45. Chapter Forty-Five #2
Nikolai all of a sudden looked a little nervous, like he was afraid how Aleksandr would react. I touched his face gently, giving him an encouraging smile.
He cleared his throat. “Your nephew, we finally decided on a name for him.” He glanced away, avoiding Aleksandr’s eyes. “Aleksei. After you.”
Nikolai still wasn’t looking at his brother, so he didn’t see the myriad of emotions that took over his face. Warmth. Tenderness. Love. Honor.
“Me?” Aleksandr’s voice croaked slightly.
Oh, shit. Not now.
I started crying. Panic took over Nikolai’s face and he moved towards me instantly, but I waved him away. “No, no, I’m okay. It’s the hormones. Just pretend I’m not here.”
“Tati—”
“It’s such a special moment,” I sniffled. “Don’t let me ruin it. Look at your brother. He’s so”—hiccup—“so”—hiccup—“happy,” I sobbed hysterically.
This happened a lot. More than I cared to admit. If I saw something sad or sweet, I just burst into tears.
Strong arms wrapped around me and, for a second I thought it was Nikolai, but I quickly realised the body shape was off. It was Aleksandr. He was hugging me. Something he’d never done in the twenty or so years that I’d known him.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for this privilege.”
I cried harder.
“Okay, stop. You’re making her more upset.” Nikolai barged in between us and Aleksandr embraced him in a hug as well from behind.
The subject change had done exactly what I intended. It had distracted Aleksandr from his displeasure about being in the fashion show. We’d planned to tell him soon anyway. Why not then?
“Tatiana?” I turned to look at one of my professors, wiping the tears from my face. He was a short, thin bald man with a moustache and a Texas accent. “You’re next.”
I nodded.
Okay, here we go.
NIKOLAI VOLKOV
I'm so nervous.
I took a deep breath, trying to get a hold on my frazzled nerves. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Feel it hammering in my chest. My lips were dry, my palms soaked with sweat.
Why am I so nervous? I shouldn't be. I had everything planned, right down to the most microscopic detail. I had six contingency plans in place in case something went wrong. I was the most prepared any person in my position could be, and yet, I was still a complete and total nervous wreck.
I ran my hands down the beautiful, pristine suit Tatiana made and straightened my tie, watching the seconds tick by on the clock mounted on the living room wall of our apartment.
Any second now. You can do this, Nikolai. You can do this,
The fashion show tonight for Tatiana's final grade had gone off without a hitch. I feared Aleksandr would pull out at the last second and ruin the entire thing, but Tatiana's idea to reveal the name we'd chosen for our son had given him the push he needed to go through with it without anymore fuss.
To be honest, I expected some sort of push-back from him on the subject anyway, so I wasn't all that surprised when he came to me before the show and told me he wasn't going to walk.
The whole thing was completely out of his comfort zone.
When you think of the words, 'fashion show' or 'cat walk', my grumpy older brother wasn't exactly the first thing that came to mind.
Or the second.
Or the tenth.
It had been a mission and a half getting him to even agree to it, let alone show up and put on the suit.
"No. Fucking. Way."
"I'm sorry, I must have given you the impression you had a choice in this. Let me rephrase. You will march your ass down that runway and help Tatiana ace her class, or I'm going to pound your face into the fucking ground. We clear?"
He arched a brow. "Sounding mighty confident there, little brother. That's not something you've managed to accomplish yet."
"Never had the proper motivation before.
Now, I do." I glared down at him, something that was easy to do for the first time in my life since he was sitting behind his desk.
"I'm serious, Aleksandr. I have an incredibly stressed out, pregnant woman at home and I swear to God if you cause her more stress, I'll make you regret it. "
He scoffed. "You don't scare me, Nikolai."
I folded my arms across my chest and smirked. " I might not, but what about your wife?"
He stiffened, narrowing his eyes.
There was a running joke in the family now that if you wanted to get Aleksandr to do something, all you had to do was threaten to go to his wife.
She had quite the temper, and was straddling that 'batshit crazy' line.
That wasn't the only reason though. Yeah, part of it I think was because Aleksandr was a little scared about what that woman would do it she was angry, but the main part, the biggest part, was that he'd do whatever he could to make her happy.
Like I would for Tatiana.
Aleksandr groaned, running a hand down his face. "What part of me screams 'fashion runway show'? Honestly? Can you picture me walking on some platform modelling some ridiculous outfit with a bunch of people staring at me?"
Yes, I could. And the image was fucking laughable. But I couldn't tell him that, so I just said, "please, Aleksandr. I need your help. Do this for me."
He groaned again and thumped his head face down onto his desk. "Fine," he grumbled.
A crackle burst through my ear from my ear piece.
"Sunflower and Mad Hatter have entered the building. I repeat, Sunflower and Mad Hatter have entered the building." Lukyan's voice blared into my head.
I exhaled heavily and straightened my spine, standing taller. Here we go.
"What the fuck is Sunflower and Mad Hatter?" Aleksandr grunted to Lukyan through the ear piece.
"Tatiana and Illayana's codenames. Did you not read the mission brief I gave you?"
"Why can't we just say their names?"
"Because we're on a mission, you nitwit. Mission's require codenames. I'm 'Pretty Wizard' because I'm the pretty one. You're 'Angry Demon' because you're, you know, angry. Illayana's 'Mad Hatter' because she's fucking mad, and Nikolai is-"
"Will you guys shut up?" I hissed in frustration. "I'm trying to prepare myself." I enlisted my siblings help for this but now I was seriously regretting it.
"Sorry," my brother's parroted at the same time, then they promptly shut their mouths.
This was one of the biggest moments of our lives. It had to go perfectly. Tatiana deserved for it to go perfectly.
I tapped my ear piece. "Bring them out."
A second later one of the bedroom doors opened, the photographer and videographer I hired stepping into the room.
I googled 'must have's' for a proposal and the top answers on nearly every list was someone to document the moment.
Another thing that was mentioned quite a lot was to pay for them to get their nails done.
So I paid a beauty salon to stay open after hours and give her whatever services she wanted.
I'd gotten Illayana to take her under the pretence that it was her idea, to celebrate a successful fashion show. My younger sister was more then happy to play along. When I told her I was planning to propose to Tatiana, she practically begged me to be a part of it.
While she was off distracting Tatiana, Aleksandr, Lukyan and Drea were helping me set up.
"Sunflower and Mad Hatter are approaching the door. I repeat, Sunflower and Mad Hatter are approaching the door." Lukyan relayed.
I took one more glance around the room, making sure everything was in place, everything was in order. The nerves hadn't settled. In fact, they'd gotten worse. Something I didn't even think was possible.
I heard the jingle of keys and the creak of the door opening-
"Sunflower is opening the door. I repeat, Sunflower is-" I ripped out the earpiece and threw it across the room with a frustrated hiss.
An audible gasp hit the air. Tatiana had seen the path of candles I laid out to lead her into the lounge room.
No going back now. Not that I ever would. Tatiana and I belonged together.
She would know what was about to happen. I hadn't really been subtle with the set up. She would see all the flowers, hear the music playing lightly in the background matched with the romantic-mood lighting and put two and two together,
The path of lavender scented candles I'd placed at the front of the door would lead her straight to me.
Whether she chose to take that path would determine what was about to happen.
We'd come a long way in the last six months.
I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but did she feel the same way?
Especially after everything we'd been through.
The click-clack of high heels echoed from down the hall, and I released a huge sigh of relief.
She's coming.
I licked my dry lips, blew out a sharp breath and let determination fill my bones. Tatiana stepped around the corner. Her hand flew to her mouth as she took in the room before her glassy eyes landed on me.
My heart stuttered to a stop.
She's absolutely breath-taking.
"Nikolai," she whispered, emotion dripping from that one word.
I smiled, full and bright, and fell to my knees. One knee wasn't enough. Not for my Queen. "Tatiana—"
She burst into tears.
Emotion welled in my chest. Tears began to form behind my eyes, but I pushed them back, exhaling a shuddering breath.
"Tatiana, I've agonised for months, trying to find the right words to convey how much you mean to me, the words you deserve, but I always came up short.
The truth of it is, nothing ever seemed good enough.
There was no combination of words I could come up with that would accurately explain your worth to me, how much I love you, how much I value you, but I'm going to try anyway.
" Another breath. "I've lived in a world with you, and I've lived in a world without you, and though our time apart was one of the worst moments of my life, it showed me something incredibly vital.
That I never want to do it again. Tatiana, I love you so much, more then anything else in this world, and there isn't a single thing I wouldn't do for you.
I would lie for you. Kill for you. Die for you.
I would do anything you asked of me because your happiness is my happiness.
I want to spend the rest of my life showering you with the love and devotion you deserve.
I want to grow old with you, and I pray that when our time comes that I go first, so I never have to experience a world without you again. "
With shaky hands, I pulled out the ring box and opened it. Tatiana gasped, her eyes widening.
"Tatiana Vera Andreeva, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
My heart hammered so hard in my chest I struggled to breathe.
Oh god, what if she says no? What if she doesn't want to marry me? What if—
"Yes," Tatiana cried, smiling. "Yes, yes, yes."