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He lies beside me. “Remember that first day that I caught you?"
"It’s a core memory,etched into my brain for eternity. How could I forget?”
“I remember wondering how you were so damn fast. Now I know. You’re a fucking prodigy.”
“Why thank you.”
We lie there in the flowers until the sun begins to set and a chill comes over us. I think I even fall asleep a little. These carefree days after the death of my enemy and my family’s disappearance have been nothing but peaceful.
I went shopping with Marialena, and then we took a trip to Boston to meet the rest of her family. Well, actually, my family too now, I guess. I'm thankfully not nauseous at all, and my prenatal visits have gone perfectly. The whole family is so excited. Ekaterina has already had me picking up purchases, though she says it's against Russian tradition to buy anything for the baby ahead of time, because it could be bad luck. This is a little bit of a problem because Italians play very differently, but that's alright.
"We should go home,” he finally says, leaning up on his elbow. With his hair tousled and his eyes twinkling, he almost looks boyish. Yet there’s still an edge about Aleksandr Romanov that will always be there, something that tells me his innocence is long since passed, though there's a playfulness that marriage and having children have brought back.
"I'd like that.”
"What do you think about taking a trip to Tuscany in the fall? You still have months before you have the baby. We can visit the Rossi’s vineyard…”
“Oooh. Perfect.”
As we walk back home hand in hand, I marvel to myself that I tried to run away from the only man that ever loved me.
I couldn’t be happier that he finally,finallycaptured me.
EPILOGUE
Harper
“There. Lift your chin up.”
Aria lifts her chin up and stares at me, speaking through lips that barely move. “I cannot believe you do this every single day.”
I smile. “I definitely do not do this every day, but on a day like today, we need to.”
Aria’s mentioned wanting me to do her make-up for a while, and since today is a family photo shoot, it’s fitting. She’s not a fan of the full make-up routine and really, who can blame her.
“Then how do you look so flawless?” She asks with a sigh. “That perfect skin. Those gorgeous beach waves. Not a single eyebrow out of place and yet if I so much as misplace my tweezers for likeone day,and believe me that happens, I practically have a unibrow.”
“Listen,” Polina says, chomping on a carrot from the veggie tray Ekaterina’s arranged next to the trays of sandwiches andcookies. “You just feel blah right now because you just had a baby. There’s stretch marks and all sorts of things happening to you. And let’s be honest, Harper’s a natural beauty.”
I blush and shake my head, but Polina holds up a hand. “Honey, you wake up in the morning and make morning breath smell nice. Just accept a compliment for what it is, okay? Italians have good genes.”
I grin and Polina rolls her eyes. “Look at herteeth.”
“Now those are due to my mother’s insistence on braces and whitening strips,” I admit.
“Hmmm.” Aria scratches her chin.
“You’re perfect,” Mikhail says, shaking his head. “You look beautiful, Aria. Come on, it’s time.”
“You guys have it easy,” she says, shaking her head at all of them. “Matching suits. Take a shower, fingers through the hair. Shave or touch up the beard, depending on who you are. You have no idea how easy you have it!”
Aleks’s eyes twinkle at me as Mikhail brings her over to where the photographers waits for them to take their pictures.
“You really do steal the show, you know.”
He kisses me full on the lips.
Polina rolls her eyes. “Go ahead, get all lovey.Carbsdon’t leave you on read or forget your birthday.” She takes one of the sandwiches from the tray and a bag of chips and walks away, shaking her head.
