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Lili mumbled again, the enunciation in the back of her throat. Totally Russian there and not that American baby speak.
"Yes, Lili, Da, Da, Da," I said, heavy on the Russian enunciation.
Lili squealed. She lifted her knee and balanced on one leg, her toes curling into the floor for support. My brows rose and I encouraged her again to take another step, holding my breath. I wiggled my fingers and made a funny face trying to make her come to me. All my daughters have taken their first steps inside our gym. I was hoping Lili would too.
Her cherry chocolate hair was tied up in some messy thing I did for her. She tried to pull it out and whined because she could not accomplish it. I gave her a stern look and she dropped her arms with a pout. My wife had been trying to teach me how to do their hair since Mia was born.
No matter how much I tried, I still could not figure out how to do it without ripping hair out.
Looking at me with massive amber eyes, Lili began to lean too far to the side. I reached out quickly and caught her, making a big splash about it so she would try again. I planted a huge, loud kiss to her cheek. Her eyes twinkled and she giggled as I stood her up again. Lili was the first of our daughters to attempt to walk by eight months. Something told me we were in trouble with this one.
"Lili, come Lili. Come to Daddy, malyshka."
She shrieked excitedly then took a step. I held my breath as she placed one foot in front of the other and stayed upright. She hesitated, and I gave her a little push, telling her to keep trying. She did it again and I waved my fingers impatiently just as she took two steps and fell into my arms.
I heard a gasp behind me and quickly turned around, blindly standing Lili up.
My wife. I smiled seeing the happiness written across her face
"Is that my girl walking?" my wife cooed.
I glanced back at Lili and let go, watching as she took three steps this time before falling into her mother's arms with a shriek. She scooped up Lili and held her tight to her chest, right above her growing belly. Lili's fat feet dangled on the sides of her waist.
Our gazes met and my stomach tightened. I will never get over the fact that this beautiful woman was now my wife. How I fucking loved her to the ends of the earth.
Her eyes shimmered up at me and her soft smile made my heart pound.
"Allo, Malysh. When did you get here?"
This was my favorite time of the day that I looked forward to after we said our morning goodbyes—when Adrianna brought all of our daughters to gymnastics practice. It was one of the very limited things she could do while being on bed rest. While she should not be doing anything at all, I knew I had to give her something, otherwise she would take the directions lightly and overdo it. She could take the girls to and from school, and she liked to bathe and put them to sleep. That was it.
I reached out to palm Adrianna's belly and stepped close to her with Lili sandwiched between us.
"Just now."
She smiled and rose up on her tiptoes to give me a kiss, but Lili gave her a wet one first. There was slobber all over my wife's cheek and she laughed. My lips twitched seeing her happy.
"Why? Did you miss me?" she asked, and she angled her brows.
"You already left me once, just making sure you were not making another run for it. I never know with you."
Her eyes lit up ready to retaliate and she punched my stomach. I grabbed her hand and held it tenderly. I looked down at her with nothing but love. I do not let her live down the fact that she left me.
My palm skimmed along her pelvis to feel her rounded stomach. Her shirt was too short and showing part of her lower belly. I loved that little space of skin on her. For someone so small, she wore pregnancy extremely well. Adrianna claimed to enjoy being pregnant, and since I loved seeing her grow with my child, it was a win for the both of us.
Breaking apart, Lili rested her head on her mother's shoulder and then placed her thumb in her mouth, twirling hair around her finger.
Though each pregnancy Adrianna glowed more than the previous one, it came with a steep price. I did not want her light to burn out and I was terrified it would. Our growing family was a heavy burden on her body, one I did not wish to keep chancing. We were fortunate enough to have made it this far after several specialists had agreed we most likely would not.
When we were told that Lili's pregnancy was the last her body could handle, Adrianna had cried her eyes out for days. We knew this would come one day. She was not ready and had begged me for one more baby, hoping it would be a boy this time. She did not want that choice to be taken from her again.
She wanted one more chance to give me a son on her terms. Our terms.
I felt we were blessed to have our daughters and I had told her it was not necessary, but Adrianna had this incessant need to defy all odds.
We had argued about it at first. A lot.
Adrianna was the love of my life. We had walked through fire and hell to get here. I had told her she could fight me all she wanted but I was not changing my mind. Call me selfish, I was selfish. I wanted her to stay healthy to be with our family. I was not going to lose her for good this time, because I knew I would never survive living this life without her again.
