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It was Konstantin’s job to show her that their becoming a family legally, because they were already a family in truth, would not be at the cost of her personal happiness.
He would show both her and Mikhail what kind of life they could have together.
CHAPTER FIVE
“YOU BOUGHT A HOUSE? Here?” Emma asked faintly, not sure she’d heard Konstantin right. “But why? I told you I would move to Seattle with Mickey.”
“Eventually,” Konstantin clarified. “And I think we will be returning to Santa Fe more than twice a year. It is a place that you love.”
She ignored the way he talked like she and Mickey would travel with him and focused on her son.
They had spent the last week together more than she would have thought possible with Konstantin’s schedule. It had become obvious to them both, from small outbursts to having trouble sleeping and disturbing dreams that sent Mickey into her bed for a cuddle, that their son needed time to adjust to all the changes in his life.
“But we discussed the move and you agreed Mickey needed time to adjust to having a dad before we uprooted him.” She’d been relieved that Konstantin hadn’t fought her on that.
Because Emma was self-aware enough to know that she needed time to come to terms with having Konstantin become part of Mickey’s life as well.
Emma had gotten Mickey a counselor to help him with the transition but wondered if she shouldn’t have gotten one for herself as well. She’d been almost as shocked when Konstantin had offered to attend any family sessions as she was right now.
“You can’t do your job from Santa Fe.” Could he?
“I will do it to the best of my ability, but naturally some adjustments will have to be made both in my palace schedule as well as my responsibilities as COO.” Konstantin sounded way too calm about that, considering what a workaholic he was. “My father and brothers will be stepping into the gap and we are promoting someone to work directly under me in a managerial capacity.”
“But...all that...so Mickey and I don’t have to move right away?” He was putting his precious business second?
He was allowing others to fulfill his palace responsibilities?
Konstantin had never done that when they were dating. Though he’d been very respectful of her time, his had always been in short supply.
“You both have a life here. Mishka will be graduating from preschool in a matter of weeks. It would not be fair to take him away from the teacher he admires so much before the natural separation of him moving on from preschool.”
“I agree.” Only Emma’s plan had been for her and Mickey to stay in Santa Fe until then, while she put her house up for sale.
The prospect of finding a home in Seattle to move to was daunting. She would have to find a job there as well. There was just so much to do.
Overwhelmed by what it all meant, Emma pushed her food away. Konstantin had asked to meet for lunch so they could talk without upsetting Mickey. She wished she didn’t have to be part of this conversation either.
It was just all so much. She’d worked so hard to build her life here in Santa Fe and now she had to dismantle it.
Sometimes, she wished she could go back and deny, deny, deny. Only that was impossible now. She’d been the one to insist on having a paternity test done. She wasn’t having anyone question Mickey’s parentage.
Whom was she kidding? She would never have denied Mickey his chance at having his dad in his life. No matter how hard that change might be for her.
Konstantin looked at her with concern. “It is my hope that you and Mikhail will move in with me, getting him used to having me around while staying in Santa Fe.”
“What?” Move from her little house? The one she’d bought with no help from anyone else?
“Surely you can see this would be for the best. The counselor said that taking steps like this could help Mishka settle.”
“I don’t think she was talking about us moving in with you. We can help Mickey adjust to having you around without living with you.” Couldn’t they?
“Even if you refuse to marry me, surely you see that you and Mickey living with me would be the best course of action. Once he is introduced to the world as the new second in line to the throne of Mirrus, he will require a level of security that a place of similar size to your current home could not accommodate.”
Emma couldn’t deny it. Konstantin had already implemented security measures at her house that had required putting a portable bed in the living room for the night shift. That was not a tenable long-term solution.
“I can get a bigger house.” But she’d looked at Seattle real estate. Even after selling her current home, she wouldn’t have enough of a down payment to get anything bigger than a two-bedroom condominium. No yard for Mickey.
“I will buy you whatever size house you require, but I would prefer my son live with me.”
