Chapter 121 121

Chapter 121 121
He runs his thumb over my knuckles, staring down at my hand like it is the most precious thing he has ever seen. When he looks into my eyes, I want to melt. “Regret isn’t possible where you’re concerned, Molly. I could never regret you. I love you.”

The tears I’ve been holding back for days finally spill over my cheeks, and I swipe at them with my free hand, laughing at myself. Viktor pulls me towards him, curling his strong arm around my back, and I bury my face in his newly grown-in whiskers. “I love you, too.”

“Daddy?” Theo’s small voice breaks through our moment, and Viktor tenses under me.

“Theo?” His voice breaks when he sees Theo crawling over the bed to get to him, and I uncurl myself from his chest and let the two of them hug. Theo is the only person I’d allow Viktor to choose over me.

Theo is talking too fast to keep up with, telling us about all the things we’ve missed while we’ve been away, and while he talks, Viktor reaches out and grabs my hand, pulling me to the edge of the bed. We sit there, holding hands, listening to Theo regale us with stories of life as a four-year-old, and it is the most perfect beginning to our new life together I could ever imagine.

For the first time in years, I think that everything just might be all right.

EPILOGUE

MOLLY

O ne Month Later

“You’re late!”

I slip out of my heels and tuck them in the closet by the front door. It used to be where my full-time security team set up shop, but now it hardly gets any use, so we use it more as a coat closet.

“I know, I’m so sorry. I got to talking with Hannah and Niamh about Niamh’s upstairs bathroom remodel, and we lost track of time.”

“Bathroom?” Viktor asks. “I thought you were doing the library.”

“We are, but we’re almost finished with that. Now, Niamh wants the bathroom done, too.”

“Seamus loves that, I’m sure,” Viktor says, sarcasm thick in his voice.

I pad barefoot into the kitchen, expecting to see Viktor, but he isn’t in there. I grab a glass from the cabinet and fill it with water, leaning back against the counter to drink it.

“Seamus doesn’t have much of a say.”

Viktor laughs and then hesitates. Even from a room away, I can feel his tension. “And things with Hannah are okay?”

Viktor still hates Hannah. He doesn’t trust her or forgive her, and I understand his anger, but I don’t feel the same way. She made a mistake under serious duress and then did her best to fix it. She kept her distance for weeks after everything happened, but just last week she called me to talk. We spent two hours on the phone that night and again the next night. Eventually, we went for coffee and then lunch. Now, she has been helping me with Niamh’s remodel projects. Niamh hasn’t come out and said it directly, but I know she has a soft spot for Hannah. Niamh has a soft spot for anything that needs a little work, interior design related or otherwise. She likes to fix things up, and Hannah is the perfect project.

“They are great,” I say. “She has been a big help with the library, and she and Niamh are really hitting it off.”

“Great.” Again, his sarcasm is obvious, but I ignore him. Either he’ll come to stand Hannah or he won’t. But either way, he’ll have to deal with her presence in my life.

I set my glass in the sink and walk into the living room. “What did you and Theo do for dinner?”

I expect him to be lounging on the couch, but he isn’t there.

“Where are you?” I ask, spinning in a circle. Just as I’m finishing the full three-sixty, I see him standing in the doorway to the balcony wearing a pair of dress pants and the blue cashmere sweater I tell him brings out the color of his eyes. He has a red rose in his hands.

I blink at him, stunned by how handsome he is, and shake my head. “What are you doing?”

He smiles, effectively stopping my heart, and nods for me to come closer. “I think you already have a good idea.”

My heart is hammering against my ribs as I cross the room to stand in front of him. He bends down and brushes a soft kiss against my lips before stepping to the side and revealing the candlelit dinner on the balcony. There is sparkling grape juice—since my pregnancy doesn’t allow for champagne—and two covered plates of food. But the thing that catches my eye is the little velvet box on the edge of the table. Viktor reaches for it and turns back to me, his throat bobbing as he swallows down his nerves.

“Viktor,” I say, tears already welling in my eyes.

He holds up a hand and shakes his head. “Hold yourself together or else I’ll lose it, too.” He pulls a folded-up piece of paper from his pocket and waves it in front of me. “I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget.”

Silent tears are rolling down my cheeks as he unfolds the paper and begins to read.

“Molly,” he starts, looking at me with soft blue eyes. “I’ve given a version of this speech twice before. I laid out the practical reasons why you should marry me for the safety of yourself and our children. I made good arguments that I stand behind, but the thing I failed to mention in both proposals is the depth of my love for you. So, here’s hoping the third time is the charm.”

I choke back a sob, and Viktor reaches out and grabs my hand, smoothing his thumb over my knuckles.

“From the first moment I saw you and Theo, I wanted nothing more than to take care of you. For a long time, I thought it was because I wanted to make right the crimes of the past, but now, I recognize my motivations for what they truly were: love. I loved you from the moment I saw you, and I love you still. Our love story has not been easy or simple. It has been star-crossed in a thousand different ways, yet every single time, regardless of the obstacle, we come back together.”

I’m full-on weeping now, barely able to stand, and Viktor wraps an arm around my waist and hugs me against his chest as he finishes his speech.

“I want you to know right now that even if you refuse this proposal flat out and turn me down, I’ll still choose you, Molly. I’ll choose to respect your wishes. I’ll choose to co-parent our baby and Theo, because he is as much mine now as he is yours. I will choose to do whatever is best for your mental, physical, and emotional well-being, even if it means breaking my own heart.”

His voice cracks, and I wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his chest, listening to the sound of his heart beating.

“But if you accept me.” He sighs with the very thought. “If you accept me, then I will make you the happiest woman on earth. I will protect you, cherish you, and respect you until my dying breath.”

Viktor unwraps me from his body and drops down to one knee, wincing from the wound in his leg, and opens the velvet box. The ring inside is huge and shining, but nothing can compare to the hope shimmering in his bright blue eyes.

“Molly Reyes, make me the happiest man in the world and marry me. Please.”

The sight of him on his knees in front of me is the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen, and it feels like my brain explodes. I grab the box from his hands, place it on the table, and throw myself at him.

Viktor laughs as I kiss his face and his neck. As my hands skim down the soft cashmere of his sweater and begin undoing his belt.

“Is that a yes?” he chuckles, lifting his arms to let me pull his sweater over his head.