25. Kelly
25
KELLY
O ver the course of the next week, Rurik and I settled into domestic bliss. Whatever that was supposed to be.
While the shock of marrying him so suddenly had tripped me up in the moment, I settled down to realize that it wasn’t how we’d gotten married that mattered, just that we had.
Oleg could’ve been kinder in his attitude about it, but following that day I officially became a Mafia wife, I came to understand that the Boss was all about business. He made taking care of the family his business, but he wasn’t a sentimental man. Just a shrewd one.
My biggest worry was that Rurik felt obligated to marry me, but he hadn’t. He did love me, and I didn’t question him about that. While it would’ve been nice to hear him say that before we’d married, I realized that he had shown me his love.
He had when he saved my life. And when he brought me to safety. He showered me with love every minute that he took care of me and made sure all my needs and wants were met. At the risk of considering myself spoiled or pampered, I saw how he truly cared for me. When I thought back to how I’d acted almost like a brat about the wedding, I was swamped with guilt and regret.
Every day, we learned a little more about each other and became the couple. And every night, we conveyed how much we wouldn’t mind starting a family. That first night we went to bed as a married couple was the first time I didn’t take my birth control pill.
Rurik and I were determined to make our dreams come true—the big family, pets, and a home.
But it’d be nice to clear away all the danger surrounding me and the people at the college.
“You don’t have to drop out,” Eva reminded me at the mansion one night when we had dinner.
Irina sat next to me, admiring the ring on my finger. Since Oleg had been involved with the wedding plan, which had been a backup plan to secure my protection if the police didn’t lose interest in me, he obtained the rings out of the vault. I didn’t even want to know how priceless this ring was. It was special just because it represented the fact that I was Rurik’s wife.
“Well, I already passed this semester,” I reminded her. “I tested out early.”
“Nerd,” Irina teased.
When Eva first brought up the matter of my education and what I’d do next as a married woman, I decided to explain that phase was over.
“It comes down to my lack of interest in going back to that campus. I don’t want to run into Jerome. I don’t want to feel like I’m pulling off some clandestine role for Oleg.” I looked at my ring, knowing it was a token of love. A love I never thought I’d find.
“I wanted to graduate and get a job just to know I could. And having a career would mean I could provide for myself. Now that I’ve let love in”—I smiled at Irina—“and I know Rurik is so eager to provide for me, it feels like I’d be smarter and happier to focus on what else I thought was so impossible in my life.”
“Like starting a family?” Irina asked, rubbing her still-flat stomach and smiling.
“Yes.” I grinned. “A family and having a home with the man I love.” I giggled, overcome with how good it felt to say that. “I’m worthy of having a family and a home with the man I love.”
Eva tilted her head to the side. “Are you convincing us of that? Or yourself?”
“Both.” I shrugged. I was ready to put my past completely behind me and focus on the future with Rurik. Sometimes, I wanted to pinch myself and make sure I wasn’t dreaming. That was how well we’d settled into being a happy couple. When I’d let my mind wander, I’d struggled with the lingering guilt I’d suppressed about my crime from so long ago, but I wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.
If I dropped out of school or if I simply quit and didn’t sign up for anything in the fall again, I wouldn’t have to risk seeing Jerome, the only other person in the world who knew what had happened to O’Malley and how horribly I’d sinned.
“So, no,” I told Eva. “I’m good with this being it. Rurik and I will go return the things I owe the library, and then that will be the end of my college experience.”
It felt damned good to say that.
“We sure didn’t last long,” Irina said.
Eva laughed lightly at her joke, and soon enough, I joined in too.
“I made it for one semester before falling for my bodyguard,” Eva said around laughter.
“And I caved after a semester and a half because I fell for my professor,” Irina added, making us crack up even more.
I held my hands up triumphantly. “And I almost made it for two whole semesters!”
With laughter and smiles, we teased ourselves about choosing our Mafia men over staying on campus. It was more than enough time spent there on my part.
I was done. Done with struggling to work and pay rent for a lousy apartment. Done being alone and avoiding anyone and all forms of small talk. And done with juggling too many classes and labs just to someday achieve success with a degree.
The sooner I could avoid any involvement with someone from my past, the better. It was also that much sooner that I could focus on simply moving on and being happy with my protective husband who would never let anyone bother me again.