Epilogue 3
Ilya
In the rearview mirror, I watched her. My wife sat there, with our children on either side of her. It was strange, because growing up, I had never wanted this kind of domestic bliss. Now, I couldn’t imagine a time when I hadn’t wanted it.
Even as I watched, Daisy bent over the car seat, fussing over our infant daughter whom we had let Alec name.
Of course, he had wanted to call her Daisy but had finally conceded to another flower name.
Rose. But we all just called her Rosie. It suited the tiny bundle of sweetness, with her rosy cheeks and her strawberry-blonde hair, just like her momma's.
Like she could hear my thoughts, Daisy's eyes snapped up, and I couldn’t help it; I smiled.
A slow, contented smile that I knew lit up my entire face.
She returned it, but just for a second before our usually quiet and content baby girl let out a wail.
Instantly, she went back to trying to comfort her.
"Here," Alec said in a tiny but firm voice; rummaging through a bag at his feet, he held out a stuffed elephant. Threadbare and faded because it had been his favorite toy. "She needs this."
"Thank you," Daisy said softly, taking it from his hands. "But I think she may need a diaper change as well."
I watched as my son's face crumbled; his little nose wrinkled in disgust for just a second before he set his narrow shoulders. "I don’t like doing that, it’s smelly. But," he sighed theatrically, "I’ll do it."
I couldn’t help it; I chuckled lightly. That was Alec all over. Seven years old now, but such a little old man. From the moment Rosie had been born, he had taken his big brother duties super seriously.
The corners of Daisy's mouth twitched up in a little half-smile. "I know, but maybe this time I’ll do it." She winked at him. "You are definitely doing the next diaper change, okay?"
Alec nodded solemnly. "Deal, or I could just play with her."
Daisy made a big deal of looking thoughtful, and then she nodded, her face completely serious. "Yeah, that might work. You’re better at that than I am."
Giving a small shake of my head, I turned my attention back to the road. Honestly, Daisy was the best mother I could wish my children to ever have.
She was kind and attentive, and nothing was too much for her.
To anyone looking in, she had gotten over her ordeal completely, but I knew her better than that. She still struggled. Especially at night, and sometimes I saw her looking at me thoughtfully before she caught me looking back and looked away.
We were happy, there was no doubt about that, but even after all this time had passed, there was still a shadow over her at times.
And that’s what today was about. I was going to try and take that shadow away and fill her life with sunshine and happiness like I should have done the moment I met her.
Women like Daisy only came around once, and I wasn’t going to lose her.
"We will be there in," I slowed the car, turning off the road with a little nervous laugh, "about thirty seconds. Can she wait that long?"
In the rearview mirror, Daisy met my eyes. "And where exactly are we going, husband?"
I shook my head. "It’s a surprise."
Her eyes narrowed. "Okay," she murmured noncommittally. "I’m not the biggest fan of surprises, though, you know that right?"
"I know, but you will like this one." At least I hoped she would. It had kind of been in the works for eight years.
Slowly, the road curved to the left, and a house came into view. A towering structure of sandy-colored stone set amongst lush gardens. And I knew she would be even more impressed around the back because there was a pool and a fully equipped playground.
"Whose house is this, Ilya?" she asked in a whisper, leaning forward though, so she had half-wedged her body through the gap over the center console.
"If we are visiting someone, I would have dressed more appropriately." She said.
I flicked my eyes over her as we sped through the open electric gates, our security car coming in fast behind us. None of us went anywhere without security these days. Especially not my family. I’d learned my lesson the hard way on that one.
"You look perfect," I said, and meant every single word. She always did look perfect; it didn’t matter what she wore. "But no, we aren’t visiting anyone."
"Then—"
"It’s our house."
A flicker of confusion swept over her face. "You bought a house and didn’t tell me?" There was no anger in her voice; she was simply asking.
"I actually bought it before you fell pregnant with Alec," I said softly, pulling the car to a stop.
"You did what?" she whispered.
"It’s been mine for years. I got it for us," I said softly, killing the engine. "I knew you would like it, so I bought it. Renovations took a while, but it’s ready for you now. Do you like it?"
Daisy remained motionless even as our nanny, Sara, came down the steps, a wide grin on her face.
"Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Popovitch."
I nodded a greeting at her even as I got out of the car and went to open their doors. "Rosie needs a diaper change."
"I’ll get right on that. Come on, Alec. You wanna see your bedroom?" Sara said.
My son didn’t need telling twice. Unclipping his seatbelt, he reached up and kissed his mother's cheek. "Can I?"
Daisy nodded silently.
"Daisy?" I asked when the children disappeared into the house. "Are you okay?"
I was beginning to worry because she still hadn’t moved.
Slowly, she untangled herself from the backseat and stood. Reaching for my hand, she squeezed my fingers.
"You bought me a house? All those years ago?" she whispered.
"I bought us a house, Daisy. A family home, with room to grow."
"You loved me—"
Keeping a tight grip on her hand, I pulled her into my chest and wrapped my arms around her. "Yeah, I loved you even then. I knew you were my future."
"Oh, Ilya." She gave a muffled sob into my chest, which just made my arms tighten more.
"Baby." My voice broke. "Why are you crying?"
It felt like my heart was twisting. I hadn’t thought she would cry, yet here she was in my arms, and it sounded like her heart was breaking.
"If you don’t like it, we can find something else," I whispered raggedly. "Anything else."
She hiccuped. "I love it, Ilya. These are happy tears. Can you show me around our new home?"
The happy tears that had leaked out of her eyes continued as I showed her around. I had decorated the house how I knew she would want it. Put in everything she had ever mentioned wanting or liking. It was a shrine to her and her needs.
It was only when we got to the west wing, which I had decorated solely for our children, that those tears had dried. Standing in the middle of the giant playroom, she looked out at Alec playing on the jungle gym and Sara rocking Rosie in her arms, and happiness flushed her face pink.
"This is beyond anything, Ilya," she sniffled, leaning heavily into me. "You thought of everything. I can’t believe you would go to so much trouble for us."
I turned her into my arms. "Nothing is too much trouble for you, Daisy. Or for our family."
I meant every word of it. If she hadn't liked it, I would have ripped it all out and started again. Or bought her something else.
Nothing else mattered to me but my wife’s happiness. I hadn’t been lying when I had told her that I would spend the rest of my life making things up to her. Buying her a mansion wasn’t that big a deal.
"I wanted us to have a family home. Somewhere just for us," I murmured, brushing my lips against her sweet, vanilla-scented hair.
"Somewhere we could start fresh where there weren't so many painful memories.
" My voice turned croaky at the end. So full of emotion that it was hard to finish the sentence.
Gently, she pushed at my chest just enough to tilt her head up and stare at me. "What do you mean?" she whispered, but I could tell by the look on her face that she knew what I meant.
Hell, I had seen the discomfort in her face all the time back at the penthouse. Yes, it was our home and the place we had fallen in love, but she never really felt comfortable there. There were just too many horrible memories for her.
And almost all of them had been of my making.
"But the penthouse—"
"If you’re okay with it, I’m putting it on the market," I said raggedly. "We need this fresh start."
"Yeah." Her eyes darted away. "And thank you. Sometimes I couldn’t help but remember—" she trailed off.
"Marguerite?" I whispered, ashamed of myself like I always was when I thought about the woman I had engaged myself to in revenge. I’d had no feelings for the snake-like bitch, but my need to hurt Daisy had superseded my common sense.
"And the others," Daisy whispered.
I did a double-take. My eyes sweeping across her face. Others? What others? I racked my brain, trying to figure out what the pain on her face was about, and then it hit me.
The string of women I had brought back to the house. Mostly high-paid call girls who knew their job was to sound like they were having fun even when I didn’t touch them.
Fuck, I was such an imbecile.
I had wanted Daisy to think she was nothing, and by the look on her face, I had succeeded.
"Come with me." Slowly, I slipped my hand down her arm until I could hold her hand and pull her away.
"Where are we going?" she asked, but her feet fell into step with mine without any hesitation.
"To talk."
"And we can’t talk here?"
"Not if I want to kiss you properly, no."
She giggled, a light, airy sound.
Up the wide, curving staircase and towards the master bedroom I led her, not saying a word until I closed the door behind us.
The second I did, she was in my arms and pinned against the glistening wood. I trapped her there with my body. Hands on either side of her head as I lowered my mouth over hers.
It was a wild, passionate kiss. I put everything I was feeling and had ever felt into the way my lips slipped against hers, and there was no hesitation when she kissed me back with the same kind of urgency.
Five minutes passed, five glorious minutes when she just gave me her mouth, and then with a sigh, she pulled away.
"What’s gotten into you, Ilya?"
I made a show of looking confused. "What do you mean? Can't a man kiss his wife?"
"Of course you can." She rolled her eyes. "But—"
"There was no one else," I blurted, bending down to rest my forehead against hers.
"What?"
"After you," I murmured, my eyes still closed. "There was no other woman."