It wasn’t only a matter of making sure this mother never lost her child.
I did this for us.
Because that precious child seemed more and more like my own every day.
Everything I do and all that I will work for is to prove to you that I want to be a man worthy of your love.
With all the ups and downs we’d faced, that would never change. Aside from my loyalty to serve my uncle and the Family, Natalie would always be my purpose. My reason.
She lifted her head a little, brushing her curtain of long, dark hair back. As she met my gaze, her breath hitched. “Sergei.”
I tried to smile the best I could with the swelling on my cheek.
“You’re awake,” she said, smiling as tears shone in her green eyes. She lifted her hand to cup my face, worry so clear on her face. Her fingers trembled as she brought her delicate touch to my skin, and I closed my eyes at the warmth of her gesture.
“I feel like I could sleep for another week yet,” I replied wryly.
“Then sleep.” She sighed happily, blinking back tears.
Sleep was a lost cause now. I was wide awake and full of hope at the softness in her gaze on me. I feared I’d lost it. I had started to wonder if she’d ever be able to look at me like that again. To look at me with love.
“Later,” I said, bringing my hand up to rest it over hers.
Motivated by the hint of love in her eyes, I treasured this rare moment of quiet. To embrace this privacy, like nothing else existed in the world but us. Me and her. Together.
She opened her mouth to say something, but the door opened behind her.
“Maisie, wait. Sergei might be—” Claire rushed in, chasing the little girl. “Resting,” she finished unnecessarily, smiling at me as she realized my eyes were open.
Natalie turned, twisting and reaching her arm out to catch her daughter as she jumped up onto the bed. “Maisie, stop. Be careful!”
But she didn’t hear them. She crawled alongside me, scrambling to get high enough and hug me. Her arms snaked around my neck and as she clung to me, she began to cry.
“Please don’t die.”
I let out a hard breath, hit by the anguish in her plea that I could barely endure.
The idea that she’d worry about me like that.
The concept of her valuing me in her life.
Distraught and tearing up, she stayed put right where she was.
“I don’t want you to die,” she repeated, burying her face against me. I met Natalie’s gaze as I hugged Maisie back, keeping her secure in my embrace as her little body trembled from crying.
“I love you,” she sobbed. “I don’t want you to die either.”
Her telling me that she loved me was such a poignant moment, a real turning point in her acceptance of my having a role in her life.
“I love you, too, Maisie.” I rested my cheek against the top of her head despite the aches that tugged throughout my body at moving this much.
Claire noticed the sign of my discomfort, though, ever the doctor. “Maisie, Sergei isn’t dying.”
“I don’t want him to die!” Maisie wailed.
“I’m not.” I rubbed her back.
“He’s going to recover just fine,” Claire said, approaching the bed to gently encourage her to get off me like she was. “But in order to recover, he does need to rest. And to give his wounds a chance to heal.”
