from each other, allowing silence to settle over the car when Magda hangs up the phone.
My wife is alive. My baby boy has just been born.
And I am never going to fail them again.
54
Talia
My son is curled against my chest, both of our eyes closed when I feel his presence.
I am so tired. So, so tired.
But Alexei is here. So I force my eyes open, just in time to see him leaning down to cradle my face in his hands.
“Solnyshko.”
His voice is rough, his eyes glassy. And the very word is an apology, filled with more emotion than I’ve ever heard in his voice.
“God, my Solnyshko. I have died without you.”
And then he is kissing me all over my face, his other hand resting on our baby boy. When he turns his attention to him, I gesture for him to take him in his arms.
He does.
“Franco,” I tell him. “His name is Franco.”
Alexei seems surprised, but nods his agreement soon after.
“Franco. My son.”
“He saved our lives,” I manage to choke out.
I’m so emotional. Seeing him. Seeing them both together like this. It’s overwhelming in a way that I wasn’t prepared for.