Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74324 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Then skirted past him, walking into the room.
Sadly, I did end up giving him up to not only the Saints, but also Mig’s mother, father and Nonnie, as well.
I’d just gotten him back into my arms with a bottle in his mouth when Mig walked in.
He looked haggard.
Terrible, in fact.
His photos of this day would forever be a bittersweet reminder of Mig’s immense joy as well as his pain.
But the minute he saw me holding Vitaly, feeding him a bottle, his face split into a smile.
“You want him?” I asked when he made it up to my side.
I was sitting on the bed, reclining as I fed the baby.
He’d already scarfed down about a half an ounce.
“No,” he said. “My arms about to fall off, and I’m scared if I try to hold him, I’ll hurt either him or me.”
I scooted over, only then realizing that he was dead on his feet.
“Lay down,” I ordered him.
He didn’t argue, which only went to show just how poorly he was feeling.
He laid down next to me, completely ignoring the others in the room, and leaned his head against mine.
Then he fell asleep, his hand on my leg, just underneath where Vitaly was resting against me.
And he slept.
The others spoke around us, but I was lost in this new world.
A world where Vitaly Andrew the Third and Vitaly Junior were my sole focus.
Chapter 26
Shh, there’s wine in here.
-Coffee Cup
Annie
Hours later, I was still in the little world Mig had created for me.
I’d just gotten up, leaving Vitaly to Mig, and stretched my legs.
Plus, I had to pee.
Mig had practically fallen asleep on top of me, and he’d not moved for a very long time.
People had slowly trickled out, and now we were left with only Nonnie, and his parents.
They were all discussing what they were wanting for dinner, so I took the chance to get up and leave.
I needed a few moments.
My chest felt so full right now that I needed somewhere to just let it out.
And I found it in the bathroom stall at the very end of the corridor, near the waiting room.
And I cried.
I cried hard.
I didn’t know why.
Well I did, and I didn’t.
Mostly, it was because today was eventful.
Today had been terrible…and oh so beautiful.
I’d nearly lost Mig, and I never even had him completely to myself.
I wanted him.
I wanted his son.
I wanted to be a mother and a wife.
And I couldn’t say that, because Mig was going through enough as it was.
He didn’t need me adding to that.
I was in limbo.
I would be until I got this off my chest.
But I wouldn’t say a word about it until I got home. Until Vitaly was a few weeks old. Maybe even more.
I was crying so hard, in fact, that I didn’t even realize I wasn’t alone anymore until two huge, strong arms went around my middle.
I’d been sitting on the toilet, fully dressed.
I’d gone into a stall, and had ensconced myself inside, thinking surely Mig would never follow me here.
I was wrong.
“Why are you crying?” He asked gruffly.
I couldn’t tell him that.
But I could tell him that he’d scared me today, which I did.
Loudly.
“You scared me,” I sobbed. “I almost lost you.”
Mig groaned and took a seat on his ass, leaning his back against the tiled wall.
It was gross to sit on the bathroom floor, but I didn’t tell him that.
He had a weird look on his face.
“I was convinced I was going to die today,” he admitted.
I looked up at him, tears streaming down my face.
“Don’t say that.”
I needed him to tell me he knew he’d be ok…not agree with me.
“I did. And it was all because of some woman who used me. Got herself pregnant against my will. Then got me to marry her,” he said, leaning his head against the tile and looking up at me.
I didn’t say anything.
What was there to say?
What Jennifer had done was awful.
Beyond awful.
But could I say anything against her when she produced something as lovely as Vitaly?
Yes, I could.
But Vitaly was a light at the end of the tunnel.
He was proof that if God brought you to it, God would bring you through it.
“And as I was telling her that she’d never see her son again, besides the picture you sent me,” he rasped. “I felt bad…for her. At what I’d done to her.”
I didn’t say anything to that.
“And as I was leaving, I realized just how much I love you,” he said. “When I got to the room and saw you feeding my son, I realized that I’d never be able to live without you again. The thought of you not there when I wake up physically hurts.”
“That’s your bruised ribs,” I teased.
My tears were slowing, but they were still there.
However, I was always ready for a good joke.
And I’d do anything to get that look off Mig’s face.