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“I’m so sorry,” she told me in a shaky voice. “I don’t know how you don’t hate me, too. I mean, I’m his daughter. I—”
I hushed her with a kiss, stopping the ugly words from touching either of our hearts. When I felt the tension ease from her shoulders, I lifted my head. “Nothing, ever, could make me hate you, Tavia. You are all that is good in this world. I don’t know how you came from a man who was so evil, but by some miracle, you did. And for that, I’ll always be thankful to the man.”
“Does it make me a bad person that I’m glad you killed him and Yerik?” she asked hesitantly.
“No, baby. Not even a little,” I assured her. “If anything, I would think it bad if you weren’t at least a little glad Yerik is dead.”
“He always made me feel uncomfortable. Maybe I should have just told your mom I didn’t want him to drive me. But she was only being nice, and I didn’t want to be rude.” Her chin started trembling again. “If you hadn’t shot him, he would have raped me. I know he would have.”
Renewed rage at the motherfucker had my muscles twisting into knots. “No, he wouldn’t have. Because I would have broken his fucking neck before I let him touch you again.”
“I believe you.”
Chapter 23
Theo
Hearing those words coming from her was the best thing I’d ever heard outside of her saying she loved me. I couldn’t hold back another second. I needed her, all of he
r.
“Did the doctor say anything about sex?” I rasped, kissing my way down her neck.
“He might have,” she murmured.
“Tavia,” I growled and was rewarded with her giggle.
“Yes, Theo. It’s safe for us to have sex. It has been for over a week now. Maybe longer since I didn’t really bleed much with the…” She trailed off, and when I looked at her face, it was to find fresh tears in her eyes. But I knew those weren’t happy tears.
“With the miscarriage,” she finished with a small sob.
All thoughts of my aching cock disappeared, and I sat up, taking her with me. But instead of begging her not to cry, this time, I urged her to go ahead. She needed to cry. Needed to let go and just grieve.
I’d been so worried about her the past few weeks because she’d never once spoken about the baby, but tonight I realized that was probably my fault as well since I never talked about it either. My only excuse wasn’t a good enough one. That it hurt too much to think about what could have been.
We could have been a family. I could have had a son or daughter that was half the woman I loved more than life itself. I could have spoiled him or her, given them the best life a child could ever hope for. I could have tucked them into bed, read them stories like my parents had done for me, and loved them for eternity.
But by hiding from my pain, I’d made Tavia think it was okay to hide hers as well. I’d let her bottle it all up, suffer in silence, maybe even made her think I didn’t care at all about the loss of the child we’d created out of the love we shared.
My own tears spilled over as I cupped the back of her head and cradled her against my chest. “It’s okay, krasotka. Cry it all out. Grieve, my love.” My voice cracked, and she wrapped her arms around me tightly, offering me comfort as I was her.
“All…” Another sob took her breath away, and she gasped, shaking her head against me. “All I can think is that I finally had someone who would have loved me. Who would have been all mine, and we could have been a family. I would have belonged to someone. And now that’s… It’s all gone, Theo. It was snatched away before I could even hold our baby.”
“Tavia, you already belong to someone—me. And maybe you haven’t realized it yet, but you already have a family. Raven and Felicity and Lexa. Mom and Pops and Sofia. You belong to all of us. We all love you. Completely. Unconditionally. Forever.” After stroking a hand down her spine, I slid it around to her lower abdomen and touched the place where I imagined our child might have grown inside her. “I’m so sorry we lost our baby. But please don’t think it was your only chance at having what you’ve always wanted. Because you already had it, long before I put that precious gift here.”
One of her hands covered mine, pressing it closer. “I would have loved that baby with everything I am, Theo.”
“Me too, krasotka. I loved our baby as soon as the doctor told me you were pregnant. And then with his next breath, he informed me you’d had a miscarriage. I felt like the world had shifted under my feet. It was as if I’d lost something vital without even realizing I needed it.” I kissed her lips. It was just a soft brush of my lips over hers, not meant to be full of passion or to go anywhere, but because I couldn’t not kiss her, not touch her, not show her how much she meant to me. “One day… One day, we will have another child. Maybe many. And we will show each of them how much we love them. But we will never forget this one. I promise you.”
“More babies?” she murmured in wonder. “Y-you want to have more children with me?”
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you bless me with more children, I would be overjoyed.” I saw the indecision in her dark eyes and quickly amended, “But if you don’t want to have children, that’s okay too. All I want is you, Tavia. Everything else is just a bonus.”
“Wh-what if I can’t have more babies?” she asked in a voice loaded with pain and uncertainty.
“My sister and I were both adopted by amazing people. I wouldn’t mind if we needed to go that route. Or if that is something you want to do just for the hell of it, I’m okay with it.” I kissed her again, slower, pouring every ounce of my love for her into each caress of my lips against hers. “All I want is your happiness.”
“All I want is you,” she whispered, and then she was the one kissing me.
