Page 128 of Sapphire Tears

“I already am,” I assure her. “This past year has been everything I wanted and more. Kolya has been amazing, and I’m pretty sure I make him fairly happy, too.”

Sara snorts. “‘Fairly happy’? I’ve had to tell the man on a biweekly basis to stop smiling so much. It freaks me out.” We chuckle together. “Now, come on, hon. Let’s get you in that dress.”

* * *

The hotel has been restored to perfection in the last six months. We waited to be married just so that we could have the wedding here in the Hudson Valley, in the hotel where Kolya’s mother had last been truly free.

Geneva meets as at the French doors that lead out towards the gazebo. “He’s waiting for you,” she informs me. Her eyes graze over my dress with satisfaction. “You look perfect. Are you sure you don’t want a veil, though?”

“Genny,” I say, rolling my eyes. “We’ve been over this.”

She sighs. “Oh, alright, it’s your wedding. If you’re ready, I can give the signal to start the wedding march.”

I peer out the French doors, trying to get a glimpse of my future husband and my daughter. But there’s too many people blocking my view.

“Is Lili with him?”

Geneva smiles. “You’ll be walking down the aisle to both of them.”

I feel the swell of excitement. This wedding is finally going to happen. By the end of the day, I will officially and legally be Mrs. Kolya Uvarov.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “I’m ready.”

The music starts. Geneva and Sara head down the aisle in front of me. I count to ten, and then I step out onto the white carpet bridging my past, to my present, to my future.

The guests rise as I come into view. Almost a hundred pairs of eyes on me.

But I only care about two.

Kolya is flawless in a tuxedo, his hair dark and shining in the evening sun. My little Lili looks like a cherub in her frilly white dress and matching headband.

She spots me and flashes me a big toothless grin. One chubby hand extends towards me, but the other stays firmly fixed on Kolya’s shoulder.

She has his eyes, of course. Two sapphire gems that see so much.

From the moment Sara placed her in Kolya’s arms in that delivery room, I knew that I would be the third wheel in their love story.

Just like everything else in my life, I’ve decided to be okay with that.

When I reach the end of the aisle, Kolya steps forward and takes my hand. Then, to my surprise, he reels me into his embrace and kisses me hard, to the laughter and delight of the crowd.

I laugh and pull away from him. “You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, Don Uvarov.”

“Fuck tradition,” he rumbles in my face, his breath a swirling mist of mint and vanilla. “I’m not waiting another goddamn second to call you mine.”

Liliana jumps into my arms and tweaks my nose before Geneva rushes forward to grab her. “Come on, little angel. Let’s give your parents this moment.”

Kolya takes my hand and leads me up onto the gazebo. “Ready?” he asks, pumping his grip on my fingers once.

I gaze up at him. His blue eyes splinter. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my entire life.”

* * *

We lay entangled together, naked and exhausted, with the sheets pulled up to our waists and the fan circulating lazily overhead.

The balcony doors are open, allowing us a perfect view of the midnight blue sky. It’s starting to get chilly, but Kolya is a furnace. I cuddle up close to him and sigh as the last of the tension in my body ebbs away.

“So, honeymoon in Greece?” he asks, kissing the top of my head. “Or should we do Spain? France sounds good, too.”

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