Nope. She’s staying in my bed.
“No. I’ll leave that bed in the other room,” Natalie replied.
Maisie furrowed her brow. “You’re going to have sleepovers with him until he’s more recovered? To make sure he isn’t hurt?”
Natalie shook her head and looked at me. While she wasn’t overly panicked, herwhat do I sayexpression had me chuckling.
“Would you be okay with it if your mommy and I were together?” I asked her, unsure if I was using the right wording or what made sense in the most appropriate way for an almost-five-year-old.
“Like a boyfriend and girlfriend?” she asked, scrunching her face like she was more confused.
Sure. Boyfriend and girlfriend. For now.
Natalie nodded, extending her hand toward me. I took it and approached her until I banded my arm around her stomach and hugged her while we both faced Maisie together. It was the first real move to be touching like this at all in her view.
“Yeah!” Maisie smiled and promptly resumed coloring. Like it was a done deal.
“You’re okay if Sergei is my boyfriend?” Natalie asked, perhaps surprised by how well she adjusted, just like that.
Maisie nodded, glancing up to give her mother aduhexpression like she was the one who was slow. “I thought you already were.”
I wanted to laugh so badly.
“He looks at you like he loves you.” Maisie smiled at me before facing Natalie again. “And you always smile more when he laughs.”
Well, that summed it up clearly.
With Maisie’s “blessing” and approval, Natalie moved into my room. It was freeing to no longer have to hide my affection for her. We kissed. We held hands. We snuggled on the couch. All the normal things that a normal couple in love could do in front of a child and not worry about scarring her for life.
Natalie seemed more worried about how Maisie would react, and I understood her perspective. She was thinking in terms of Maisie missing her father more.
That wasn’t the case, though. Maisie was already so open with me, telling me that she loved me and asking for me to read her bedtime stories most nights. Little things like that made me more and more comfortable as a permanent presence in her childhood, even the mundane chores and daily tasks that weren’t big deals. Everything felt new as I embraced the newness of being something like a father.
For the first time in my life, my thoughts circled the concept of planning a real family of my own. In all instances of downtime when my mind was idle, I thought about her. About making Natalie my wife at last. About adopting Maisie and officially calling her my daughter. About practicing for a sibling so Maisie would grow up with a brother or sister. Or both.
My uncle ceased asking me about whether I would claim Natalie as my woman. It was implied now. Since Natalie and I had talkedand she had gotten over her biggest issues with me, I no longer had to be so stressed and conscious of taking things too fast.
We had approached this slowly. I had given her time and space until she could tell me that she wanted neither anymore, ready to move on with me.
Looking forward to the future was a much better mindset to enjoy than business.
Yet, I was still included in meetings that pertained to the Family. I always would be. Although I was on “light duty” and recovering, I attended every meeting.
“The Popovs won’t dare to fuck with us again,” Mikhail stated with a grim expression of annoyance. “Not anytime soon.”
“Not after that ‘mistake’,” Andre agreed.
“Niko Popov will always be a problem,” Mikhail said, “but it’s not them that we need to worry about right now.”
I didn’t want to have any big worries on my plate. Not when I was focusing so much on Natalie and Maisie and making us a family.
“It’s the chatter about the Giovannis spying on us that concerns me the most,” my uncle said.
“When aren’t they spying on us?” Roman muttered, rolling his eyes.
Some things just never changed. No matter who it was and what was going on, an enemy would cause us headaches. But it wasn’t so selfish of me to want a spell of peace, was it? To propose to Natalie, marry her, and officially adopt Maisie?
“I’ve been delegating most of the work with that,” Andre said.
