Page 75 of Fall into Savagery

“Oh, my goodness,” I exclaimed, placing my hand on my chest. Their smiles grew. “Look at these! Look at how wonderful they are!”

It was easier to talk to them than I realized.

I might still have trouble speaking to anyone else who wasn’t my men, but I didn’t have trouble talking to them.

Lucky, too, because I didn’t want to think I didn’t want to talk with them.

“Do you really think so?” Konstantin asked me shyly. He was definitely the more reserved twin, while Dmitriy was protective and outspoken.

I didn’t want Dmitriy to feel like he had to take on the role of a protector, especially when it was the adults’ job to protect him, and I vowed I would make it so.

I nodded enthusiastically. “Why, I think this deserves to go on the fridge.”

“You say that with all of our drawings,” Dmitriy said, his eyes glinting in amusement and looking so much like Nikolay then, my heart softened.

“Well, that’s because you boys are so talented.”

I took a closer look at the drawings. Konstantin had drawn our family, with me in the middle and the boys on either side of me, our men surrounding us. It was easy to figure out who was who, with Damien drawn disproportionately bigger than the rest of us. It was also easy to tell who was supposed to be Mikhail because he was the only one with blond hair.

Dmitriy had taken to drawing New York’s skyscrapers from outside.

In the corner of each artwork were the words,To Cattaleena.

I laughed.

I needed to teach them how to write everyone’s name, but this was—

I had never had someone draw a picture for me before. I had only ever drawn pictures for my mom and Roberto when I was little, but it wasn’t often. Father—Angelo didn’t like it, and most of them ended up being thrown away by him.

These were precious, and I couldn’t believe I got to be lucky enough to help take care of these boys.

“Catalina?” Dmitriy asked with wide eyes. “Why are you crying?” He looked at his brother. “She’s crying! Call daddy!”

Konstantin nodded and moved to get one of those little kids' phones Damien had brought them yesterday.

I shook my head, laughing a little. “No, it’s okay. These are happy tears.”

Konstantin eyed me with suspicion. “You’re not supposed to cry when you’re happy.”

I smiled and opened my arms. “Can I have a hug? It’s okay if you guys don’t want to give me one, though.”

We’d learned early on that the concept of a hug was pretty foreign to them. Though they didn’t fight it when Nikolay held them in his arms when he brought them somewhere, it was easy to see that they weren’t used to it.

So, we made it a point to ask before we touch them in any way.

The boys shared a look, and slowly, they moved toward me. I tried to gauge their reaction, to make sure they weren’t tense in any way or that they felt like they had to do this, but when I felt them relax into my arms, I held them a little closer to me.

Konstantin buried his face in my neck while Dmitriy’s arms came around my middle.

Oh, no.

I thought I might cry again.

I blinked away the burn in my eyes and hugged them until they pulled back.

I stood up with their pictures tucked under my arms and held out my hands to them. “Let’s go hang your pictures.”

They grabbed my hand, and we made the short walk to the refrigerator, which was already overflowing with their other artwork.

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