Page 97 of The Bratva's Christmas Bump
Quickly shrugging off my coat, I glance back outside where poor Toto is forced to wait in the car with another guard thanks to my mom’s insistence that she didn’t wantextrapeople in her home. I’ll bring them some hot chocolate once I’ve tried to persuade my mom to let them come in.
Rubbing my hands together against the cold that seeped in through my gloves, I enter the kitchen with a smile.
“If you’re here to tell me you can’t make dinner tomorrow, then you just turn around and walk right back out.” Mom stands over the stove, staring intently down at the compote she’s cautiously stirring with a wooden spoon.
“Ironically, that is what I want to talk to you about.”
“Oh, Hollie.” She sighs as if my presence exasperates her. “Can’t you ever arrive with good news? Maybe some excitement tospend Christmas with your family? You didn’t invite us to your wedding, you missed Thanksgiving, you were late to the friends and family party last weekend. Can’t you give me one thing?”
Frustration buds in the back of my mind while I lean on the island counter and watch her back. “Actually, it’s my future I want to talk about. I have an interview tomorrow.”
“Let me guess, it clashes with our dinner.”
“Yes.”
“Who interviews on Christmas Eve?”
“Do you remember at lunch on Tuesday, I was talking about what I wanted out of my work?”
“Before you left me there?”
My gut tightens. I had left, but given that it was to sneak away to my doctor, it was a worthy trip. “I told you I wasn’t feeling well, but yes.”
“Alright.” Mom sighs and turns toward me, removing the compote from the heat. “Tell me about it.”
“It’s for a private cruise liner that departs in February and won’t redock here until November. They’re looking to fill a spot on their orchestra and I’d kind of be perfect for it.”
“Ten months?” She halts her pouring of the compote over the fruit nestled into several pastry cases. “Hollie, you can’t be serious!”
“I am.”
“So you’re just going to leave me and your father? What about your new husband? What does he think about this?”
I know she doesn’t really care about what Maxim thinks. She’s just using it to pile on the guilt, but Maxim is the reason I’m considering turning it down.
Until that killer is caught, no one is safe. On one hand, leaving the country might be the only way to stay safe, but I don’t want to give birth on a cruise so far away from real medical care and a hospital. And I don’t want to leave Maxim. Enjoying our relationship hinges entirely on how he feels about me and how he’ll react to this baby, but even if he rejects me and his child, then I still don’t want to have a baby in open ocean.
Leaving New York is no longer my strongest desire, but if it comes to it, then I’ll go to L.A.
“Hollie?” Mom drags me from her thoughts. “What will your father say?”
I follow her gaze to the back garden where I see my father exit his shed, grab some wood, and hurry back inside to hide from the cold. I can’t imagine what his reaction will be, but given how quietly he supports me, I hope he’ll be happy for me. Maxim’s revelation that my father knows who he is was shocking, and I keep waiting for him to speak to me about it, but he hasn’t said a word. I hope that means he trusts me and in turn, he’ll trust whatever I want to do for the future.
Never mind how they will both react when they find out I’m carrying their grandchild.
All the possibilities clash together in my mind and I groan softly.
Maybe I’ll go home tonight and everything I’m worried about will all be over. When I left the penthouse, Maxim was on his way to meet his father. After Vinnie’s appearance at the club,Maxim’s been working with his father to track the bastard down once and for all.
Despite Igor’s distaste for me, his protectiveness over his only remaining son gives me hope. A man like that who tried to kill me based on the possibility of hurting Maxim will surely stop at nothing now that Maxim’s being toyed with.
Until then, it’s a waiting game.
“Well?” Mom drags me from my thoughts again and in the time I’ve been thinking, she’s covered all the pies with freshly rolled dough. “Are you just going to sit there and hope I’ll forget what you’ve said?”
“No,” I sigh, straightening up in my seat to ease my back. “I’m just… I need to know you support me, Mom. No matter what I decide. I can’t stay here forever and having a decent, continuous income would be amazing.”
“You could get that at any job,” she replies bitterly. “Why one that takes you away from me?”
