Page 5 of Secret Baby and the Bratva

“You okay?” She asks.

I’ll never be okay again, but it’s none of her business. “I’m fine.”

She heads to a patient’s room, knocking before opening the door. She leaves it open when she steps inside, and I absently stare into the room. From what I can see, the room isn’t as full as Harper’s. She’s not surrounded by friends and family. I guess bringing a child into the world happens in a lot of different ways.

I hear a voice. A sweet voice. Margot’s voice. Or another hallucination.

Then a laugh. Margot’s laugh.

Have I lost touch with reality? Is my mind playing tricks on me from standing too close to the roses?

I step away from the bouquet, positioning myself where I can see into the room.

There she is. Margot. And she’s in the hospital bed holding a baby.

Four

Margot

ThenurseandIhave a brief exchange but I notice she left the door open. I’m about to ask her to close it when there’s a flurry as someone darts into my room. The dark clothes and dark hair of the masculine form are a contrast to the bright pastels of the room.

It only takes a second to realize it’s Yulian, one of the possible fathers of my sweet boy. His dark hair that I tangled my fingers in, the hard set of his jaw, his broad…everything. Simply being in his presence at Virgin Night made me feel safe. Then he and his brothers taught me how great sex can be. And I haven’t had sex since.

It might have taken longer to recognize him out of the only context I’ve seen him in if I hadn’t known Harper had her baby and there was a very real prospect that family members might show up.

I wasn’t prepared to check myself out of the hospital the same day I gave birth. The closed door was supposed to be sufficient hiding, even if it meant not being with one of my best friends to celebrate the birth of our babies on the same day.

A single rose falls from his hand. Why did he have a rose?

The nurse, who I appreciate for being no-nonsense and taking such good care of me, rushes to his side. “I’m sorry sir, you shouldn’t be in here.”

“Margot,” Yulian says. It’s not a statement or a question, it’s a disbelief. I have to agree. This is not when I expected to have to tell them that he, or one of his brothers got me pregnant.

I have to thank Harper and Sadie for keeping my secret, which they seem to have done spectacularly, based on the shock on Yulian’s face.

The nurse doesn’t move. Yulian doesn’t move. He doesn’t have to do the math. I got pregnant the same night as Harper at Aubergine Affair’s Virgin Night.

Despite my best efforts, nine months wasn’t enough time to prepare for this moment.

Yulian takes a single step closer. “He’s ours.”

“I don’t know who the father is.” My dismissive statement and my efforts not to look at Yulian are in vain.

He steps closer, noticing the paper on the rolling table beside my bed. Before I can snag it, he picks it up. “But you know he’s a Lazovski.”

I’m not ready for this. Focusing on the bright blue sky and puffy clouds outside my window, I shrug.

Yulian turns to the nurse. “Can we do a paternity test?”

She starts to answer, but I wave a hand. “Please give us a minute.”

The nurse motions to the call button. “Push it if you need me.”

Alone with Yulian, it’s the tenderness in his eyes when he looks at Maverik that strikes me first. His strength and command are still there, but the potential of being a father has affected him. Of course, I only spent one evening with him. Perhaps he normally has a tender side.

Nah.

The memories of Virgin Night are wild and wanton, but there was tenderness in Yulian’s eyes after we made love—no—had sex.That’s all Virgin Night was… a safe opportunity for an experienced man to show a woman that sex could be amazing. He was so tender afterward. Not the wild romp and run I’d anticipated.

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