Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Viktor
God, she was beautiful.
I had seen her in the most expensive gowns with diamonds around her neck. I had seen her in PJs with her glossy hair messed up around her head. I had even seen her nude and glazed with sweat, with my hand around her throat as she screamed my name.
But I had never seen her look more beautiful than she did now.
The moment I had seen her, I knew this time, I wouldn’t be able to ignore her. Even when Ivan went to get rid of her, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from going to her because she was my person. She always would be.
“Hello, Printsessa.” The smile that spread across my face was probably the first genuine one I’d had in months, and it felt good on my face. Just not as good as she did, even with her red face and her huge, swollen belly.
Hell, even the puffy ankles were the hottest thing I had ever seen.
“How have you been?” Again, I let my eyes rake over her. Landing on her face and meeting her eyes. “You look good.”
Wasn’t that the truth, but it didn’t really do her justice. No words could, but I might have tried if we had been alone, only we weren’t, and I could feel the others watching us.
“Thank you,” she closed her eyes for a second, and I moved without really thinking about it. Sliding my fingers up her face to cup her cheek. She made a choked sort of sound in the back of her throat and leaned into my hand. My heart twisted.
“What are you doing here, Leah?” My hand dropped to the side. It didn’t matter how much I wanted her, or even how much I needed her.
For her and my child’s safety, I had to let them go. The kidnapping had proven that. And I never wanted to see her battered and bruised like she had been. I never wanted to see her in pain. Even if it meant I walked away and took that pain myself.
And it had been painful. I had people watching her. I knew everything happening in her life, but I never went to see her myself.
Because I couldn’t. It just made it too hard.
Her eyes snapped open. “I just wanted to—” absently, she brought her fingers to her lips and began to tear at her nails with her teeth. I watched for five whole seconds before I couldn’t take it anymore. Reaching out, I dragged her arm down and held it there.
“Don’t hurt yourself like that, Printsessa.”
Her eyes widened. “You still call me Printsessa?”
I chuckled. “Of course I do, Printsessa. That’s what you are to me.”
I reeled back. I ran my hand through my hair. I hadn’t meant to say that. To give her hope when there was none, but the words just slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“I mean,” pursing my lips, I blew out a breath, “what can I do for you today, Leah?”
She had to be Leah now because there had to be some distance between us.
“I just wanted to talk to you. ”
“I’m sorry, Leah, but this isn’t a good time for that. I’m just on my way out.”
Her face tightened, and her lips thinned until they disappeared altogether. All of the color drained from her face.
It was like someone stabbed her. She stumbled forward, and I caught her under the elbows to steady her.
“Leah, Leah, what’s wrong?” Her best friend rushed out of the car. His face was a mask of panic. “Leah.”
“I’m—” hunched over, she rubbed across her stomach. “I’m
Ok.”
“How long have the pains been coming?” That was Stephen, and we turned to him in shock.
“What do you mean?” Wildly, I looked around.
“Isn’t it clear, Viktor, she’s in labor.”
It was like a shock wave went through me. I moved without thinking. Wrapping my arms around her shoulders
“Is Stephen right? Are you in labor? Why did you come here and not go to the hospital?”
“I’m not—” Her face twisted again.
“How long have the pains been coming? How far apart are they?” Stephen hovered around her like a mother hen.
“I’ve been in pain for the last few days. It’s nothing,” she groaned. “It’s just been getting worse. I think something’s wrong.” There was pure panic in her voice.
“You’re in labor, Leah. I think you have been for a while.” Stephen looked at me.
“How do you know this?” My voice was tight.
He shrugged. “I have two sisters. I have been in the house both times they have gone into labor. I know the signs.”
She was in labor. My beautiful Printsessa was about to have my child. She would be in pain, and again, there was nothing I could do to stop it or take it away.
“Ok, let’s get you into the car and get you to the hospital,” Ivan stepped forward. “I’ll take care of her, Viktor.”
It was amazing how easily he took charge sometimes. Another guttural moan escaped her lips. Clutching her stomach, she looked up at me with a begging look. Like I was the only person who could take that pain away from her.
And I would in a heartbeat if I could. “It’s going to be ok, oh.”
Her water broke, soaking the front of her dress and pooling around her feet.
“Shit. Shit, Leah, we need to get you to the hospital.” Dion tried to take her out of my arms, and I pushed him back hard with one hand.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” I growled out, sweeping her into my arms. I cradled her. “Ivan, get a doctor here, now. We don’t have time to get her to the hospital. The baby is coming now.”
I moved toward the car. The sooner I got her to the house, the better.
“Viktor?”
“It’s going to be fine, Printsessa. It’s all going to be fine. Our baby is coming, and you are both going to be fine.”
Maybe if I said fine enough, I would start to believe it, because right now I didn’t. There was too much blood on her legs for everything to be fine.
“Help her.” There was more of a scream in my voice than there was in hers. “Help her or get the hell out so I can get her to someone who can.”
Clutching Leah’s hand, I leaned over her and kissed her forehead over and over again. Her skin was clammy, but I just couldn’t stop.
“You’re doing so good, Printsessa. So good. You are so brave.” I’d been saying the same thing over and over again for the last twenty minutes, and I didn’t believe any of it. I just needed her to believe them.
“Even if you got a helicopter here, it wouldn’t do any good,” The doctor said from between her legs. “Leah?”
Blearily, she blinked at him. Her face was red and screwed up.
“I’m going to need you to push harder now. I know you are tired, but try as hard as you can. Push now.”
She tucked her chin into her chest and bore down. The bones in my hand cracked because she squeezed so hard.
“Keep it going, Leah,” he urged, and she screamed.
“Fucking help her,” I yelled. I was wild with panic because that scream wasn’t natural. It sounded like she was being torn in two, and I couldn’t stand it.
“It’s killing her, give her something for the pain.”
The doctor looked at me like I was a blithering idiot, and maybe I was. I could be calm in the face of a firefight, even in the face of torture and death, but this was too much.
Anything that caused Leah to be in pain made me panic.
“I’m usually here sewing up men, Viktor. I don’t have anything safe to give her. Now stop freaking her out more and support her or get the fuck out.”
I’d let that slide, because he was right. I did need to get it together.
“One more push, Leah, and it will all be done.”
A wail split the air, high-pitched and needy, and the doctor placed a small wiggling thing on her stomach.
Instinctively, Leah reached down for it.
“Oh,” she cried.
“Congratulations.” The doctor beamed at both of us. “You have a son.”
A son. I had a son. Frozen to the spot, I stared down at him for a second before he was covered in a towel. It covered him from shoulder to toe.
“He’s beautiful,” Leah sounded dreamy. Reaching down, she ran her finger over the little red cheek. The look on her face was content.
I was guessing the look on mine was panic. I had a son.
She had given me that beautiful dark-haired little boy with his tiny fists and dark blue eyes.
“Yeah.” Why couldn’t I get the words out? Why couldn’t I move? ”
“Would you like to cut the cord?”
I shook myself at his words, glancing up at Leah, and waiting for her permission.
She nodded once, “If you would like to do that?”
“Yeah.” I reached for the small scissors as the cord was clamped. “Yeah, I would like to do that.”
I couldn’t stop looking at them both. My wife and my child.
I’d never really wanted either of those things before I had met Leah, and now, I wasn’t sure I could let them go again, even if it was for the best.
“You don’t have to stay with us.” Cradling my son in her arms, she kept smiling. “Ivan and the doctor are making arrangements, and Dion is outside. He will look after us,” Leah’s voice broke. “I know you don’t want to be here.”
I scraped the chair back and padded over to perch on the edge of the bed. “There is no place I would rather be, Printsessa.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because that’s what you are to me. My princess. My woman.” Staring down into my son’s blue eyes did something to me. I loved him explicitly.
But when I looked into Leah’s eyes, it felt like I was in free fall. Everything about her was unpredictable, everything apart from my love for her. That would never change.
“He’s perfect, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Yes, he’s perfect. He looks just like you,” she added.
I smiled. “I think he has your eyes. Kind eyes. Did you have a name picked out?” Reaching down, I held my breath as my son curled his tiny fist around my finger.
She shook her head, watching us. “Not really, I like the name Nikolai,” we said at the exact same time.
I glanced at her in shock. “How did you know?”
“He looks like a Nikolai, don’t you think? Nico for short.”
Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I pressed a kiss to her forehead. I wasn’t sure about Nico, but she could shorten his name to whatever she wanted to as long as she agreed to what I was about to ask her.
“What happens now, Viktor?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“I don’t know,” I admitted softly. “I guess that depends on you?”
Her head snapped back. “Why me?”
“Because you might decide that you don’t want to be with me. But I’ll respect your decision as long as I can still be a part of your lives.
“You didn’t want to be with me. Or are you just saying this because you want to be in your son's life.”
Bending over her I found her lips with mine. “I’ve always wanted to be with you, Leah. Letting you go was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But I needed to keep you safe, and I couldn’t guarantee that if I wasn’t in charge. Hell, I can’t even guarantee it now that I am. My father—”
“Died, I heard, and I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. He’s not important now, Leah, because he is part of the past, and I want to concentrate on our future.” My eyes locked with hers. “If you think we have a future?”
I held my breath.
She didn’t say anything. She just stared, a little line appearing between her tired eyes like she was trying to read my thoughts.
“You—”
“Look.” Fumbling for the good chain around my throat, I pulled the locket clear and opened it so she could see the two tiny pictures inside.
One side, her; on the other, our last scan photo. She sucked in a breath.
“I’ve worn you next to my heart since that night, Leah, because you are the only one who has ever had my heart. Just you and now him.”
“Then, why did you leave us? Why were the last things you said to me—”
I cut her off. “The last words I said to you were that I loved you. You just didn’t hear them.”
Her blue eyes widened. “You love me?”
“Yes, I love you, Leah. This old man has always loved you. And if you will let me, I will love you for the rest of my life. ”