I suspected that she would always be concerned about how I was adjusting to being in this family and with these Mafia men. Starting out so scared and nervous and naïve, I proved that even I could adjust and change.
“Not about the bombing?” she checked. “Because it is hard. It’s hard to roll with the punches and know that violence will always be a part of our lives. Even if it doesn’t touch us personally.”
“No. Not that kind of chaos. And I know what you mean. All the violence will never stop. It’s just so messy here.” I flung my hand out at the penthouse overtaken with wrapping paper. My ears were still ringing from Maisie’s scream of glee when she opened the box with the stuffed horse toy that she’d been wanting for so long.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that this is my life.”
“With Sergei?” she asked.
“Yes. And just being with everyone here. I used to feel so alone. And it’s impossible for a moment to myself anymore.”
She laughed lightly.
“I used to live paycheck to paycheck, slaving away so many hours just to be able to put food on the table and pay rent.” Rent was a term of my past now, since I told that landlord I wouldn’t be moving back in.
“I’m surrounded by so much that I never thought I’d be able to dream of having, and not just the materialistic things.”
Glancing around to make sure Sergei wasn’t near and within earshot, I checked that his uncle, brother, and cousin weren’t close enough to overhear our girl talk too.
“What?” Claire perked up, looking around. “You’re thinking about marrying him and you never thought you’d remarry?”
Well, that too, kind of.Not that I would remarry, but if he was ready for marriage at all.
As if on cue, Sergei glanced up and sought me out, smiling that slow and secretive smile he liked to save just for me.
I bit my lip. “They don’t know how to read lips, do they?”
She lifted a cup of water. “Just in case.”
I hugged myself with one arm and propped my elbow on it so I could partly cover my mouth with my hand. “I mean…”
She raised her brows, still drinking.
“It’s a prop, Claire,” I admonished playfully. “Don’t chug it. You don’t have room for that much water.”
She smiled and just lowered the cup. “Come on. What? What’s got you so… weird today?”
“Don’t tell Sergei. Yet. Or anyone until I know.”
She furrowed her brow.
I licked my lips to whisper. “My period’s a little late, and…”
Her eyes popped open wider and she clutched my forearm. “Oh, my God!”
“Oh, my God what?” Mikhail asked. He was clear across the room but always attuned to his wife. “Did your water break? Is the baby coming now?”
She sighed and hung her head. “No. I told you. I will be sure to directly and immediately let you know.”
He held his hands up in a half-hearted truce gesture as he resumed putting one of Maisie’s toys together.
“Again, first pregnancies can take a long time,” she lectured him, using a tone that implied he’d been cautious and asking a bit already.
Andre scoffed. “It’s not like it’s your first time having a kid.”
“It’s the first time I’ll be allowed to be there,” Mikhail shot back.
Claire pivoted me to face her. “How late?” she mouthed, cupping a hand around her lips.
