Chapter 43 - Lilia
There was no point. I pushed away from my desk, ending work early. I was behind, and not even because I hadn’t been able to get to a computer for weeks. Because I just wasn’t into it. It was a great story, at least I was fairly sure it was. Who knew? I could think of only one thing.
One person.
Not even the familiar clack of my beloved keyboard could distract me. When I went downstairs for a snack, Katie was overseeing the table decorations in the dining room, acting like it was a state dinner or something with the fine gold-rimmed glasses and embroidered linens.
I would have preferred it to be more like a family dinner.
At my own house, welcoming my guests with Gavril, instead of worrying about how badly this could end.
I hated being away from him so much, and the constant guilt about not admitting to my family that we were married was as bad as the anxiety that everything could go to hell.
The peace treaty was already so tenuous.
If I had blurted something like that out in the library, with Aleks, Rurik, and Daniil all but foaming at the mouth for a reason to shoot him, well, he probably would have gotten shot.
He did force me to marry him, yes. I would have had to try to explain all that before a bullet left the chamber.
And honestly, I still wasn’t fully reconciled to those harried, fearful moments with the priest and his assistant.
It certainly wasn’t any little girl’s idea of a dream wedding. Proposal? Never heard of it.
So that definitely wouldn’t have gone over well. Masha would have been a complete hypocrite to say a word against us, but she’d try, and be the loudest of anyone since she only wanted me to be happy.
I was happy with Gavril, so this time apart was tearing me to pieces.
This was the only way I could think of where everything would work out.
We could make it look like we slowly fell in love.
He’d have to ask me out on dates, and I relished the idea of all the romantic and fun places we could go.
Those daydreams were affecting my work, too, but they were so much nicer than anything on the screen.
That was a first—me, longing for real life instead of a book.
I’d just have to cut back my hours so I could get out there and experience things in the city I’d lived in for more than a year, and yet barely left my cousin’s house. It had never seemed exciting to me before, but with Gavril at my side, I couldn’t wait.
But could he? He was so forceful and impatient, and he had surely been brooding up a storm this past week. There was no way I could get hold of him to reassure him, under the watchful and overly protective eyes of Aleks and my other cousins.
Masha had been staying at the house, too, ignoring Anatoli’s annoyance.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, considering how those two got together, he was the only person who was on my side.
My sister had never been a romantic despite her deep and abiding love for her husband, and she dismissed all my arguments, certain I’d recover from my brainwashing in time.
Infuriating, but typical. None of them knew how much I had changed during my time with Gavril, or how strong I had become. So I had to follow my own advice and take things slowly.
Everyone arrived a half an hour before the time they told Gavril to be there, which further irritated me. I was already so on edge that when they told me there was no need for me to be in the pre-dinner meeting with them, I exploded.
“If you’re going to be talking about me—which I know you’ve already been doing behind my back—then, yes, I do need to be here,” I said, loud and firm, my hands planted on my hips.
Masha’s jaw dropped, but she couldn’t hide a flash of pride. Hadn’t she been telling me to be more assertive since we were kids? Rurik laughed, ruffling my hair.
“Who says we’re talking about you? Or Bocharov, for that matter?” He shot me a very brief glance that had me thinking he might be coming around. After all, he owed every breath he’d drawn since the ambush in Miami to Gavril.
They let me join them for drinks, but the conversation was forced and stilted, everyone scrambling to come up with new topics since I robbed them of the chance for any plotting. Was it going to be like this for the rest of my life?
Maybe. Would it be worth it to still be with Gavril?
Yes. Absolutely yes. I missed him like crazy, and the minutes leading up to finally seeing him again seemed to start moving backwards. When the doorbell rang through the halls, I jumped, ignoring Aleks’s command to let the butler answer it. No way.
I skidded to a halt at the front door, all but elbowing the butler out of the way. He gave me an aggrieved look but stepped aside so I could swing open the heavy door. Despite the thud of many footsteps behind me—damn caring family—I only had eyes for Gavril.
He was dressed in a suit I didn’t recognize, a dark charcoal gray that molded to his broad shoulders.
An emerald green tie with faint yellow stripes brought out the brilliant color of his eyes.
He was freshly shaven, and I missed that bit of scruff he often had at his jawline, already missing the feel of it rasping against my skin if—when—I found a chance to kiss him. But it would grow back.
It was endearing that he had dressed up and taken so much care with his appearance, and I let my eyes roam over him twice, my hands yearning to reach out and smooth their way down his chest, and yes, start popping the buttons on that snowy white shirt.
I realized he was doing the same to me and was glad I had chosen one of the new dresses my cousin Mila had coerced me into buying when she dragged me out on a shopping expedition that was really a poorly disguised deprogramming session.
Couldn’t they see that there was no power on earth that could make me stop loving this man? Being so close to him again, my chest filled with that heady feeling only he could elicit. When our gazes met, for the briefest of moments, it was only us in the big entrance hall.
Then the horde moved in around us. Rurik reached around me to give him an aggressive handshake while Katie scooted in to take the wine bottle he brought as a gift out of his hand.
“What a nice vintage,” she said robotically, getting shunted aside as Aleks moved in to clap him on the shoulder.
“Come on back. You came for dinner, I expect you’re eager to get started.”
More like they were eager to be rid of him.
My hopes deflated, all the happiness at seeing Gavril again draining away and replaced with the realization that this might never work.
Not the way I truly wanted, where everyone was happy in the end.
I searched the faces of all my surrounding family members, the people who meant the world to me, and they were all hard and cold underneath the thin layer of welcome they were forcing themselves to exude.
Did I have enough strength to walk away from them?
My family moved back toward the dining room, and my fury started to take the place of everything else. Yes, I had the strength for anything now. Gavril had shown me that.
“Stop,” Gavril bellowed, still standing just inside the doors. “I have something I want to say.”
Hackles rose, hands clenched. A few of my cousins’ wives murmured as they moved behind the men. Damn it, what was he doing?
And then… oh my God, what was happening?
With dozens of angry eyes on him, he moved a few steps closer to me and dropped to one knee. There was a collective gasp as he slid his hand into his pocket, and mine was the loudest before I fell into a stunned silence.
Before anyone could tackle him, he snapped open the small, velvet box and held it up.
I don’t know how I didn’t have to blink and turn away from the blinding glimmer of the perfect oval diamond, nestled in a beautiful antique gold setting, with intricate twists and swirls all inset with glittering rubies.
It was as if he had somehow dug deep into my most secret, silly hopes and found this ring.
I dragged my eyes away from it when Gavril cleared his throat. My family had moved closer, but I jerked my hand at them. Time seemed to stop while I was gazing dreamily at that ring, but only a blink had passed.
“I love you so damn much, Lilia,” he said, voice low and scratchy, like he hadn’t been sleeping. Just like me. “I can’t live another day without you by my side, knowing you’re mine.”
Already, a tear was rolling down my cheek. He was asking me, not buying me.
“Marry me, Lil.” He stood, pressing the ring in my hand, giving me a look that dared me to say anything but yes.
Still bossy and controlling, but always, always mine.
“Wait just a damn minute,” Aleks burst out behind me.
In a fury, I whirled on him, facing down each and every one of them who dared to try to ruin this moment.
“I love him,” I said, so fiercely that even Aleks’s eyebrows shot up in shock.
“He’s done nothing but prove himself to me over and over again.
There’s no power anywhere—not even in this house—that will stop me. ”
Then, with half a laugh and half a sob, I threw my arms around Gavril, forgetting all about my family. “Yes,” I whispered against his neck.
An absolute clamor broke out behind me, so I slid out of Gavril’s embrace and whipped around to stare down my family, who still didn’t seem convinced that I meant what I said and would back it up with action, if necessary.
Masha was at the forefront, and she actually retreated a step. I must have looked good and ferocious.
“Who’s going to fight me on this?” I said, giving them each a look that told them they were about to find out just how much I had changed.
“I wouldn’t,” Gavril said, pride and a hint of humor in his voice.
Rurik was the first to step forward, dragging my sister with him. He pumped Gavril’s hand a little more sincerely than when he first entered. Masha gripped my shoulders and stared into my eyes.
“You really are happy,” she said, then burst into tears.
I was one of the only people in the world who could make my tough-as-nails sister cry, and that love was worth everything to me. The relief that I wouldn’t have to give her up, or anyone in my family, had me starting to bawl as well.
“I really am,” I told her.
“Enough,” Gavril bellowed over the uproar of questions and, yes, a few congratulations, too.
He pulled me away from Masha and into his arms again, the only place I wanted to be, now and forever. His smooth skin felt perfect against my cheek as his lips found mine, hot and sweet.
“We need to crack open that wine bottle,” someone said.
“No,” Rurik called over the din. “This is an engagement party. We need vodka.”
Gavril dragged himself away from our kiss before we got too lost in each other, and beamed at Rurik. “There might be hope for you Petrovs, after all.”
Realizing his gorgeous ring was still in the box, he took it out and hurriedly slid it on my finger, holding my hand up so everyone could see. There were sighs and gasps, smiles and tears. Some apprehension still, but nobody was going to get shot today.
Keeping my hand firmly clasped with Gavril’s, new ring cool and reassuring on my finger, we followed my giant, boisterous family to the bar, where wine and vodka would flow with questions and good wishes.
He was one of us now, as surely as I was always his. Yes, there was hope for us, after all.