It was a sense of déjà vu, seeing my father holding a baby girl twice in one day, in different places. On the video call, though, he held up his daughter.
“Hello there, Sister,” I greeted.
“Oh, my God.” Sadie grinned. “Gabriella, look at that hair!”
She had a full head of dark brown hair, unlike the light brown Carina had in a thin fluff.
We shared congratulations, and vice versa. She had delivered a girl as well, and Dr. Hannan was still proud to say there were no complications. She also gave us congrats about how well Sadie managed.
“Carina and Helene,” Gabriella gushed. “You princesses are going to have everything you could ever dream of.”
I let Sadie talk with Gabriella a little more. I would selfishly take any chance I could to hold my daughter and stare at her adorable face. Time would fly. She’d grow up so quickly. I knew it would happen because I was still in awe of how Andre was already nearing his second birthday. It would be here before we knew it, and time would be the cruel master it was like that.
The days would be long but the years would be short. I intended to absorb and be grateful for every second I had with my family.
Sadie and Carina spent two days in the hospital, just to be safe. While Sadie recovered well from giving birth naturally, we wanted to be extra careful with Carina, too, since she was a few weeks early. Her weight and color were excellent, though, so we avoided any pre-term concerns. Counting on many checkups, we would be thorough with her care.
When we came home, it was hard to have a moment alone.
Sadie and Gabriella bonded even more, delivering on the same day and acclimating to being mothers of newborns together. My father and I were constantly running around to help, whether it was bringing water or a snack or handling the babies. Nurses and Dr. Hannan helped too. Lev and Misha helped to distract Andre. So many were there to help and welcome the girls to the family.
I wanted to be greedy and have Sadie and Carina to myself, but I saw how good this was for her. Sadie hadn’t had anyone for so long, and I enjoyed seeing how happy she was to be surrounded by my family, her found family.
Settling into a home of our own would have been more peaceful, but this made more sense for us.
The girls’ births were the biggest deal, especially with how they overlapped. But that wasn’t the only news that we shared in the big house.
Word of the operation began to spread through the channels, and we were all invested in what was being said. Sadie was glad that I didn’t stop her from having access to a laptop, to spy on what was rumored about how it all went down. I even showed her the video recording of the assault, since she wanted that closure to the mission.
Simon provided a running commentary and supply of intel about how the world was reacting to the explosion in Haiti.
It was quickly labeled an incident in the gang-infested capital of the area, warfare among the local criminals there, but we knew better. Others knew the truth too. Various criminal organizations bristled about the assault. Soon enough, fingers were pointed.
“This is why it’s better to play alone,” my father muttered at breakfast, when it was mostly just us men in the room before checking on the new mothers.
“Because sooner or later,” Raisa said, seated with us as she finished her breakfast, “infighting will start up.”
“And the whole group implodes,” Ivan finished for her.
She nodded.
“But this time,” I said, “we prevented the group from really taking off. It couldn’t be infighting if they were still forming the alliance.”
My father shrugged. “It was only a matter of time.”
“Those who are making the accusations about who directed that attack are the ones who had a decoy sent there,” Alexsei said. He was right about that. The people who complained about the assault and accused others of being behind it were giving away the fact that they likely had stakes in the Obsidian Eye. Those would go on the watch list that Sadie would oversee remotely, with Simon’s cyber help.
“You’ll need to watch for any survivors, though,” Raisa warned. She would be the expert on that. Her father was rumored to be dead for years before he made his comeback and made her life hell. I didn’t blame her for wanting full closure so no ghosts could come back to bother the family.
“We will,” my father said. “We always will.”
I shared his ramped-up sense of protectiveness. I felt that same sensation, this skepticism of something threatening my daughter. I’d always appreciated how much of a guardian my father was for the whole family, but now, it was more personal.Becoming a father gave me an additional sense of possessiveness and fierceness.
That night, Sadie and I had privacy for the first time since she delivered Carina in the hospital. We had dinner in my room, and once Carina fell asleep, I held Sadie against me in bed.
Instead of talking about Carina, which wasallwe wanted to talk about, I filled her in on what I spoke about with my father and the others.
She listened, calm and considerate like a dutiful coworker. When she mentioned points about follow-up after the assault and further monitoring, I smiled. She was such an asset. Those dumbasses at the agency were missing out by firing her.
