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“Tomorrow, Harper. Tomorrow, we get her.”
Wait.
I stare at him. I shake my head, not comprehending. He didn’t sayvisither. He saidgether.
“We…bring her home with us? Are you serious?”
His brow furrows and he nods sternly. “You married into Bratva. She needs protection, and she’s your daughter. She isn’t safe, Harper.”
My heart’s beating too fast. I’m dizzy and hot.
“But I—I don’t even know how to be a mother.”
“It’s not that complicated,” he responds. “You love her with everything you’ve got. You show her the way to be a good human. And if there was anything your parents did that was wrong or hurtful…you do the opposite.”
I can’t help it. I smile.
“That sounds…oddly simple. And what do you know about being a good human?”
He tugs my hair again. “I was talking about how to be a good mother. Being a good father is something entirely different.”
Is it, though?
I swallow and lick my lips because the idea of Aleks…holding Ivy and trying to be a good father… I swoon a little.
“What does it mean to you, to be a good father?”
He thinks for a moment before speaking. “In my world, you show your love by being willing and able to burn the world down for the people you love. It means your undying protection, no matter the cost.”
A beat passes before I speak. I know in my heart he means every word.
“There must be more to it. Isn’t there?”
“I don’t know if there is. I’m sure you can doll it all up with things like...morals and shit like that, but in the end, do you really love someone if you’re not willing to lay down everything for them? No matter who they are? No matter what they do?”
My parents weren’t willing to give up anything for me. Not their pride. Not their time. Nothing. Parents like to lie to their children and tell them they love them, but so many people only like theideaof loving. So many want to be adored and loved back, but is that self-serving? Is that really what love is?
How would I know?
I want to know.
“Does it have to be complicated?” he asks. “We don’t even know each other but there’s chemistry here. Does marriage have to be complicated?”
“Not at all. I obey your every command and you buy me nice things. Sounds simple enough.”
He tugs my hair again.
“That sounds like a fair deal.”
We sit in silence, the weight of what we’ve revealed between the two of us demanding reverence for a little while. It wasn’t just the revelation that I have a child but so much more. We’ve both said out loud what probably neither of us has ever had the ability to say to another human being before.
I want to raise children with you.
I can be a good parent.
I can be a good spouse.
I can choose to give what I was never given.
