“I’ll be in witness protection for a while, so I won’t be in your life.” He sighed. “I should have pursued Dianna all those years ago, but I am glad now that you didn’t have to deal with my dad when you were growing up. Now, Sergei will be the one taking care of you. When the dust has settled, I’ll reappear in your life. My handler has promised to give me any pictures you send.”

  I smiled, even though my dad couldn’t see me. “We’ll send a lot of them. I want you to be a part of my baby’s life; you’ll definitely be a better grandfather than Vlad. We haven’t named her yet.”

  “My time is up,” Arseny told me. “Don’t forget to send written notes and pictures. All of them will be inspected, but I’ll get them.”

  “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you, too.”

  I heard a click as the call ended. I went back outside of the room. I hugged myself, worrying about the future.

  “Are you okay?” Sergei asked me.

  I shook my head. “It’s going to take some time to adjust.” It had been hard to think about gaining a father and then abruptly losing him.

  I got into Sergei’s car.

  “I’m taking you to my house. I haven’t lived here in years, but it was my dream home when I purchased it. I’ve rented it out to young families, but now I’m hoping that it’ll be a good base for our family. I’ve always known what my end game would be. You are the missing puzzle piece, and our daughter is just the first of our kids.”

  It was nice to know that Sergei wasn’t actually a criminal like my dad.

  When I got out, I saw how huge it was. There was a tower on one side. I knew that when I was little, I wanted to live in a castle. I felt like Sergei had chosen one.

  I ran up the steps to the front door and pulled on the handle with my right hand. It swung easily, and I went into the home.

  I could see that there would be enough room for us to grow. Sergei came beside me and rested an arm around my shoulders.

  “Do you like it?”

  I could sense some vulnerability in the question. If I was adamant, he’d sell his dream home and find another one with me.

  “I think our kids will be happy here.”

  “Kids? Plural?” A smile blossomed on his face. “We’re in this for the long haul.”

  “We definitely are.”

  Sergei sank to one knee and fumbled in his pocket for a moment. Because he was in witness protection, my dad wasn’t able to force us to have a shotgun wedding anymore. He came out with the emerald ring that my dad had shown me when Arseny wanted me to see the pictures of my mom at the clinic to abort me.

  “Cleo Dawkins, will you marry me?”

  “Yes,” I told him. I understood that my dad had given the two of us his blessing. I didn’t ask for details on how Sergei had gotten the ring from the house. All of our clothes and other things had been extracted out of the house, but we had been in a safe house for a while. I hadn’t been with Sergei every moment, so I supposed that somebody had made sure that he got the ring my father had wanted to give to my mother.

  He slid the ring onto my finger and kissed me. With his lips on mine, I tasted forever.

  21

  CHRISTENING

  SERGEI

  I held my newborn daughter in my arms. She was mostly asleep, and I admired the slow rise and fall of her small chest. She was clad in an enormous and over-the-top white gown. Cleo had designated one of her closest friends as the godmother, and Jake was the godfather of my child. After the priest baptized my baby, we moved outside of the center of the church into an area for pictures.

  Cleo had hired a photographer to take pictures of this momentous occasion. She made sure to document every day of her pregnancy with informal photos, since her father hadn’t been around to experience Dianna’s pregnancy and Cleo’s childhood. We sent all of the photos in printed format to Jake, who made sure that they got to their destination.

  When the photographer was done, she said to Cleo, “I’ll send these over once they’re ready.”

  “Thanks,” Cleo said.

  With a wave, the photographer left us alone. The godmother took Darcy and went to the side, stroking her cheek with one finger. She started singing to her, and I thought that she knew enough about babies not to wake our daughter.

  Cleo reached for my hand. In reply, I squeezed her hand.

  “You can get the pictures of her baptism to my friend?”

  “Friend” was how we referred to Arseny. As part of his deal, Arseny had asked for a way to still be connected to Cleo. He wouldn’t be able to physically be around us.

  “How is he doing?” I asked.

  “He’s fine. He’s settling into his new job.” Because he didn’t want me to dig, Jake raised an eyebrow at me. We were in a public area.

  I could not picture Arseny with a boring day job like being an insurance adjuster. I hoped that he had found peace with his decision to take the package for witness protection. It had been a serious sacrifice for him to give up his relationship with his newly found daughter, but Arseny had read the writing on the wall. He was a survivor.

  We switched topics to things like my garden, which Cleo had been growing a lot of zucchini in. Jake chatted with us for a while, but Cleo’s friend came back with the baby. Darcy was beginning to wake up. As soon as our baby started screaming, Jake said a hasty goodbye and retreated. Darcy’s godmother said, “I’m beat,” and kissed Cleo on the cheek, transferring the baby to Cleo in an instant. With a wave of her hand, she walked back to the car.

  Cleo and I soothed our baby, and all three of us went back to the car.

  “I think she’s tired after all the excitement,” Cleo said. She put her into the car seat. Our daughter’s eyes were drooping again. It amazed me how much our daughter slept.

  “Okay,” I told her, starting up the engine. Cleo made sure the baby was properly buckled. She went into the passenger seat and buckled in.

  As I drove home, I counted my blessings. Life as a law enforcement officer had been tough while I was undercover. “I’m glad that your dad made the call that he did.”

  “I’m still sad about it, but I respect the decision he made.”

  I checked in the mirror. The baby was all the way asleep now.

  “I’m glad I have the two of you in my life now.”

  She blew me a kiss, and I gave her a look that meant that once we had the baby settled in the house, we’d have some adult time. She grinned back at me.

  As soon as I parked, our housekeeper came out. She was used to helping out with caring for Darcy now and again. Darcy’s nannies only worked on weekdays. After Cleo handed Darcy to our housekeeper, we snuck out to the small accessory dwelling unit we had built in the backyard of the house I had purchased years ago.

  I tugged on her clothing until she was naked. She got rid of mine. Then her mouth was on mine.

  “I’m glad we’re married,” I told her. I was entranced by the beauty of her face and her curves.

  She bit my neck. “Me, too.”

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  Alyse Zaftig, Tempting Her Dad's Best Friend

 

 

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