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He leans over my body. “As soon as you were in the ambulance,Babushkacalled me. I didn’t fight. You are my responsibility to protect.” He pauses, and I can tell he’s fighting himself about something. “You’ll be under constant guard. You’ll have a monitor on you with a panic button. You will never run from me again. I love you, Lennon. I love our children. I’m going to take care of all of you.”
“I love you too.” I lean up for a kiss, but it doesn’t come.
“I could have lost you all. I would have died for you, but I know you need me alive to keep you safe. I’ll do that, all three of you.”
His words hit me. “Three?”
“Twins,kukla. You are pregnant with twins.”
“What?” I come up so fast my head spins and I fall back to the bed.
“Take care,kukla. When you came in, they were looking for the baby’s heartbeat, but they thought they heard an echo of the heart. The ER docs called in a specialist who added a second monitor, and that’s when they figured it out.” He pauses and leans his forehead against mine. His deep breath tells me how hard this was on him.
I reach up with my casted arm and brush my fingers against the side of his head.
“I was so scared,kukla. Don’t ever do that to me again.” He takes another deep breath, trying to control his emotions. “They wanted to do an ultrasound, but I told them to wait for you to regain consciousness. That you’d want to see our children.”
“Yes, my love.”
I pull his head down so I have his mouth. His lips brush against mine gently, and he only gives me a small taste, but it soothes me enough to calm down.
“Okay, let’s see these babies.”
“I’ll get the nurse shortly, but you need to know what else happened.”
“Are they still out there?” I tremble as the fear of them coming after me again fills me.
“You are safe. They’re both dead and won’t ever hurt you again,” he growls. This time instead of his words scaring me, they actually comfort me. He’ll always protect me and our children.
“I love you. I knew you’d come for us.”
“I’ll cheat every time to win you. I’ll never draw dead,” he growls, and kisses me deep.
I moan into his mouth as the emotions overwhelm us both. I know the poker term drawing dead. It means a poker hand that you can’t win with. No matter what you draw, it won’t help.
When we finally part, we are both breathing hard. “I love you more than my own life. I’m not a good man, but you make me better.”
“Please take the restraint off. I want to touch you without the cast,” I beg him, and he reaches over and releases the latch to the bed, but the cuff is still on my wrist. I brush my hand against his face. “You are the best man for me. I’d cheat to keep you too.”
He leans his forehead against mine, and this time his deep breath is more of a sigh.
“In order to protect you all—you, Ainsley, and Lyric—you must be claimed, or the Italians and Irish will come after each of you in revenge. I protected you. Alek and Lyric seem to know each other, and he’s spoken for her. Your sister Ainsley needs protection, or the Italians will kill her. Whatever their father got them involved in could get them killed. As it is, the Irish are demanding payment for Lyric.”
This situation scares me, but I’m happy that he’s protected me. I know he married me originally for protection at that time, but we would have married eventually. He loves me deeply, just as I love him. He is mine and I am his.
* * *
Dmitri
The ringing of the doorbell tells me our guest has arrived. I hate putting Lennon through any stress. The doctors gave her the go ahead to go home yesterday after a day in the hospital. Our babies are healthy and growing strong. We don’t know if they are boys or girls, but they are identical according to the ultrasound.
I have Lennon set up on the sofa in front of the fireplace. The puppy that she namedSinyak, which is Bruiser in Russian, is curled up next to her. She wanted to name him after one of her favorite movie pets. I don’t know this movie,Legally Blond, but she said we’d watch it together.
Mikhail will be here shortly. Lennon doesn’t know the plan, but this is the only way to protect them all.
I move to the door, and when I open it, I’m not shocked by the woman standing on the other side. She has several facial features similar to Lyric and Lennon, but she has stark bright-red hair. She’s the same height as them but has more curves. From the background I checked, she looks more like their mother.
“Ainsley, I presume.” I offer her my hand. She looks down at it and then turns up her nose before she nods and moves around me. I should stop her, but I know she’s checking on her sister.
