Page 76 of Defiant Devotion

For good.

With sacrifices from us all, through teamwork and counting on every one of us surviving our hardships, we removed the danger from our lives so the Baranov legacy would continue into the next generation.

30

BEN

Two months later…

“At least I didn’t need to sneak intothiswedding,” I joked as I sat at the table up near where Irina and Vik smiled and kissed again. They were just as sappy and happy newlyweds as Eva and Lev had been back in the spring.

“Stop,” Sonya chided playfully, swatting at my thigh.

Lev rolled his eyes, seated next to me with Eva.

“Which one was better?” Eva asked. It seemed that she’d gotten the most addicted to the whole wedding planning part of the Baranov family.

“What?” I huffed. “I don’t know.”

Sonya shifted on her seat, comfortable since she hadn’t even tried to wear heels. In a pink gown that gave room for her belly, she looked beautiful on this July evening too. She’d be gorgeous no matter what she wore—or didn’t—and I wondered how I’d ever gotten so lucky to have a woman who got even more alluring when she was carrying a baby.

Ourbaby.

Every time I reminded myself that I’d be a father soon, I was struck with the pure marvel and awe that it was coming true. That I wasn’t lost or solo. I would have a son or daughter soon. Smiling at her, I nestled her close and rested my hand on her belly, possessive as ever.

“I’m still sad I didn’t get to see your wedding,” Sonya said. She was honest with her comment, but the sadness in her tone wasn’t as heavy as it was a month or two ago.

After we confirmed all our enemies were dead—Benson, O’Malley, the Petrovs, and even the Ilyins, whom Vik and Rurik slayed that one day—we all had our own traumas to move past.

Sonya was brave and strong, toughing it out the best she could. It was only in the last couple of weeks that she’d stopped waking from night terrors. It was only recently that she’d gotten to a place where she could avoid locking into a depressed, vacant state of mind and live in the moment.

Eleven years of captivity weren’t something anyone could recover from in a short time. The other horrors she’d witnessed and endured compounded the demons in her head.

“Then you’ll get to see it when we renew our vows,” Eva said. “And it was just one day. One party. One wedding. You are here, and you’re not leaving, and you can see our marriage play out. That matters so much more than one wedding.” She placed her hand on Sonya’s and the sisters smiled.

“I know,” Sonya said with a sigh.

I rubbed her shoulder so she could rest her head on me.

“But which one was better?” Eva asked me again.

I rolled my eyes as we all laughed. “Um, this one?”

She mocked disgust at my answer, pretending to be offended. “What? No.”

“Well, so far, no one has keeled over and died at this one.”

They all shot me wry, dirty looks.

Okay. I guess this isn’t an opportune time for any dark humor…

I smiled quickly. “Just kidding.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Lev warned with another side eye.

Sonya grunted. “Jinx it? Come on. You can’t buy into that superstition crap. You believe in jinxes?”

“No,” Lev replied. “It’s just a saying. After all the shit we’ve gone through recently, let’s not borrow any trouble from the potential that jinxes can be real.”

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