Chapter 37 Emil
EMIL
Now that our daughter was born and the worries about the stress of childbirth had passed, Sadie was more relaxed and no longer treated like a patient with concerns. Nurses came in and checked on her vitals constantly. Doctors stopped in to make sure she was beginning her recovery well too.
Even though there were causes for concern to get her into the hospital, everything settled down after my daughter was born. The worries about Sadie’s blood pressure hinted at pre-eclampsia, but with the induction the doctors put her on, delivering the baby solved it.
I wasn’t letting her leave until we had triple checks that she was okay. I couldn’t bear the idea of Sadie being hurt or suffering. And when we would head home, we’d have Dr. Hannan and nurses on site to fully check on her.
The peace and love that filled me at seeing my daughter wasn’t going to wear off soon. Because Sadie was in a private suite, we had plenty of room to relax and meet our precious child.
A chair was pulled over toward the bed for me to sit on. Sadie insisted on having someone check me over and clean me up while she napped, and hey, who was I to argue with a short and stubborn badass like my little agent when she wanted to rest?
My injuries were minimal, mostly superficial. It didn’t take long for a couple of nurses to stitch me up. Alexsei stopped in to bring me clothes.
He damn near cried in happiness at seeing my daughter. While I showered, he held her and cooed to her, warning her that no man was ever going to be good enough for her.
“You got that right,” I joked after I came out of the shower, clean and bandaged up.
“How is she doing?” Alexsei asked of Sadie, nodding at her while he held our sleeping daughter.
“Tired. As expected.” I smiled as Sadie stirred, proving that she was still a light sleeper.
She sat up and smiled at Alexsei, but he didn’t stay long, excusing himself when Sadie tried to feed our daughter.
“What should we name her?” I asked as I sat next to her on the bed.
She sighed. “I like Carina.”
I had been wondering about Katerina. It was close. I kissed her and stroked my finger over our daughter’s cheek. “Welcome to the world, sweet Carina.”
“It fits.”
“And it’s also a name I know Gabriella wasn’t considering.” As if on cue, my phone rang.
It was a sense of déjà vu, seeing my father holding a baby girl twice in one day, in different places. On the video call, though, he held up his daughter.
“Hello there, Sister,” I greeted.
“Oh, my God.” Sadie grinned. “Gabriella, look at that hair!”
She had a full head of dark brown hair, unlike the light brown Carina had in a thin fluff.
We shared congratulations, and vice versa. She had delivered a girl as well, and Dr. Hannan was still proud to say there were no complications. She also gave us congrats about how well Sadie managed.
“Carina and Helene,” Gabriella gushed. “You princesses are going to have everything you could ever dream of.”
I let Sadie talk with Gabriella a little more.
I would selfishly take any chance I could to hold my daughter and stare at her adorable face.
Time would fly. She’d grow up so quickly.
I knew it would happen because I was still in awe of how Andre was already nearing his second birthday.
It would be here before we knew it, and time would be the cruel master it was like that.
The days would be long but the years would be short. I intended to absorb and be grateful for every second I had with my family.
Sadie and Carina spent two days in the hospital, just to be safe.
While Sadie recovered well from giving birth naturally, we wanted to be extra careful with Carina, too, since she was a few weeks early.
Her weight and color were excellent, though, so we avoided any pre-term concerns.
Counting on many checkups, we would be thorough with her care.
When we came home, it was hard to have a moment alone.
Sadie and Gabriella bonded even more, delivering on the same day and acclimating to being mothers of newborns together.
My father and I were constantly running around to help, whether it was bringing water or a snack or handling the babies.
Nurses and Dr. Hannan helped too. Lev and Misha helped to distract Andre.
So many were there to help and welcome the girls to the family.
I wanted to be greedy and have Sadie and Carina to myself, but I saw how good this was for her. Sadie hadn’t had anyone for so long, and I enjoyed seeing how happy she was to be surrounded by my family, her found family.
Settling into a home of our own would have been more peaceful, but this made more sense for us.
The girls’ births were the biggest deal, especially with how they overlapped. But that wasn’t the only news that we shared in the big house.
Word of the operation began to spread through the channels, and we were all invested in what was being said.
Sadie was glad that I didn’t stop her from having access to a laptop, to spy on what was rumored about how it all went down.
I even showed her the video recording of the assault, since she wanted that closure to the mission.
Simon provided a running commentary and supply of intel about how the world was reacting to the explosion in Haiti.
It was quickly labeled an incident in the gang-infested capital of the area, warfare among the local criminals there, but we knew better. Others knew the truth too. Various criminal organizations bristled about the assault. Soon enough, fingers were pointed.
“This is why it’s better to play alone,” my father muttered at breakfast, when it was mostly just us men in the room before checking on the new mothers.
“Because sooner or later,” Raisa said, seated with us as she finished her breakfast, “infighting will start up.”
“And the whole group implodes,” Ivan finished for her.
She nodded.
“But this time,” I said, “we prevented the group from really taking off. It couldn’t be infighting if they were still forming the alliance.”
My father shrugged. “It was only a matter of time.”
“Those who are making the accusations about who directed that attack are the ones who had a decoy sent there,” Alexsei said.
He was right about that. The people who complained about the assault and accused others of being behind it were giving away the fact that they likely had stakes in the Obsidian Eye.
Those would go on the watch list that Sadie would oversee remotely, with Simon’s cyber help.
“You’ll need to watch for any survivors, though,” Raisa warned. She would be the expert on that. Her father was rumored to be dead for years before he made his comeback and made her life hell. I didn’t blame her for wanting full closure so no ghosts could come back to bother the family.
“We will,” my father said. “We always will.”
I shared his ramped-up sense of protectiveness.
I felt that same sensation, this skepticism of something threatening my daughter.
I’d always appreciated how much of a guardian my father was for the whole family, but now, it was more personal.
Becoming a father gave me an additional sense of possessiveness and fierceness.
That night, Sadie and I had privacy for the first time since she delivered Carina in the hospital. We had dinner in my room, and once Carina fell asleep, I held Sadie against me in bed.
Instead of talking about Carina, which was all we wanted to talk about, I filled her in on what I spoke about with my father and the others.
She listened, calm and considerate like a dutiful coworker. When she mentioned points about follow-up after the assault and further monitoring, I smiled. She was such an asset. Those dumbasses at the agency were missing out by firing her.
“What’s that smile for?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
I shrugged.
“Nope. No, no, no. Emil…”
“What?” I laughed at her pout.
“We can’t have sex for a few more weeks.”
I laughed harder, trying to be quiet and not wake up Carina sleeping in her bassinet. “I’m not allowed to smile at you without it having to mean I want to make love to you?”
“I don’t know.” She furrowed her brow. “Are you able to do that?”
I kissed her. “I wouldn’t ever jeopardize your health or comfort. The doctor said six weeks, and that’s final.” I held my hands up to show that I wasn’t going to try anything funny.
“Five weeks and two days,” she corrected with a sexy grin. “But who’s counting?”
“Hmm-mmm,” I murmured. “Who’s counting?” I kissed her tenderly, loving how she sighed against me again. “I was smiling because I was thinking about how lucky I am to have you, how lucky my family is to have you, too.”
“That’s funny. It amazes me every day that I’m fortunate to have ever found you.”
“Well, you did suck at staying on my tail.”
She mocked a gasp. “No. I just hated the possibility of meeting my match. You are sneaky and stealthy.”
I recalled that fascination with her that started from noticing her watching me at the airports.
“But you are mine. You’re my match, Sadie. As partners, as my little agent, as my good—” I frowned, glancing at Carina.
“Yeah, it sounds different now, doesn’t it?” she joked with a little laugh.
“You are my good girl,” I told her. I cringed.
“And she is also your good girl.”
“It’s in a different context.”
She nodded. “Of course. But… yeah…”
“Hmm. Then maybe I should think of another endearment for you.” I kissed her slowly, but she whined lightly when she pushed me back. “ You’re my bad boy,” she teased. “Five weeks, remember?”
“And two days.”
She snuggled up against me again.
“I have met my match in you,” I told her, determined to get through this moment to the end. “And I would love it if you might want to help me tell the rest of the world that we are a match that will never break.”
Reaching down to my pocket, I slowly sought the ring box I’d picked up from Alexsei earlier that day. He’d gone out to pick it up from the jeweler I’d called to have it custom made.
“You’re my match, Sadie. The agent who failed to capture her target.”
She rolled her eyes at my teasing, but the smile on her lips didn’t disappear.
“How about you be my wife, too?”
“Oh, so now, you’ll let me capture you and keep you?” She grinned.
“You already did.” The first sassy look she gave me, and I was hers. That initial thrill of playing cat-and-mouse with her sealed my addiction to wanting more of her. More of her in my life. Now with her as an official consultant and the mother of my child, I wanted to have all of her in my life.
“Yes, Emil.” She kissed me. “Yes, I did capture you. And I’m never letting you go. I can’t wait to marry you.”
I kissed her again. At the sound of Carina waking up, I smiled and slid the ring onto my little agent’s finger.
“As soon as I can,” she added.
“In a hurry?” I teased as I got up to get our daughter.
“Yeah.” She nodded with a sexy smile. “As soon as possible. I want the rest of my life to start now, not later.”
I handed her our hungry baby. Carina fussed as I gave her to Sadie, but I lingered long enough to kiss my fiancée’s lips, savoring the promise of forever with her.