Page 18 of Viktor

“Let him get cleaned up, poppet. He’s been driving all day to get here.”

“You like Viktor?” Sara’s dad asked, surprised. He knew all about Delia’s anxiety, having witnessed it firsthand.

She nodded vigorously. “He promised to keep Daddy away.”

No one in the room replied to that. The stricken look on her father’s face said more than enough. It was easy to forget the horror of the damage Roger had done to her and Delia, but to hear the little girl so happy to make sure her father wasn’t able to come home broke all their hearts.

“Viktor!” Delia charged the doorway, and his laugh slid up Sara’s spine. She fought the shiver that tried to overtake her when she turned to see Delia swinging off his arm, the smile on her baby’s face the things magic was made of.

“Did you get bigger,malyshka?” Viktor asked, his expression serious. “I think you’ve grown at least a foot since I saw you this morning.”

His Russian accent wasn’t as thick today, but it was still prominent.

“No!” Delia squealed when Viktor swung her up in the air. “I’m still little!”

“I don’t know,” he said, doubtful.

“Silly.” Delia laughed when he set her on the ground, and she hugged his leg.

It didn’t deter him. He walked into the kitchen with the child clutching his leg. Tears pricked Sara’s eyes. Roger had never been like this with his daughter. A stranger treated her better than her own father.

Roy’s eyes were about to bug out of his head, and Sara laughed. She’d told him how taken Delia was with Viktor, but seeing it was an entirely different thing. Even Gabe looked a little shocked. Ben, like her father, was staring like Viktor had sprouted fairy wings and pranced into the kitchen with a little imp attached to him.

“Viktor, this is my dad, Roy Grafton, and my brother-in-law, Ben.” Sara picked up the mashed potatoes, one of the last dishes to be set on the table. “Now, let’s eat.”

Viktor reached down, picked up his sidekick, and tossed her on his shoulders. “You ready to eat,malyshka?”

Delia rubbed her tummy. “Yes!”

That brought chuckles from all around as they filed out of the kitchen and to the dining room. Delia insisted on sitting between Viktor and Ben, her other favorite person.

“So, Viktor, Sara tells me you own your own company.” Roy passed the biscuits to his wife as he spoke.

Viktor turned his attention from Delia to Sara’s father. “Yes, sir. I opened it right after my tour in the Marines ended. Most of my team at KSI are people I know from my time there.”

Roy’s eyes shifted to Gabe, who answered without being asked.

“Viktor and I were in the same squad. I trust him with my life.”

Roy grunted. “Good to know. What prompted you to go into the military?”

“My father is a soldier. He’s been in the Marines his entire life. My brother Conner and I joined up right after we graduated.”

“So, you joined to make your father happy?” Roy asked.

“No. Well, that was part of it, but a small part. My father would be proud of us no matter what we did. He instilled in all of us the respect for service to our country. We’d watched him serve our entire lives and how much it shaped the man he became. We wanted to know what it was like to honor our country.”

“Why the Marines, though?” Roy sounded genuinely curious. “From your accent, I’d think you didn’t grow up around here.”

“I grew up in Russia.” Viktor took the mashed potatoes and heaped his plate. They smelled delicious. “My father met my mother in Russia, and she didn’t want to leave her home. He sent his boys to high school here in the States. I suppose we could easily have joined the Russian military, but we honored our father by following in his footsteps. It’s the only thing we knew, really, as we grew up around American military bases in Russia.”

“Did you move from base to base?”

“No, sir. My mother wouldn’t have it.” Viktor grinned, thinking of his tiny mother chewing his papa out for trying to get her to move. “They bought a home outside of St. Petersburg. That’s where I grew up. Papa was stationed all over the world, but my mother never moved from her little house in the country. Once he gained higher ranks, he was able to stay home more and more. He runs the base in St. Petersburg now.”

“How many brothers do you have?” Sue Anne asked, and Viktor’s gaze drifted to Sara’s mother. She’d been a little intimidated by him that morning, so it was good to see her starting to thaw toward him. He didn’t want her afraid of him.

“Six of us, in all.” His grin widened at her gasp. Six boys were a definite handful.

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