Page 57 of Unholy Matrimony

10. bitch

Chapter twenty-five

Kalina

“Kakogo cherta1, Lenya!” I shout at him as he and the twins walk through the front door. He doesn’t respond, taking his gear off and setting it on the entry table. Mila rounds the corner and throws her arms around Oleg, kissing his face numerous times. He is whispering to her, assuring her that he is fine and everything is okay.

“Do you have a kiss for me, Tsvetok2?” Lenya reaches for me and I back away. I chose to walk back into our living room instead of hurling the insults that filled my mind.

Lenya thanks Mila for staying with me and tells the twins he will see them tomorrow. When he walks into the room, my back is to him and I am looking out the window as they all leave.

“You scared me,” I finally say after a deafening silence. “You didn’t call. Oleg had the sense to send Mila a text message, but you couldn’t be bothered?”

Lenya groans behind me, “I was sending you a text after everything had settled down, but I got interrupted by my father.”

“Right,” I snap.

When I finally turn to face him, he looks distraught. He lets out a heavy sigh.

“I had to shoot someone. He…he was just a fucking kid. And I just did it, because I was told to.” He sits down on the couch and leans his head back, closing his eyes. I walk over and sit down beside him. Not saying anything, but ready to listen.

He reaches over and grabs my hand, bringing it to his lips. Pressing soft kisses to my palm, and brings it up to cup his face.

“When I got there, I thought everyone was dead. The back compound was littered with bodies.”

“I couldn’t find the twins and there was no sign of our men, except those that were dead already. No sign of Oleg or Ilya. So when I found Yuri’s son, I took him with me to the main house.” I pull him into my chest. He places his hand on my bump.

“I didn’t think I was bringing him to his execution. That I would end up being his executioner.” Lenya breathes deeply. He raises my shirt and kisses my belly.

He softly coos “Privet, malyshka. Papa doma, v bezopasnosti. Nikogda ne volnuysya. YA tozhe budu okhranyat' tebya, mama3.”

“Khorosho,4” I tell him, “Let’s go to bed. We can talk more in the morning. I am tired and emotional. I just want you and me in bed, cuddling.” He looks up and me, “I think we can manage that.” He propels himself up and off the couch, and holds out his hands to help me up.

We make our way to the bedroom. I take off my robe and lay it over the foot of the bed. He walks into the bathroom, pops back out, and says, “I’m going to take a quick shower.” I acknowledge what he says, picking my book back up and continuing to read. I get so lost in my book that I don’t hear him come back into the room. He crawls under the covers and scoots up against my back.

He brings his arm underneath my belly and cradles our baby. “Have you thought about any names for the baby?”

I close my book, put it on the bedside table, and then lean back into him. He buries his face in my neck. Thinking about it, I have given little thought to baby names. It still feels so far away.

“Honestly, no, not really. Have you?” I asked. His lips trail across my shoulder and back up my neck. “I’ve thought of a few, but I feel like we won’t know until we see them.” I look over my shoulder at him.

“Well, are you going to share them or make me guess?”

A soft laugh. “Well, I like Katya for a girl, and for a boy, I like Vasily or Luka.”

“You don’t want a son named after you? Don’t most men want their son to have their name?”

He grips onto me tighter, pulling my body flush against him. “He will come from me. I don’t need him to have my same name. Plus, we will have more than one son, right? More than one daughter. We are going to have to come up with many names as the years go by.”

Lenya sure knows how to make me melt. I know he wants many children, just like I do.

“Come,” he urges, “let's sleep now. We can talk more about all the children we will have after we have rested.” Not going to argue with that, as I am exhausted and emotionally drained. We drift off to sleep and let the darkness from the night fade away.

The next morning, after having done prayers together, I made him breakfast. I have fallen in love with using our wood stove. I bake bread in it almost daily, Alina jokes I am putting her out of her job.

Lenya is sitting at the table, leaning back in his chair. “I am going to have to work out more!” He exclaims. “With how you are feeding me, I'm going to lose all this muscle I worked hard on.” I look up at him from the dough I am shaping, laughing.

“Well, that makes two of us.” I walk from behind the island, my belly covered in flour. “This baby has definitely added on some weight. I’m going to have to start running after they are born.”

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