“Stay still or I’m going to end up poking you.”
“I’m trying,” Drea squealed, fidgeting on the spot. “I’m just so excited! I’ve never been in a fashion show before.”
At her side stood her husband, a perpetually sour look on his face as he was getting fitted with his very own Tatiana Andreeva original three-piece suit. He so very clearly didn’t want to be there. And yeah, I felt a little bad for it, but my assessment was worth sixty percent of my final grade and I needed his help. I needed all of their help.
Not only did I have to create an entire collection, but I also had to put together my very own fashion show and display all of my designs using real life models. Not exactly an easy thing to accomplish when you were over six months pregnant with twins who insisted on using your bladder as a freaking chew toy.
My only saving grace during this whole craziness was Nikolai. Not only had he been there every step of the way, supporting me, helping me cut and sew each piece, but he’d also managed to wrangle his siblings into walking the runway for me.
The last six months had been a whirlwind. He’d moved to New York so that he could be with me—something I’m sure irritated Aleksandr to no end—but it wasn’t permanent. In fact, we were getting ready to move back within the next few weeks. I’d managed to secure a spot at another college, where I planned to finish my studies after I gave birth to the babies. It was important to both of us that the babies be born at home. In Vegas. Plus, there was no way I could have them so far away from my dad. He was so excited to be a grandpa. He’d already changed my old room into a nursery for the babies.
“Tatiana!” a deep, angry voice called out that I would recognise anywhere.
Dressed in his own suit to model for the show, Nikolai came storming over, his face a mask of displeasure and concern.
Uh-oh.
His touch was light, soft. Surprising, considering the tension rolling off him as he gently took me by the arms and helped me off my knees. “I told you if there were any alterations you wanted done to call me. I’ll do them.”
I smiled, love exploding in my chest. Honestly, how did I get so fucking lucky? “Hi, my love.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t you ‘my love’ me. You promised you would take it easy.”
“And I am. I just had to adjust the hem—”
“Okay, well I’ll do it. Please, just sit down.” I didn’t argue as he steered me toward one of the many comfortable arm chairs he’d had placed all around the backstage for me. “How high do you want it taken up?”
“Just a few inches, please. I forgot how short she was.”
“Hey! I heard that!” Drea chastised, her gaze locked firmly on the mirror in front of her as she twirled in her all black, gothic-style dress. I’d tailored each outfit to match the Volkovs’ personalities. I didn’t want them to be uncomfortable in the clothes. I wanted them to like what they were wearing, to enjoy them.
Drea was easy. She had a very punk-rock, heavy metal kind of style, so anything black was a given. She baulked a little at wearing a dress, but once she’d put it on, she changed her mind.
I watched in amazement as the love of my life—a man who, six months ago, couldn’t even thread a needle—effortlessly folded and sewed the hem of Drea’s dress up for me. I so did not deserve that man.
“Tatiana, Tatiana, look at me. Watch me.” Lukyan strutted past me, going right for the mirror, swinging his ass extravagantly with a blue-steel look on his face. He stopped, popped his hip out, pursed his lips even more as he posed left to right before spinning around and strutting right back to me, ending on another pose. He pumped his eyebrows up and down. “Whaddaya think? Pretty good, right? I’ve been practicing.”
“Oh, I can tell,” I chuckled, rubbing my belly. There were two big kicks in response that put a big, beaming smile on my face.
Though this pregnancy had been a tough one with the pain, swollen ankles and heartburn, I couldn’t be happier. I’d spent the first few months in constant terror, scared that I would lose them, like I lost Nikolas. The stress and worry hadn’t been good for the babies, but I couldn’t help it. The thoughts occupying my mind were dark, dangerous ones that completely paralysed me, originating from past trauma.
Then Nikolai, the Godsend that he is, gave me the ability to check on the twins whenever I wanted to without having to go to the hospital. He purchased a $300,000 ultrasound machine—the best one available on the market—and hired someone to teach us how to use it. Every night before we went to bed, we checked in on them, read them a story and said goodnight. We told them how loved they both were already, and that we couldn’t wait to meet them.
There was a lot of noise. A lot of activity. A lot of people ran back and forth as the other students tried to get their models dressed in their designs. A lot of mayhem, nervousness and chaos. I loved every second of it.
Three girls crowded around Aleksandr, fawning over him like out of control fans. They pretended to admire his suit as an excuse to touch him, giving him flirtatious smiles and lingering touches. He instantly backed away towards Drea, who pushed him behind her and hissed at the girls like a feral cat. They scurried away pretty fucking quickly, making me laugh.
Illayana came out from the changing room, her red gown flaring out around her. She looked flawless, exactly how I envisioned. I knew red would be absolutely perfect for her. It was her colour, like a red, avenging angel.
I shook my hands in the air. “Lukyan, help me up.” He came right over and clasped my hands in his, pulling me to my feet. I waddled over to Illayana.
“What’s the verdict, T?” she asked, arms out at her side, doing a little twirl.
I check her over, examining every stitch, every seam. It fit her like a glove, the measurements exact. “You look amazing,” I smiled.
“Easy to do when the merchandise is this. Freaking. Awesome.” She ran her hands lovingly down the bodice. “I better get to keep the dress afterwards.”
“Of course,” I winked. “What good is modelling in a mock fashion show if you don’t get to keep the clothes once it’s all done?” I studied her closely. “You seem particularly chipper this evening. What’s going on?”
She flashed me a smile. “I got my revenge.”
“Oh really?” I laughed. “The wicked witch of La Cosa Nostra finally meet her end, did she?”
“Yes.” Her smirk was positively devilish. “Took a little longer than I originally planned, I’ll admit, but Gabriella is gone.”
“What happened?”
“She gained sixty pounds, lost all of her hair and went a little crazy because I kept drugging her food with Benzodiazepines. Now she’s locked up in an insane asylum.”
I raised my brows, impressed. “Wow. How did you manage that?”
“It was easy,” she shrugged. “I had the cook, Giuseppe, make sure all of her meals were filled with all the good, fatty shit that makes you gain weight like crazy. Which he was happy to do, because Gabriella is a bitch. I switched out her shampoo for hair removal. The poison ivy trick you did was a nice touch, by the way,” she winked. “And after she started talking to herself and doing crazy shit, I suggested she be locked away for ‘safety’. Arturo was more than happy to oblige. He’d been trying to find her a husband, but after she stripped off all her clothes at an important meeting and started screaming that the lampposts were trying to kill her, no one wanted to go near her.”
“You are diabolical,” I laughed. “Killing her was just too soft for you, huh?”
“Way too soft. Killing her meant her suffering was over quickly. This way, she gets to spend the rest of her life locked up in a place where the loonies go,” she giggled. “You know what? I might pay her visit every now and then. You know, just for fun.”
I shook my head. My best friend, ladies and gentleman, was fucking crazy.
She placed her hands on my stomach, warmth and love shining in her eyes. “How are my niece and nephew doing?”
“Absolutely perfect,” I grinned from ear to ear. We found out a few months ago that we were having a girl and a boy.
“Good. In case you’re stumped for names, Illayana is a fantastic one.”
“I’ll remember that,” I chuckled.
She glanced behind me. “Uh-oh, looks like Aleksandr is trying to get out of doing this again.”
I turned around to see Nikolai and Aleksandr arguing amongst themselves quietly. “I should go over there.”
“Good luck.”
I waddled towards them, just catching the end of what Nikolai was saying. “—doing this. I don’t care if you don’t want to. Tati needs this. Man up.”
Aleksandr growled. If he was the stomping his foot kind of man, I had a feeling he’d be doing it right then and there.
Maybe it was the guilt. Maybe it was hormones. Maybe it was just because I didn’t want to put a strain on their relationship. I’m not sure, but I wanted him to know how much I appreciated his involvement, how much both Nikolai and I appreciated him.
“Have you told him yet, my love?”
Nikolai looked at me with confused eyes.
“Told me what?” Aleksandr grunted. “That there’s something else you’re going to make me do against my will?”
I slowly ran a hand across my stomach, staring intently at Nikolai. His gaze flicked down and back up again, realisation flashing across his face.
“Now?” he questioned.
“Why not?” I shrugged.
“What are you two talking about? If you’re going to ask me to model underwear for you, the answer is hell-fucking-no.”
The idea was an intriguing one. I had a feeling that, if I did, all the women in the crowd would faint.
Nikolai all of a sudden looked a little nervous, like he was afraid how Aleksandr would react. I touched his face gently, giving him an encouraging smile.
He cleared his throat. “Your nephew, we finally decided on a name for him.” He glanced away, avoiding Aleksandr’s eyes. “Aleksei. After you.”
Nikolai still wasn’t looking at his brother, so he didn’t see the myriad of emotions that took over his face. Warmth. Tenderness. Love. Honor.
“Me?” Aleksandr’s voice croaked slightly.
Oh, shit. Not now.
I started crying. Panic took over Nikolai’s face and he moved towards me instantly, but I waved him away. “No, no, I’m okay. It’s the hormones. Just pretend I’m not here.”
“Tati—”
“It’s such a special moment,” I sniffled. “Don’t let me ruin it. Look at your brother. He’s so”—hiccup—“so”—hiccup—“happy,” I sobbed hysterically.
This happened a lot. More than I cared to admit. If I saw something sad or sweet, I just burst into tears.
Strong arms wrapped around me and, for a second I thought it was Nikolai, but I quickly realised the body shape was off. It was Aleksandr. He was hugging me. Something he’d never done in the twenty or so years that I’d known him.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for this privilege.”
I cried harder.
“Okay, stop. You’re making her more upset.” Nikolai barged in between us and Aleksandr embraced him in a hug as well from behind.
The subject change had done exactly what I intended. It had distracted Aleksandr from his displeasure about being in the fashion show. We’d planned to tell him soon anyway. Why not then?
“Tatiana?” I turned to look at one of my professors, wiping the tears from my face. He was a short, thin bald man with a moustache and a Texas accent. “You’re next.”
I nodded.
Okay, here we go.
NIKOLAI VOLKOV
I’m so nervous.
I took a deep breath, trying to get a hold on my frazzled nerves. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Feel it hammering in my chest. My lips were dry, my palms soaked with sweat.
Why am I so nervous? I shouldn’t be. I had everything planned, right down to the most microscopic detail. I had six contingency plans in place in case something went wrong. I was the most prepared any person in my position could be, and yet, I was still a complete and total nervous wreck.
I ran my hands down the beautiful, pristine suit Tatiana made and straightened my tie, watching the seconds tick by on the clock mounted on the living room wall of our apartment.
Any second now. You can do this, Nikolai. You can do this,
The fashion show tonight for Tatiana’s final grade had gone off without a hitch. I feared Aleksandr would pull out at the last second and ruin the entire thing, but Tatiana’s idea to reveal the name we’d chosen for our son had given him the push he needed to go through with it without anymore fuss.
To be honest, I expected some sort of push-back from him on the subject anyway, so I wasn’t all that surprised when he came to me before the show and told me he wasn’t going to walk. The whole thing was completely out of his comfort zone. When you think of the words, ‘fashion show’ or ‘cat walk’, my grumpy older brother wasn’t exactly the first thing that came to mind.
Or the second.
Or the tenth.
It had been a mission and a half getting him to even agree to it, let alone show up and put on the suit.
‘No. Fucking. Way.’
‘I’m sorry, I must have given you the impression you had a choice in this. Let me rephrase. You will march your ass down that runway and help Tatiana ace her class, or I’m going to pound your face into the fucking ground. We clear?’
He arched a brow. ‘Sounding mighty confident there, little brother. That’s not something you’ve managed to accomplish yet.’
‘Never had the proper motivation before. Now, I do.’ I glared down at him, something that was easy to do for the first time in my life since he was sitting behind his desk. ‘I’m serious, Aleksandr. I have an incredibly stressed out, pregnant woman at home and I swear to God if you cause her more stress, I’ll make you regret it.’
He scoffed. ‘You don’t scare me, Nikolai.’
I folded my arms across my chest and smirked. ‘I might not, but what about your wife?’
He stiffened, narrowing his eyes.
There was a running joke in the family now that if you wanted to get Aleksandr to do something, all you had to do was threaten to go to his wife. She had quite the temper, and was straddling that ‘batshit crazy’ line. That wasn’t the only reason though. Yeah, part of it I think was because Aleksandr was a little scared about what that woman would do it she was angry, but the main part, the biggest part, was that he’d do whatever he could to make her happy.
Like I would for Tatiana.
Aleksandr groaned, running a hand down his face. ‘What part of me screams ‘fashion runway show’? Honestly? Can you picture me walking on some platform modelling some ridiculous outfit with a bunch of people staring at me?’
Yes, I could. And the image was fucking laughable. But I couldn’t tell him that, so I just said, ‘please, Aleksandr. I need your help. Do this for me.’
He groaned again and thumped his head face down onto his desk. ‘Fine,’ he grumbled.
A crackle burst through my ear from my ear piece.
‘Sunflower and Mad Hatter have entered the building. I repeat, Sunflower and Mad Hatter have entered the building.’ Lukyan’s voice blared into my head.
I exhaled heavily and straightened my spine, standing taller. Here we go.
‘What the fuck is Sunflower and Mad Hatter?’ Aleksandr grunted to Lukyan through the ear piece.
‘Tatiana and Illayana’s codenames. Did you not read the mission brief I gave you?’
‘Why can’t we just say their names?’
‘Because we’re on a mission, you nitwit. Mission’s require codenames. I’m ‘Pretty Wizard’ because I’m the pretty one. You’re ‘Angry Demon’ because you’re, you know, angry. Illayana’s ‘Mad Hatter’ because she’s fucking mad, and Nikolai is-‘
‘Will you guys shut up?’ I hissed in frustration. ‘I’m trying to prepare myself.’ I enlisted my siblings help for this but now I was seriously regretting it.
‘Sorry,’ my brother’s parroted at the same time, then they promptly shut their mouths.
This was one of the biggest moments of our lives. It had to go perfectly. Tatiana deserved for it to go perfectly.
I tapped my ear piece. ‘Bring them out.’
A second later one of the bedroom doors opened, the photographer and videographer I hired stepping into the room. I googled ‘must have’s’ for a proposal and the top answers on nearly every list was someone to document the moment. Another thing that was mentioned quite a lot was to pay for them to get their nails done. So I paid a beauty salon to stay open after hours and give her whatever services she wanted.
I’d gotten Illayana to take her under the pretence that it was her idea, to celebrate a successful fashion show. My younger sister was more then happy to play along. When I told her I was planning to propose to Tatiana, she practically begged me to be a part of it.
While she was off distracting Tatiana, Aleksandr, Lukyan and Drea were helping me set up.
‘Sunflower and Mad Hatter are approaching the door. I repeat, Sunflower and Mad Hatter are approaching the door.’ Lukyan relayed.
I took one more glance around the room, making sure everything was in place, everything was in order. The nerves hadn’t settled. In fact, they’d gotten worse. Something I didn’t even think was possible.
I heard the jingle of keys and the creak of the door opening-
‘Sunflower is opening the door. I repeat, Sunflower is-‘ I ripped out the earpiece and threw it across the room with a frustrated hiss.
An audible gasp hit the air. Tatiana had seen the path of candles I laid out to lead her into the lounge room.
No going back now. Not that I ever would. Tatiana and I belonged together.
She would know what was about to happen. I hadn’t really been subtle with the set up. She would see all the flowers, hear the music playing lightly in the background matched with the romantic-mood lighting and put two and two together,
The path of lavender scented candles I’d placed at the front of the door would lead her straight to me. Whether she chose to take that path would determine what was about to happen. We’d come a long way in the last six months. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but did she feel the same way? Especially after everything we’d been through.
The click-clack of high heels echoed from down the hall, and I released a huge sigh of relief.
She’s coming.
I licked my dry lips, blew out a sharp breath and let determination fill my bones. Tatiana stepped around the corner. Her hand flew to her mouth as she took in the room before her glassy eyes landed on me.
My heart stuttered to a stop.
She’s absolutely breath-taking.
‘Nikolai,’ she whispered, emotion dripping from that one word.
I smiled, full and bright, and fell to my knees. One knee wasn’t enough. Not for my Queen. ‘Tatiana—’
She burst into tears.
Emotion welled in my chest. Tears began to form behind my eyes, but I pushed them back, exhaling a shuddering breath. ‘Tatiana, I’ve agonised for months, trying to find the right words to convey how much you mean to me, the words you deserve, but I always came up short. The truth of it is, nothing ever seemed good enough. There was no combination of words I could come up with that would accurately explain your worth to me, how much I love you, how much I value you, but I’m going to try anyway.’ Another breath. ‘I’ve lived in a world with you, and I’ve lived in a world without you, and though our time apart was one of the worst moments of my life, it showed me something incredibly vital. That I never want to do it again. Tatiana, I love you so much, more then anything else in this world, and there isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for you. I would lie for you. Kill for you. Die for you. I would do anything you asked of me because your happiness is my happiness. I want to spend the rest of my life showering you with the love and devotion you deserve. I want to grow old with you, and I pray that when our time comes that I go first, so I never have to experience a world without you again.’
With shaky hands, I pulled out the ring box and opened it. Tatiana gasped, her eyes widening.
‘Tatiana Vera Andreeva, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?’
My heart hammered so hard in my chest I struggled to breathe.
Oh god, what if she says no? What if she doesn’t want to marry me? What if—
‘Yes,’ Tatiana cried, smiling. ‘Yes, yes, yes.’
