Chapter 119

Eleanor:

“You called for me, Eleanor?” Natasha asked, entering my room. I held onto Katerina, holding her to my chest before looking at her. 

She looked down at my daughter then at me before shaking her head in question.

“What is the meaning of this?” She asked, and I took a deep breath, hoping that she wasn’t going to understand this in the wrong way. I didn’t want to hurt her. On the contrary. I walked toward her and showed her my daughter and she gulped before I smiled.

“Hold her,” I said, keeping my eyes on hers as I spoke. Her heart raced and she shook her head in question as I smiled. “You helped me give birth to her, and I want her to know who her second mother is, Natasha.”

“What?” She asked, frowning in confusion and I nodded.

“I wouldn’t have been here today if not for you. And I am speaking in a sense not even from being held captive by Elton in the first place, the wedding, and I know for fact that my daughter would have been dead had it been up to Elton. You came alone and not only saved my life, but you saved hers, and that is something that I am not going to allow anyone to forget. Not even you, Natasha.” I said, and she looked away, closing her eyes before I extended my daughter to her. “It is always said that a baby knows his mother by scent, and I want her to have yours as she does mine.”

“Eleanor…”

“I know that it hurts you that you won’t be able to have a baby, Natasha.” I said, handing her my daughter. She extended her hands quickly in fear that the baby would be harmed, and I couldn’t help but smile when she pulled her to her chest despite the pain that I saw in her gaze. “I know that it is burning you inside, everything that happened.”

I put my finger under her chin, raising her face for her to look me in the eye, and I watched as her tears fell from them, making my chest ache. “You are my daughter’s and all future kids’ mother by my side. I want them to have a role model that they can look up to, and I am not that, Natasha.”

“Eleanor, don’t say that.” Natasha said, shaking her head at me, and I smiled in assurance. 

“It is only true,” I said, my voice softening as the wails of agony could be heard from the basement. Normally, the walls of that room were sound proof, but I believed that someone had the door open, and that was how we could hear them. “I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today had it not been you who not only stayed up with me in nights when I was lonely, but you were my friend when I had no one in this world. You saw something in me since day one and you acted upon it. You stood as my friend and did not judge me for being abused, and that is something that I will forever be thankful for.”

“You taught me, alongside Killian, how to raise my head when I was my weakest. And rather than looking at myself as a flaw that has to be abused because she is a female, you taught me how to smile and look at those who are around me with more pride than I would have ever been able to picture to have had if I stayed with Elton. You taught me how to be who I am, and I know that I wouldn’t have been the person that I am if not for you.” I said, looking at her. She looked down at Destiny, and I couldn’t help the small smile that formed on my lips as I purred at my little one. She opened her eyes to look at Natasha, and I smiled when Natasha purred, her wolf allowing her to accept the baby.

“Why would you do this?” She asked, looking up at me. “You don’t have to, and I know that…”

“Because you are my friend, and more importantly, you are my family, the sister that I never had growing up. You taught me things that a big sister would have taught her younger one. And you also stood there for me when I felt like I was alone in a big world that I knew nothing about.” I said, stopping her. “You looked me in the eye, and you taught me what it was to be happy, to be free, and to be alive. And I have to admit, I still do have more fear than I can mention. I look at myself in the mirror and I often wonder whether what I am doing is right or wrong. And I sometimes find myself questioning whether or not I am good enough to be Killian’s mate to begin with, but then I look at you and I always know that I am not alone.”

I cupped her cheeks and wiped the tears that fell from them, keeping my eyes on hers as I did. “You are her auntie, her second mother, the one person who I will trust with everything that I have to take care of her whether or not I am around. And I never want you to forget that, Natasha. I never want you to feel like you are out of place or that you are alone. This is your home, and we are one big family, we always will be related or not, by blood, the two of us are chosen family members, and sometimes that can be thicker than even blood is. Do you know why?”

“It is because our family was chosen by situations.” She said, and I nodded, smiling at her. “We were not born into it, we made it.”

“And even if it does shake,” I said, smiling at her, reciting the family oath that the Ivanov had. It was engraved on the Ivanov family tree, something that we decided to put in the secret garden now that it was opened. 

“It never breaks,” the two of us finished and she smiled before I wrapped my arms around both her and my daughter. She pulled away first and the two of us smiled at one another.

“Today, forever, and always,” she said, looking down at Destiny. “Our family shall never break…”