Dmitry sighs. “He doesn’t like his uncle.”
Lena chuckles. “He does. He’s just tired.”
I cradle Konstantin closer, swaying lightly until his cries fade. “He’s perfect,” I say quietly.
“You’re good with him,” Lena says warmly. “He already likes you.”
I smile, brushing a hand over his soft hair. “He makes it easy.”
Lena sits across from me, watching. “You’re a natural. Stealing his heart already.”
Her words make me blush. “I used to play with my step-siblings when they were babies.”
My step-mom hated it, hated how Selina and Andrew seemed to prefer me over her. But all that changed when they grew up and started to act like their mom.
“Well,” Lena says, leaning back with a cookie in hand, “You have the touch.”
I glance down at the baby in my arms. “He’s beautiful. You must be so happy.”
“I am. I had him young. I never thought I’d have another kid so fast. But when you find the right person and the time is right, everything else falls into place.” She winks at me.
Her words make an impression. I slide a brief glance at Dmitry, who is munching on a cookie. He looks so innocent, like a regular man. Like the kind of man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
He’s the right kind of man to have a baby with. And my heart tells me the time is right, too. Maybe Lena’s wisdom is what I needed.
I stare at her, surprised by her calm confidence. “How young are you, though?”
“Two years older than you,” she says with a grin. “Life just… happened fast. But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
My gaze drifts toward Dmitry, who is watching me quietly, his expression unreadable. But his eyes—those sharp, calculating eyes—are softer now. Almost tender.
And in that moment, holding a baby and sitting in a kitchen filled with warmth, I finally understand what I’ve been searching for my whole life.
Good, warm people. People who accept me and whose stories inspire me.
A family.
And the thought that it could all be mine fills me with hope and joy.
FIFTEEN
Dmitry
One month later…
It’s beena month since I told Callista I loved her, and somehow, every day since has felt like both a lifetime and a heartbeat.
She has become my constant. My gravity.
The mornings start with her voice and end with her asleep in my arms, her breath warm against my chest. I never thought I’d enjoy something as ordinary as having someone to wake up next to, but now, I can’t imagine not having her there.
Our lives have fallen into a rhythm that feels too perfect for the world I come from.
I wait for her outside her dorm with a cup of coffee every morning. Vanilla latte with an extra shot, exactly the way she likes it. Her face lights up every time she sees me holding it, even when she tries to hide it behind a yawn.
“You’re going to spoil me,” she teases.
“That’s the plan,” I tell her.
