Epilogue
MAXIM
10 years later
I wink at my wife over the table that I claimed her on last night, and ten years ago, and she gives me a slow, sexy smile in return.
“Daddy! Cut my potatoes?” Lilia says, nudging her plate towards me.
“Of course, mila’ya.” I lean over and slice the perfectly roasted potatoes. Our chef really is a marvel.
We’re having Sunday lunch, as usual, with just the eight of us. I love it when we go out with the extended family, all the Love sisters and their husbands and children, but with three Russian Bratva bosses and more than a dozen children between us, it’s always chaotic.
Six children, six times Hayley has been pregnant, and now she is more beautiful than ever.
From giving orders to cut throats to taking orders to cut up food, life has changed since Hayley has been in it, and we had our precious, troublesome kids.
“Dad, where do potatoes come from?” Our eldest, Damien, pokes the offending item with his fork. He’s nine.
“Russia,” I reply promptly. “And yes, you have to eat our national dish. Beloved by both Russians and the English.”
“Yeah, but really…” Damien is sceptical. I have a tendency to tell him stories…
“When a daddy potato loves a?—”
Damien groans and the other kids all giggle, except the little ones, who are too young to understand my terrible joke.
“Potato,” declares Leo, on my other side from Lilia, and only two. He abandons his spoon to take a piece of starchy goodness in his tiny fist and hurl it onto the floor next to me.
“Like father, like son.” Hayley gives me a flirty smile, and brushes her hair from her eyes. On her inner wrist I see a flash of her tattoo. The words, “You’re Mine”, and my name beneath, in my handwriting. I have a matching one that curves over my wrist.
I know she’s thinking of the evening all those years ago when I tipped everything on this table onto the floor so I could put a baby in her.
Claim her as mine.
I lean down, pick up the bit of discarded potato, and smile to myself at the gold and resin that fills the dents and scratches in the wooden floorboards. I decided when I cleared up the mess the morning after to make a feature of the imperfections I had created. Because something as wonderful as Hayley giving herself to me should be celebrated, not hidden and repaired as though it’s embarrassing.
But we don’t tell the kids about the real reason for the gold.
“Do you know why we have gold on the floor?” I ask as I sit back up and put the potato aside and clean my hands on a napkin.
“Was it a goblin?” Mikhail asks. My second boy is a sweetheart. No violent instincts for mafia work at all. I wonder if he’ll be an artist. He wants to be a writer at the moment. “Goblins like gold.”
“Well, actually there was a goblin involved,” I reply. “As a side-kick.”
Hayley is laughing as she spoons food for our gurgling baby, Maria, who is in a highchair next to her.
“But it was a pirate, asking you to hide his gold.” Damien rolls her eyes. “Daaaaddd we’ve all heard your stories.”
“Actually, I haven’t told you this one.” I tell different tales every time.
“Go on.” My wife smiles indulgently.
“Before you were born, there was a monster in London. As you know, she is the most beautiful lady in London. I was delighted when she visited me here, but the monster?—”
“What sort of monster?” Mikhail cuts in.
“A dragon.” I don’t think I’ve used a dragon before. “The goblin told the dragon about your mother’s great beauty, and he was jealous, and wanted to steal your mother from me.”
“Oh no!” Sasha puts her chubby little hands over her mouth.
“He insisted I fought him for your mother’s hand in marriage,” I continue. “We battled with swords, right here in this room.”
There are gasps from our younger kids, and reluctantly curious smiles from the elder ones.
“And this dragon had gold talons, so when he dug his claws into the floorboards as I attacked him, the gold was left behind.” I catch Hayley’s eye and she’s struggling not to laugh.
“Then what happened, Daddy?” Mikhail asks.
“He was very strong, and I was getting tired. But thankfully your mother decided she wanted to be married to me rather than a dragon.”
“What did she do?” Sasha is entranced, eyes wide.
“I picked up a vase of roses and I hit the dragon on the head with it,” Hayley replies with the utmost seriousness, taking up my story.
It’s fun to do this, and it’s as easy as breathing. We’re a team, my wife and me. “Then I grasped my opportunity while the dragon was confused.” I mime raising a sword high above my head. “And I?—”
“ Told the dragon to leave and never return,” Hayley finishes for me meaningfully, flicking her gaze to Sasha.
Ah. Yes. Our tiny mafia printsessa loves dragons. No death to dragons.
“Exactly.” I nod, lowering my arms.
“So that was it?” Mikhail says dubiously.
“Yes. He agreed never to come back, and as a gesture of goodwill, the dragon gave me five roses,” Hayley says. “To remember him by.”
“Roses!” Lilia points at Hayley’s neck, where there are indeed five roses in a curved line. If you look carefully, you can see that the five are in the pattern of fingers. My hand on her neck.
Mine.
“Exactly. I have the roses so we never forget the dragon.”
“Did Aunty Taylor and Aunty Payton have a dragon chasing them too?” asks Mikhail.
“You’ll have to ask them tomorrow,” I say. We’re meeting up, all the Love sisters, their husbands, and their children. It’s always chaotic, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The kids are excited to see their cousins, and immediately they’re distracted by chattering about what they’re going to do together.
All three Love sisters had their challenges getting to the place they belong—married, beloved, and back together in London. It was an honour to have a role in that.
My wife and I share a lingering look across the table, her blue eyes overflowing with love.
My cock twitches. I always want her.
My wife . I’m lost in her for a moment. She’s so beautiful. Our days and evenings are busy with work and the children, but early in the morning, before anyone else is awake, is a time for long, indulgent showers. Together. I can’t wait.
“Daddy, potato!” Lilia exclaims. “Not cut right!”
Hi! I hope you enjoyed Hayley and Maxim’s story.