Epilogue 1 #2
“Wooooow,” Leo murmurs, peering down at the baby with his big blue eyes. “Dats our sister?”
“It is sure,” Katya says tearily. “What do you think?”
“She’s so small,” Bastian points out softly.
“She’s so pink,” Leo counters in a comically hushed tone.
Katya snorts at his assessment and nods. “She is a little pink, isn’t she?”
“What’s her name?” Bastian wonders, tilting his head down at her.
My wife looks at me and nods, parting her lips in an encouraging smile.
“Her name is Luna,” I reveal, answering them but looking straight at my father. “Luna Viktória Moretti.”
Leo is the first to react, cooing, “Ooooo, pretty.”
But not a second later, it’s Dante Moretti opening his mouth to speak. “Luna?” he repeats, the sound barely loud enough to catch.
“Just like you always said,” I reply thickly. Luna was the name Dad had always kept in the back of his mind in case he had a baby girl one day.
Obviously, he didn’t get to name Jade, and he never sired another baby girl before he stopped having children, but I used to think it was an adorable name for a sister.
Or a daughter.
“Son, I…”
“Why don’t you hold her,” Katya offers, lifting our daughter off of her lap slightly.
“She looks just like Leon, I think. But we haven’t had a chance to argue over who she inherited more of her features from yet.
” The teasing joke is enough to keep my father from doing something completely out of character like crying in front of us or getting too emotional that he has to flee the room.
When my daughter is finally in his arms, he looks down at her and a muscle in his jaw bounces. He’s barely holding it together and fuck, I’m right there with him.
“She’s beautiful, Katya,” he tells my wife before looking back at me. “Her name suits her.”
Neither of us can speak for a minute, too busy trying to keep our composure.
“Viktória is for my favorite flower,” Katya announces, trying to keep the mood light.
“Leon buys me these beautiful red roses from a shop called Victory in town. In Slovak, Viktória is spelled with a K, like how Jade and Dmitri’s baby is named Viktor.
I thought the nod to the roses I adore while giving our girl a little touch of Slovakia would be sweet. ”
“So sweet,” Katya’s mother gushes happily, getting up to hug her daughter and by proxy, our sons.
“Nana, you smell like coffee.” Leo scrunches his little nose up at her as he sniffs, looking a little put out by her smell. He isn’t the biggest fan of coffee that isn’t drowned out by the scent of vanilla, caramel, or chocolate.
She breathes out a shocked laugh and pokes his stomach playfully. “Nana had to drink three of them to stay awake while waiting for your mommy to have the baby. She didn’t get to sleep like you two little peanuts.”
“That’s silly,” Leo informs her. “Sleeping very good for you.”
“That’s right, it is,” Adela confirms, not at all bothered by his determinations. “I was just too excited.” She means worried. “That I couldn’t sleep a wink until I saw your mommy again.”
“Are you going to sleep now?” Bastian asks innocently.
“Oh, yes,” his nana agrees, giving him a little wink. “I’m going to sleep as soon as I leave the hospital. My Linus and Gaia are waiting for me at our hotel and they’re going to let me sleep in for as long as I want.”
“You didn’t need a hotel, Mom,” Katya says for what must be the millionth time since she had been planning her birth.
Of course, we couldn’t plan for the exact date and time, but having her mother in the hospital in case she needed her was a must for both of them.
She stayed in the room with us until active labor began, and then Katya needed her with the boys instead.
My dad was with them the whole time of course, but having extra eyes on our kids is how she felt good enough to be away from them for so long. “You could have stayed with us.”
Adela chuckles at her daughter like the comment is silly.
“Sweetheart, I promise you will not want guests in your house when you come home. Now, if you want me to come stay for a few days or even weeks to help you settle in after the hospital, that would be another thing entirely. I could help you out with late-night feedings and be a ghost if you get overwhelmed with seeing too much of me. But having your sister and your stepfather in your space when you’re in new baby mode? I wouldn’t advise it.”
My girl gives a little wince, imagining it. “Maybe you’re right.”
“That’s what nanas are for,” she proclaims, grinning. “Now, tell me what food I can bring you before I go, hmm? Do you want something light or filling?”
“I want a freaking steak,” Katya blurts out, looking like she might start drooling. “And a mountain of mashed potatoes, Mama. The garlic kind.”
That’s my wife.
“You got it, sweetheart.”
“Here, Adela,” my dad says, grabbing her attention. “You hold her for a bit, and I’ll go get Katya’s food. A girl should meet her grandmother as soon as she can.”
My mother-in-law doesn’t bother trying to hide her tears, letting them fall freely down her face as she accepts my father’s offer. Sitting down with the baby in her protective arms, she coos down at her, watching as she falls in and out of her slumber.
“I love you all so much,” Katya rasps, looking around the room and keeping our boys close.
“We love you too, baby.”
Now, and until the end of fucking time.