AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I keep thinking about how I grew up.” He reclined against the seat. “My uncle was the head of the Bratva, had all this money, and do you know why he didn’t help my mother? She didn’t want to be Bratva. So, no matter how much she complained, I got a job young. I had to work in questionable places where I was exposed to various chemicals. Little did I know the effect it was having on my lungs.”
She started to tell him that it didn’t matter what had happened or that he couldn’t blame himself, but she realized he needed to vent.
So, she listened.
“I’ve never imagined myself as a father,” he continued. “But ever since I learned about the babies, it’s all I can think about.”
“D, we’re in this together.”
“Is the reason you can’t talk to Ayesha because she’s with your ex-husband?”
“In a way. I knew they were getting close, but I didn’t know they’d moved in together when we stopped by.”
“That makes you jealous?”
“No.”
He studied her face. “You wanted to make sure she helped you for you and not because she wanted to be with him. That you could trust what she told you.”
“I’m that obvious?”
“I watch you.”
“Ayesha’s helped me more than she probably knows,” she said. “For a split second, I felt like her advice was…influencedby her feelings for Joel. But I acted like a bitch to this woman, and do you know what she said to me? That she loved me like a sister.”
Dmitri reached for her hand and stroked her palm with his thumb. “To be fair, dorogaya, these days, bitch is whatyouwould call your ‘default setting.’”
She laughed. “Do you know I actually thought I’d be able to control pregnancy hormones? I’d hear stories about crying at the drop of a hat and mood swings, and I thought,pfft. I’ll just stop it.”
“Out of your control.”
“I’m learning to accept that.”
The interior cabin went silent. They didn’t speak but didn’t look away from one another.
“I am, Sydney,” he said. “Afraid. I want to be here for them. I want to see them grow up. I’d like for us to be a family. You know that’s important to me.”
“I know.”
“Is that something you want?”
“Yes.”
And she couldn’t believe how much she did.
He sighed as though he’d been expecting a different answer, but she knew he would track her to the ends of the earth, if need be—especially with his kids inside her.
Not that she wanted to go anywhere.
“I spent my life working to make money and have made a lot of it. And now,” he motioned around, “look at me. I’ve missed so much life. Even when I had five hundred million, it wasn’t enough. I was trying to make so much I no longer felt slighted by my uncle’s indifference. That I could forget my mother scrubbing floors and being spit on. When she was sick, I worked. I worked because I wanted to afford the best healthcare for her. I didn’t spend enough time with her, and then she was gone. If I go to heaven, do you think she will forgive me?”
Sydney unhooked her seatbelt, scooted across the seat, and wrapped her arms around him. She’d feared losing Joel to death, feared being abandoned, but she saw it now. She understood now. Loving someone meant loving them through those fears. It meant optimistic futures and supporting them instead of running, hoping they would buckle and follow.
“As an almost mother,” she began, and he chuckled, “your mother would have forgiven you. From what you’ve told me about her, she would have forgiven you. I do have one request, though. While you’re undergoing treatment and these two biscuits are baking, no work.”
“Sydney—”
“Delegate, Dmitri. You do that better than anyone I know.” She passed her fingers through his hair. “Please.”
