“Daddy! Daddy!” he yelled loud enough to wake the dead. “Kalina is gone!”
“Misha! Wait!” Ivan ran after him by the sounds of his yells coming closer down the hall with the approach of his louder footsteps behind him.
Reacting quickly, I pulled the covers up.
Kalina woke, pouting and frowning as she began to sit up at the commotion.
“She’s gone!” Misha shouted. “You saw it. Her room was empty! She’s gone, Da?—”
He flung the door open, and I cursed myself for not locking it last night. Locking—or even closing—doors was something I wanted Kalina’s guidance on. I never wanted her to feel trapped.
But I bet she had the same regret now. Wide-eyed, mouth hanging open in shock and her golden hair a wild mess from just waking, she scrambled to cover herself.
Ivan skidded to a stop as Misha burst in. Not stopping there, he cringed and swooped Misha right off his feet, spinning and giving us his back.
“I was trying to tell you to just wait a second,” he scolded.
“Daddy?” Misha leaned around him as I held Kalina to my side, making sure she was covered up.
“Sorry,” Ivan said. “I tried to stop him. He insisted on saying good morning and when no one was in the guest suite, he, uh, panicked.
“Kalina?” he asked, fidgeting to be put down.
Ivan let him go and turned toward us, clearing his throat awkwardly. He mouthedsorryto Kalina and cringed.
“You and Daddy are…” He blinked. Confusion lined his little brow. But then he lit up. “Are you and Daddy…?”
Oh, hell.I did not want to assume what he was thinking or answer that.
“You don’t hate him anymore,” he said, connecting those dots.
Kalina shook her head and smiled gently. “I never did. I couldn’t.” She smiled up at me. “I just needed some time to clear my mind of some things and worries.”
A slow grin covered his face. “Are you and Daddy…”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.I knew we were surprising him, but I really was not in the mood to explain precisely what was going on here.
“Your daddy and I are hoping you might not mind if we, um…” Kalina looked up at me, like she wanted me to finish explaining.
“We’re hoping you might not mind if we are a family again,” I finished.
Ivan smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Like we were at the cabin?” Misha asked.
Kalina nodded. “Yeah.”
“For good?” he asked as he narrowed his eyes.
“Forever,” I told him.
He whooped out in glee and ran toward the bed to join us. Ivan flinched, reacting as quickly as he could to grab Misha out of the air and spin him in the other direction.
“Whoa. Whoa! Hold on. Maybe let your dad and Kalina, uh…”
Get dressed?
“Brush their teeth?” Ivan guessed.
