Chapter 39 Sergei
SERGEI
After Owen was born, nothing seemed to darken our days. Claire was handling the post-partum process well. Mikhail was a doting father. Andre was all smiles at his new half-brother. Anya was so maternal as a big sister.
When Mikhail and Claire got married, it was impossible to miss the sense of family in the room. Not the Family. But this closeness. Kindred relations. Goodwill and everyone getting along.
A baby made everyone happy, it seemed. And it also prompted further insight for who could have a baby next.
The night after Owen came home, Mikhail celebrated with the three of us, Andre, Roman, and I.
“Who’s next?” Mikhail asked jokingly as before he puffed on a cigar.
I smirked. “Me?”
Andre raised his brows. “You? Natalie’s pregnant?”
I shook my head. To the best of my knowledge, she wasn’t. But with how often I took her and with our never using protection, I imagined it was only a matter of time.
“I meant me. With Maisie. I’ve started the paperwork to officially adopt her.”
They congratulated me, agreeing with each other that it seemed like nothing more than a formality. She clearly viewed me as a father.
“I can’t finalize that process until Natalie and I are married, though,” I added.
“When? Not if?” Mikhail laughed again, shaking his head.
Last year, when it was up for debate about how far we’d protect Natalie and Maisie, my uncle had put pressure on me whether I’d claim her as mine. To fully bring her into the Orlov connection.
“Yes, when.” I nodded and faced him directly. “I plan to marry her.”
“And who’s actually surprised to hear that?” Roman joked.
“Good,” Mikhail decided. “Good for you. It’s about time.”
“I wanted to give her time. After Maisie’s abduction and getting her to move into my room and all.”
“And that way, the pressure for us to start having families will be put on hold,” Andre teased, lightly smacking the back of his hand on Roman’s chest.
“Oh, don’t look at me.” My brother shook his head. “I’m not done yet.”
“Done what?” Mikhail asked. “Fucking your way through the city?”
“The state?” Andre joked.
“The country?” I added.
He laughed it all off. “But seriously, I’m glad for you,” he told me sincerely.
“Took you long enough,” Andre quipped.
I had to take my time, though, so as not to scare her off. And I was rewarded for my patience because I knew I’d never have to doubt the love Natalie and I now shared.
“I want you to understand that my loyalty to the family—to you—will never change,” I said to my uncle. “No matter where my life takes me, even into marriage and adoption and starting my own family, you can always count on me.”
He sighed before he reached over to hug me and pat my back.
“You don’t need to give me a speech. I know that you are loyal and always will be.
But I wouldn’t be a fair leader and halfway decent boss if I didn’t emphasize that your happiness with your woman and your child or children should come first. You work for me. But you live for them.”
I smiled, patting his back in reply. “Thanks for your blessing.”
“Is that what that was? Asking for my permission?” he joked.
“So, when will it happen?” Roman asked.
“Already thinking ahead to crashing his wedding and hooking up with whoever you can find?” Andre teased.
“I have to ask her first,” I said, looking forward to it.
The next night, when Natalie was over at Claire’s to watch the baby for a little bit, I sat down with Maisie at the table. She’d requested hot cocoas before we watched a movie, and I obliged.
It was also a good time to get her opinion about the matter.
“Maisie, did you like it when Claire and Mikhail had their wedding?”
“Hmm-mmm. The cake was yummy too.”
“What would you think about me and your mommy having a wedding?”
Silence reigned.
She dropped her spoon into a mug, splashing out some of the cocoa. Her mouth hung open in sync with her spoon falling.
Oh, shit.
I wasn’t sure that I’d ever shocked her like this. Her eyes opened so wide, bugging out at me as she stared.
“Maisie?”
“Can I get a pretty dress?”
I relaxed, breathing easier. Oh, thank God. I hadn’t freaked her out.
“A pretty dress? Sure. Isn’t that what pretty little girls wear to weddings?”
“Yeah. Unless they’re princesses. They can wear pretty dresses all the time.”
“You can wear a pretty dress whenever you want.”
She licked her lips, smiling. “Will there be lots and lots and lots of flowers?”
“As many as we can have.”
She sighed happily. “Will it be in the big ballroom?”
“Wherever we want.”
She tapped her chin. “Can I help taste the cakes before it like I did for Claire and Mikhail?”
I nodded, getting a little worried that she was focusing on what I considered the petty details while glossing over the huge one. The fact that I wanted to marry her mother. And be her father.
“We can do whatever you want. Whatever your mommy wants.”
“Really?” Her eyes lit up with more excitement.
Just what do you have in mind, kid?
“Really.”
She smiled, sipping her cocoa.
Silence spanned again for a long enough moment that I started to worry that she wasn’t letting it sink in.
“So you and mommy would be in love and be a husband and wife?”
I nodded, relieved. She did get it. “Yes. We already are in love, actually.”
“Good.” She sipped some more, getting the foam on her upper lip and looking adorable. “Does that mean you would be my daddy?”
“Would you like that?” I asked.
She nodded. “I already think you are my daddy.”
I cleared my throat. “It’s okay to still remember your father, though. You know that, right?”
“Yeah. But I don’t really remember him. I was little like Owen, and babies like him don’t remember much. They don’t even know they have toes or hands yet.”
I stifled a laugh. “That’s true.”
“Every night that I go to bed, I pray and give my thanks that Mommy is my mommy and that you’re my daddy.”
I smiled, amazed that such a little person could have such a huge power over me.
“When would you marry Mommy?” she asked.
“Whenever we figure out a date.”
“Will it be in the summer?”
I shrugged, noticing that she was right back to the minor details. Or what counted as minor in my opinion.
“Would I be able to have my hair done at the salon again?”
“Sure.”
“And you’ll wear one of those tuxedos?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Is that acceptable?”
She nodded. “Uh-huh. That’s what boys wear. Wait!”
I raised my brows.
“Can I start calling you Daddy now? Or can I only do that when you and Mommy are married?”
“Whatever makes you happier. I’m hoping that after I marry your mommy, we can be a complete family.”
She frowned. “How?”
“Well, I want to sign some papers that will mean I’ve adopted you. That you’ll legally be my daughter.”
She beamed instantly, cluing me in to how these facts were over her head.
“That means you’ll be Maisie Orlov.”
“Not Hayes? Like Mommy?”
“When your mommy and I get married, if she wants to marry me—”
“Oh, she’ll marry you.” She nodded like she was an expert to claim it so.
“When we marry, she’ll be Mrs. Orlov.”
After she let out a dreamy sigh and smiled, she perked up. “Why can’t we do that now?”
I chuckled at her innocence and impatience. “I wanted to talk to you first. To make sure it’s okay with you.”
She stood. “Of course, it’s okay. I love you and I love Mommy.” She held her hands up and shrugged. “It makes sense.”
Yes, Maisie. It sure does.
Loving Natalie made sense.
Cherishing Maisie did too.
It felt right.
“So, when can we have the wedding?” she asked again, with more excitement like it was a done deal.
“I have to ask your mommy first.”
The doors slid open just as I said it.
Natalie entered the apartment, heading straight toward me with a paper in her hand. “Ask me what?”
“Will you marry—”
I lunged over to hug Maisie to me, propping her on my knee as I clamped my hand over her mouth.
Natalie froze in her step, staring at me.
So much for the romantic getaway to Paris to propose…
I sighed as she slowly smiled.
Maisie pried my hand lower. “He wants to know if you’ll marry him, Mommy.”
Natalie smiled, seeming to fight laughter. “Is that so?”
I nodded. “She doesn’t have the fine art of keeping secrets yet, does she?”
“Nope.” She bit her lip, making that smile even sexier. “And she also lacks a filter.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Does this mean… you will marry him?” Maisie asked, unbothered about what we said, if she even understood.
Natalie approached me, sitting on my other knee and looping her arm around my shoulders.
She settled in and smiled at her daughter before facing me.
“I would love to marry you, Sergei.” She set her fingers under my chin and tipped it up so she could lower and meet me in the middle with a tender kiss.
I smiled under her lips, wrapping my arm around her back and keeping her close.
As soon as we broke apart, we sighed at each other.
“Soon?” Maisie prompted.
We both laughed.
“I haven’t had a chance to give her the ring yet.”
“Is it pretty? Is it a diamond? What does it look like?”
I nodded my head to indicate for her to go to my room. “Look in the first drawer to the right on my biggest dresser and bring it here.”
She gasped in surprise, grinning as she took off.
“I planned this whole thing. Paris. A little villa. Fireworks…”
Natalie laughed lightly and kissed me again, with more heat than the first. “I don’t need anything fancy, Sergei. I just need you.”
Music to my ears.
Maisie scampered back, running so fast with those cozy, fuzzy socks she loved that she almost tripped over her own feet.
“Be careful,” Natalie and I called out in unison as she snagged her toe on the carpet and fell forward. She caught herself from faceplanting or even getting hurt, but the ring box flew out.
I held on to Natalie to keep her with me as I slanted to the side to catch the box.
“Lucky catch.”
I smiled at her. “I know.”
She blushed a bit, humoring me with how she could still be shy like that.
Still seated on the small chair for Maisie’s kid-size table, I waited for Maisie to come back and see. She wiggled her way to sit on my other thigh, facing her mother.
“I wanna see!” She clasped her hands together, and I laughed.
“Maisie, be patient,” Natalie scolded softly, still seeming to hold back a laugh.
“Will you be my wife, Natalie?” I asked her again because it seemed to stamp the moment as more official, pairing the question with the gesture of opening the ring box.
I wasn’t sure who gasped louder, mother or daughter. All that mattered to me was that Natalie nodded and held her hand out. “I can’t wait to be your wife, Sergei.”
We kissed again, then I slid the diamond ring on her finger, proving that it was a perfect fit.
“Now I have a mommy and daddy!” Maisie exclaimed, hugging us both.
“You will,” Natalie said a moment later after we had our embrace. She leaned over to get the paper she’d been holding. It had fallen to the floor. “Because it seems you already had a plan to make that official,” she said as she showed me the printout of the adoption process checklist.
“Daddy’s going to adopt me and we can be a real family,” Maisie explained before getting up to half-run and half-dance throughout the lounge.
I smiled. “I was hoping to adopt her.”
Sighing as she cupped my face and snuggled close to kiss me again, she leaned on me fully. “I was hoping you would too. But even if you didn’t adopt her and officially claim her as your daughter…” She bit her lip again, teasing me.
I furrowed my brow as she took my hand and placed it on her stomach.
“Even if you didn’t, I have a hunch you’d still be a daddy.”
Realization dawned. It clicked, and I hauled her close for another kiss.
“Really?” I asked once we came up for air.
She shrugged, then nodded. “I was going to take a test tonight. I think so.”
“Really?”
She kissed me again, entertained with how I sounded.
Happy.
Thrilled.
Shocked.
Over the moon and so excited.
“It’s not like we’ve slacked off in the process of how they’re made.”
I laughed, hugging her closely, feeling so blessed that I’d never take a second of her love for granted. “So, maybe we should use Maisie’s reasoning and have this wedding as soon as possible.”
She huffed a laugh as we watched her dance and celebrate with the wildness only a child could have. “What’s her reason to have the wedding as soon as possible?”
“To get a pretty dress, taste test the cake, get her hair done, and have lots of flowers there.”
“She’s my sweet princess.”
“You’re my sweet baby mama,” I teased her before kissing her again.
“Maybe. I’ll take the test tonight.” She arched one brow. “But whatever the results are, maybe we can keep this news out of Maisie’s reach for a while.”
I nodded, willing to go along with whatever she wanted.
I always would. It was the least I could do for the love she gave me.