Page 155 of Kadra: The Unfeeling

Smiling, I take the gardening gloves off and wipe my hands with a clean rag.

“Russian…do you really love me more than messing with someone’s day?” she teases as I approach her.

That’s an easy answer.

“A million times more.” I take her in my arms and bow down to kiss her lips before I lower and kiss her belly.

Kadra beams at me. “Good, because I need you to take me to the hospital and I need you to remember that you love me when I start cussing you out during labor.”

I suck in a breath. “Fuck.” I breathe out. “Now? But it’s not our due date yet…” I blink at her, frozen with surprise and excitement.

We still fave a few days…

My thoughts instantly go to a dark place. What if?—

As if reading my thoughts and sensing my panic, Kadra places my hand on her stomach, and says softly, “Seems like this baby wants to meet us today. I just got off the phone with Dr. Ada. She said to head in. I texted my sisters and your brother, they’ll meet us there later.”

My heart is pounding. “The baby is really coming? Are you okay?” I rub my hand gently across her stomach. “Is the?—”

Kadra kisses my cheek, then lingers close to me. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.” Whiskey eyes shine brightly and I say a silent prayer that our baby— the baby that we’re about to meet has her eyes. “Are you ready, Russian?”

Fuck yeah, I’m ready.

I grin. “Da.” I kiss her lips gently then I pull back. “Let’s go meet our baby.” Then we did just that. We met the very best of us.

* * *

Kadra

“Okay, Mrs. Solonik. Just a few more minutes and we’ll be all set.”

I smile nervously at the nurse as she stands by my head. “Okay,” I whisper as I take a few deep breaths to calm my anxiety despite there being tubes stuck in my nose to give me oxygen since I was lying flat on my back.

Vitali rubs his fingers over my cheek and leans over to kiss me. “I’m in awe of you, Moya dusha. You’re going to be okay,” he keeps repeating and I know he is trying to convince himself more than he is trying to soothe me.

I give him as bright a smile as I can manage right then, feeling the pressure on my stomach as the doctor stands on the other side of the sheet tent. This was it. We were about to embark on a new journey. We’re going to be a family of five including my Greta. Well of eight to be precise. I can’t forget Crow, Vernon, and Grim.

Vitali’s hand is steady as he links our fingers together, offering me the strength he has been giving me since we found out we were having this baby. “I love you, baby. Until the sun dies,” I repeat the words that he said to me almost hourly. The same words that we had inked into our wrists just days after we’d gotten married.

“Until the sun dies,” he murmurs and kisses my lips.

“You’re going to feel a lot of pressure, Kadra.” The obstetrician speaks and I gasp when the pressure he mentioned leaves me breathless. It isn’t necessarily painful, but it is a bit scary. A tear leaks from my eye as I grip Vitali’s hand harder.

“Moya dusha?” My husband clutches my hand harder and I try to give him a brave smile as suddenly the pressure is gone and the sound of a screaming baby fills the air. Vitali’s head snaps up at the sound of our child crying. When he looks back down at me, surprise is written all over his expression. “Kadra…”

“We have a girl!” the doctor announces and then the pressure starts up again as he moves things around inside of me.

“A girl?” I whisper in reverence. A girl… yikes. Good luck with that one. The little voice inside my head mocks me.

The doctor chuckles at the look of surprise in both Vitali’s and mine’s faces and steps around the tent to show me the screaming, squirming, very angry little girl in his hands. “Say hello to your mommy, little princess.”

I’m scared. Terrified even. A girl. I wasn’t planning on a girl. But here she was and as I gazed at her through my tears, I can honestly say that I had never seen a more beautiful baby girl in my life.

Vitali is silent as his gaze goes to our little girl, still screaming at the world angrily and tears fall from his eyes instantly. “She’s beautiful.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Love.”

“Yes?”

Vitali’s eyes narrow. “How early do you think it’s too early to show her how to handle a gun?”

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