My jaw almost dropped when Dr. Benedict stated, “I don’t give a shit if you two own this place.” She pointed at the mayor and Ember. “If one more patient wakes up complaining, you won’t be allowed back into this damn hospital.” She said it calmly as could be. As if she wasn’t standing inside a room full of trained killers. She was either too tired to give a shit—which I didn’t think she was—or she had some fucking brass balls to break up this revelry.
Ember laughed, dropping back onto the bed after she had pushed up on her arms to sing. “Dr. Benedict, I know exactly what you just said, but I got the gist that you’re pissed. And I would like to say I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “But, I’m not. I promise it won’t happen again, though.”
Dr. Benedict nodded. “Good.” She clapped her hands. “Now I’m going to leave, and only four people can stay in this room with Ms. Lerrus! Understood?”
The majority of the room nodded. And she left, the tattletale nurse on her coattails.
I wondered if anyone would actually listen to the doctor.
The next few weeks were a trial. Between talking with my parents—who couldn’t seem to leave me alone, my emotions finally going back to only slightly pregnant crazy, eating full meals again, and learning to readjust to living around so much open space and people…well, I was overwhelmed at times. I still was. But after getting my prescriptions filled and Daniil insisting we all take a visit to Dr. Wisser on our way home, things settled down into a routine, per Dr. Wisser and Dr. Walker’s instructions, to get me used to life outside of isolation.
The first week, Daniil slept with me out in the hallway. He really had no choice since I would sneak out there in the middle of the night, only to wake with him next to me. Luckily, for him, and my back, it only lasted for a week. After that, I was able to sleep in bed with him again—as long as the door was open and a light was left on in the bathroom. In the mornings, everyone would sit down for breakfast. No one was overly loud at breakfast since they had all been in the patient’s room while Dr. Wisser pulled up any information he had on individuals who had suffered long-term isolation. Loud noises were a no-no at the beginning of recovery, so everyone kept their voices subdued, which was a major achievement for these individuals.
Since Kirill and Chloe and my parents had not been there for this announcement, they had all been filled in with what was acceptable behavior. Even Nikki and Beth were on their best behavior anytime they were around me, which filled my heart with so much love for them it actually hurt a little seeing two people so young and precious trying hard to make me feel better.
I would have asked everyone to stop and just be normal…but…I couldn’t. It did help. And I needed to get better. These people were my family, for better or worse, since I wasn’t ever leaving Daniil, so I knew to take the love and affection they were showing in their own ways to help be back to recovery.
After breakfast, Mom and I would go about our normal activities of decorating the babies’ room once we had done some shopping online for maternity clothes. At first, I ran around in Daniil’s huge shirts and sweatpants that I pulled down below my belly, but within two days’ time, I had bright and colorful maternity clothes to wear, which only seemed to entice Daniil even more, but Dr. Wisser had cut us off. Sex wise. So we were both going cold turkey in that department for the duration of my pregnancy.
Daniil wasn’t around much during the day—worse than he had been before my kidnapping—because he had so much work to catch up on. I found out he had been a part of the search for me for the past two months, flying everywhere he had a lead, normally with one or two of his kids going with him. His businesses had been left in the dust while he searched for me. It was only luck—and a layover—that had him in New York at all when Dr. Walker had called Grigori.
In the afternoons, Ember and I worked from her little books and tapes, trying to teach one another Russian. And…hmm…that was interesting. She was one of those people that saw things differently at times—a lot of out of the box stuff—so when it came to strict rules of the language, it took her some time to grasp the concept. But, after the first week of me just saying, “That’s just how it is, so there’s no other way to do it but the right way,” she finally caught on I wasn’t hiding an easier way of doing it, or I wasn’t just being mean, and she started learning with me.
Slowly. But, still learning.
Ember, honestly and surprisingly, was a huge outlet for me. She and Grigori almost weren’t here when Dr. Walker made that phone call because she and Grigori had been touring some of the ‘women’s shelters’ around the US for a couple of weeks—I was sure that was code for whatever agency they worked for on the side. They had only just gotten back the day before. It appeared that someone had been looking down on me when I escaped that day.
After our lessons together, Ember and I would walk outside in the backyard, pointing at things and saying them in Russian. Ruslan would walk with us, telling us if we said them correctly or not. I had been assigned—ahem—ten new bodyguards, who all milled around, but I didn’t want to see or meet them. Not after what had happened with my last ones. Not yet, anyway.
Ember and Ruslan seemed to understand this and kept to our discussions of what a tree or plant was called in Russian. Ember also seemed to understand—her uncanny ability to read people—that it freaked me out to be outside for too long…but the sneaky woman always made our walks just a little bit longer each day. She also did it to build up her own endurance again, though. She was healing very well—and too quickly in Grigori’s stubborn opinion.
Daniil would always be waiting for me when I came inside, an hour before dinnertime, and he would take me into the music room—per my request—and play me music from any instrument he felt like playing. That was the calmest part of my day. Sitting there. Watching him. Seeing his fingers work their magic. Loving how his eyes lit up while he played. And feeling a relaxed sort of comfort when Roman would come home earlier and find us in there, and play along with his dad, both of them giving each other happy, contented looks—a musician in his relaxed element, dad and son furthering their bond.
Yeah, it was my favorite part of the day.
Dinner was much the same as breakfast. Everyone was subdued, but cheerful. Although Daniil did test the waters almost two weeks into my recovery inviting my cousins and the occupants of the house across the way over for a much larger dinner. It wasn’t…bad. It just took a little getting used to. Although it was entertaining to watch Brent and Cole, who had deigned to re-enter this house for the first time when not in an emergency situation. Time had…changed them some. It was as if they had adjusted to the life they had without Ember. Just as she seemed to have adjusted without them. Even if I did catch a few covert looks Brent and Ember gave one another, but they weren’t exactly sexual. I mean the looks they gave each other simmered with “I want to talk with you again, but I don’t know how.” Like…well, like they were old friends wanting to reconnect, a bond there that would never be broken.
I rested back in the formal living room after dinner and watched as Grigori maneuvered Ember closer to Brent. Quietly, I asked Daniil, “What is he doing?”
“Loving her,” Daniil said quietly.
“Isn’t he jealous?” I asked dumbfounded, my emotions completely back on track, which I was eternally grateful for.
“Yes. But he trusts her. And he knows she needs this friendship.”
I smiled up at him, after seeing Grigori back away once he got Brent and Ember talking. “You raised some good kiddos.”
He was still watching Brent and Ember, but he nodded.
“Worried?”
“I trust Ember. It’s Brent I don’t trust so much.” He nodded toward them, and I looked back to see Brent touch her hand, possibly a second too long while he spoke to her. “He’s a good man, but he’s also very smart…and patient.”
I glanced at Grigori where he was speaking with my dad about something, but his eyes were watching Brent and Ember’s every move even if he had brought them together. “I don’t think Grigori misses much, either.”
Daniil shook his head. “No. I taught him better than that, and I believe he’s going to surprise everyone tonight with the way he’s acting.” I hadn’t noticed anything different, so I glanced at Grigori again. I still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but Daniil had turned his attention to Roman, and I followed his gaze. “Now, Roman… Well, he’s going to be a handful. Probably worse than Grigori.”
I ran my fingers under his chin, and turned his face my way, staring at him with two working eyes since the black eye and puffy face had finally vanished. “Quit worrying tonight. I want you happy, not upset.” I kissed his jaw lightly when I saw his eyes soften from fatherly worry to tender love for a partner in life. “Thank you. Thank you for being patient and helping me. I feel ten times better already.”
