Page 116 of Fractured Empire

“Are you okay?” he sets me down, immediately becoming concerned. “You haven’t been feeling good, baby?”

“Just some nausea,” I assure him with a small smile. “We’ll have to make a doctor’s appointment to get a blood test to confirm and maybe an ultrasound to see where we’re at gestation-wise, but as of right now I don’t feel anything concerning symptom wise.”

“We’ll make an appointment,” he agrees with a firm nod. “We’ll need to get you vitamins and make sure everything looks good. I can have Doc come by, or we can go to one of the offices we trust here.”

“Maybe one of the offices at first,” I suggest, swallowing a little bit of discomfort. “We should wait to tell the boys until it’s at least confirmed by the doctors and I wouldn’t want them to see Doc here and assume someone is sick.”

“Good idea.” Leon nods, lifting a hand to brush a few strands of hair from my eyes. “I…God, Katya. You, I⁠—”

He cuts himself off and I touch the side of his face, cupping his cheek. “What is it, moja láska?”

“I love you,” he confesses, the three sweet words rushing out of him. “I know the timing may make it seem like it is, but I swear to God I’m not just saying this because of the baby. I’ve been thinking about telling you this for far longer than I should admit. You’re everything to me, Katya. You and our little family, I couldn’t ask for anything more. I’m so in love with you and the light you bring into all our lives. I don’t expect you to say it back until you’re ready, if you’re ever ready.”

A watery giggle leaves me, another stubborn tear escaping the corner of my eye. “Do you want to know what I’ve been calling you this whole time? What I said I’d like to keep to myself for a little while longer?” What I just called you two seconds before you said the best thing I’ve ever heard?

“What?” he asks, confusion marring his brow.

“My love. Moja láska means my love, Leon,” I say slowly, making sure my words come out clear and precise. “I’ve been falling in love with you since I married you, one day at a time. I love you too. So much that it almost hurts sometimes. Like there’s this ache inside me that only you can quell. I fell in love with our kids so quickly, and becoming their mother only made me love you even more. I love sharing this life with you, and I can’t wait to keep growing it.”

Taking one of his hands in mine, I push his large palm flat against the middle of my stomach.

“I know there’s no bump here yet, but when there is, it’s going to be ours. Our little product of love and admiration. A little sibling for Bastian and Leo to love and adore, and someone to love them just as fiercely in return.”

“I can’t believe it happened so quickly,” he breathes out, keeping his hand in place. “It was meant to be.”

I couldn’t agree more.

“If we ever do this again, I promise to take the test with you there, or at least after telling you first,” I vow, looking up at him vulnerably. “I’ve never done anything like this before, and I don’t regret how I did it this time, but I think I’d like to have you by my side if we ever need to do it again.”

“You don’t need to promise me anything,” Leon tells me, not a hint of doubt in his tone. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Katya. And if you ever need space again to process anything, you won’t hear me complain about it. You’re my wife but you’re also a person, baby. You get to make decisions that make you feel comfortable when you need it and I’ll never begrudge you for it.”

“I couldn’t have fallen for a better man,” I croak, wrapping him up in a tighter hug than before. “You’re everything, Leon.”

“You are everything,” he counters, kissing me shortly again. Once, twice, three times. “We’ll wait to tell the kids about the baby until we agree everything is confirmed and healthy. But I’m not going to hide being in love with you for even a minute more, Katya. I’m going to tell you when they’re around, and kiss you without worrying if they’re looking. We’ve gone on enough dates for them to know that Mommy and Daddy care for each other and them.”

“Mommy and Daddy,” I repeat, lips wobbling. “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

“Neither will I.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Leon

Katya’s checkup goes better than either of us could have expected. Her blood test confirmed that she’s pregnant, and the ultrasound they did shortly after confirmed her gestational age. Five or six weeks approximately, which meant only seven weeks remaining until it’s recommended to announce the pregnancy in case of early trimester complications. Five weeks also meant that we likely conceived the first or second time we had sex.

A fact I’m sure my father would find endlessly amusing.

At this early on, we weren’t able to hear the baby’s heartbeat, but we could see a tiny little blob on the screen. The OB-GYN is the same doctor who took care of Maria and Gino’s pregnancies, as well as a few other of my men’s wives in the past. She’s a trusted woman who doesn’t have mafia ties herself, but has shown herself to be someone who can be relied on when it matters.

My wife isn’t sure if she’ll want to carry on the whole process with her yet, but she has no complaints thus far. She easily got a supply of prenatal vitamins, and advice for dealing with her nausea if it becomes worse. Apparently morning sickness can start as early as four weeks, but typically kicks in around the sixth. Some women have it worse than others, and Cleo never wanted me to know if she was having a hard time when she was pregnant with Bastian. I never saw her get sick, but she’d always been good at being discreet.

Only three days after the checkup, Katya has already proven to be more open about her symptoms. She just finished throwing up the contents of her stomach while allowing me to hold her hair out of her face and rub her back. Her eyes watered badly, smearing her mascara, which seemed to upset her more than losing her lunch did.

“Hey, hey, baby, it’s okay,” I soothe, seeing her lips wobble as she looks at herself in her bathroom mirror. “It’s just a little makeup. Here, let me clean it up for you, hmm?”

She nods, lips still shaky as I pull her organic makeup wipes out of her top drawer. She can only use these ones around her eyes because they’re sensitive, while she favors a full-on cleanser for the rest of her face. I’ve watched her get ready for bed enough times to know how she prefers to prepare herself.

She looks up while I rub gently beneath her eyes, wiping away the inky stains easily. She’s already swished mouthwash around her teeth and tongue twice, insisting that she needed to get the taste of throw up out of her mouth before it made her get sick again. Honestly, cleaning up after my drunk brothers more than once and having two kids that have both had stomach bugs before made this an easy interaction for me.