Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
After the show, I meet her in the hallway outside the dressing room. She skips out red-faced and excited like she always is after a performance. Throwing herself into my arms, I savor the feel of her against me. She’s still petite, but I can feel how strong she is, feel the sinews of her ballerina muscles.
It was up and down at first, with relapses and obstacles, but Ania fought hard every step of the way. She sometimes says she owes it to me and couldn’t have done it without me, but I’ll never take the credit for that.
She hugs tightly to me, then stands on her tiptoes and whispers in my ear, “I’m ready.”
Joy flurries in me, but I push it down for a moment. I know what she’s talking about—children and a family.
“Ania …”
“No, I am,” she says, and I can hear that she means it. “I want to be a mother. I want a family with you. I’m ready, Aiden!”
I lift her up, just like when she said yes to marrying me. Back then, I thought that was the happiest moment of my life. I’m learning something about being with my beautiful ballerina.
The happiest moments just keep coming.
EPILOGUE
ANIA
Nine Years Later
Istand at the edge of the studio, my hand on my six-month-pregnant belly, as Drake and Sofia practice their pirouettes. Drake has become one heck of a dancer this past decade while working to take over his family business, and now he’s showing my daughter the ropes. Beside me, Mom sits with a big smile, watching her granddaughter.
I give Mom a look, and she gives it right back—pure, bright love shining between us.
That’s what our lives have been these past nearly ten years: Lia and Dimitri, Mikhail and Mila, Teddy and Mom, Aiden and me. All of us are in our own galaxies of love, but constantly orbiting each other and there for each other, love that never stops growing.
“Yes, that’s it!” Drake beams, grinning at Sofia. “That was your best one yet, by far.”
“Really?” Sofia beams over at me. “Mommy, did you see?”
“We all saw,” Aiden says from behind me, Jack in his arms as he walks from the doorway into the studio. Our son could—and has—sleep through a hailstorm. Aiden winks at me, then leans over and kisses me. I take a moment to kiss him and our baby boy and then turn back to Sofia. Aiden says, “You’re going to give Mommy a run for her money soon.”
Sofia giggles in the cutest way. “Yeah, right.”
Then, for no apparent reason, Sofia skips over and throws herself into Mom’s arms. She’s always like this when Mom visits. It’s so sweet to see. It’s almost a miracle how happy we all are and how perfect life has been.
No more stress. No more doubt. Even the sleepwalking, in recent years, has stopped. My battle with food, well, it will never seem silly, but it does seem distant.
A moment later, Mila calls down the stairs. “Hey, ballet gang, you’ll miss the burgers.”
“Burgers,” Aiden says, suddenly seeming serious. “Hey, wait for us!”
Sofia giggles, chasing after him. “Daddy, Daddy, I want a burger, too!”
THE END