Page 122 of Beautiful Scar

“Yeah, yeah, here’s your dinner.” He deposits a couple of trays piled high with an assortment of deli sandwiches on an end table, winks at me, and hurries away.

Tigran glares after him but doesn’t let go of Amelia for a while.

I pull over one of the trays and sit back to stuff my face.

Epilogue: Dasha

One Year Later

“Amelia?”I call out, trudging down the steps and into our big, finished basement. “Where are you, little girl?”

I find Tigran down on his knees at the bottom, a grin on his face. He puts a finger to his lips, shushing me, then lightly gestures for me to approach.

“What’s going on?” I whisper.

He nods toward where we have a huge couch set up just a couple of feet away. There’s a big, comfy beanbag chair about the size of a mastodon instead of a coffee table, and kids’ toys are scattered all over the place.

Lena’s little Roman is standing at the end of the enormous beanbag chair, his arms outstretched.

And ahead of him, on the couch, is my baby girl, Amelia.

“You can do it!” Roman shouts.

“Hold on,” I say once I realize what’s about to happen.

But it’s way too late.

Little one-year-old Amelia takes a flying leap off the couch, squealing the whole time.

She lands on the bean bag, cackling with delight. It’s pushed right up against the bottom of the couch, so there’s really nowhere else for her to land. Roman cheers, and even Tigran claps as I stare on, horrified.

“How are you letting her do that?” I hiss at him, but he only puts a hand on my arm when I try to hurry over.

Amelia’s struggling down onto the floor, giggling the whole time. Roman helps her, the two of them beaming at each other like crazy people.

“More,” Amelia says in her adorable little baby voice as she teeters toward the couch.

“All right, crazy,” Roman says, helping her climb up. He holds her hand as she shuffles across and cheers when she jumps again.

I stare, dumbfounded. Roman’s a good little kid, but he’s only three, and normally, he’s a nightmare of wild singing, running, and dancing. I’ve never met a little one with so much energy before in my life.

But right now, he seems totally calm and at ease helping and playing with Amelia.

“She’s safe,” Tigran says, pulling me down next to him. We’re only a few feet away, and I could lunge forward and catch her ifI needed to. But I don’t because Amelia’s having so much fun. “Don’t worry. Look at our beautiful daughter.”

“You scared the heck out of me,” I say, leaning against his shoulder.

“You think I’d let my baby hurt herself?” He clucks his tongue, shaking his head. The man’s got a point. He’s the most protective papa I’ve ever met in my life. “I just want her to explore and be adventurous. Her cousin’s helping her with that.”

Like mother, like son.

“Teaching her bad habits,” I grumble, but I smile and clap as Amelia makes the jump again.

I want her to be free and happy too. I just want to make sure she doesn’t break her head in the process.

“Momma!” She totters over to me and tumbles into my arms. “Momma.” She snuggles into me, her cheeks flushed and pink, a big grin on her face.

The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life.

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