Chapter's longer than normal because I'm not quite sure yet if I'll get a chance to update before Christmas…but we'll see! Enjoy it anyway ^_^
Chapter 39
"Oh…" I groaned. "Oh god, that feels so good…"
I had to admit, that I really had to fight hard to bite back a moan (that sounded quite suggestive, I might add) as the masseuse dug her firm fingers into my now-oiled back.
Once Dimitri's sister's and I arrived at the spa, the four of us had been ushered into the changing room, where we were supplied with robes and cute little bags full of facial cream samples and what not. Once unclothed and dressed in what had to be the most comfortable, fluffiest white towels that were ever made, we were led into a room with four massage tables set up side by side. A woman worked on my back and shoulders, while two others worked on Sonya and Karolina. Viktoria being Viktoria, had specially requested a male masseur – with whom she shamelessly flirted with the entire time.
"That was amazing," I heard Sonya express once the massages were finished. I sighed in contentment, not even having the energy to agree with her audibly. I didn't think I'd ever felt this relaxed, apart from maybe during post-sex cuddles with Dimitri; which didn't happen nearly often enough in my opinion.
"Can I have another?" I asked eventually, longing to feel strong hands pushing and rolling out every fibre of stress possible in my body.
"No can do, Rose," Vika told me. "We have facials booked for five minutes time. And a surprise!"
"Surprise? For who?"
"You, of course, silly!" She laughed and tried to drag me from my massage table. I quickly wrapped my towel around myself and walked with the three girls to a different section of the spa.
What I found downstairs was not what I was expecting…
"Lissa!" I grinned. "Mia! Sydney!"
I found myself engulfed by three other towel-clad bodies.
"I missed you." Lissa's words registered with me through my surprise and I gave her an extra tight squeeze.
"I missed you too, Liss. And you two." Mia and Sydney both smiled widely. "How have you guys been?"
"Good," Mia replied first. "I've enrolled into a bridal make up course so that's keeping me busy while I'm not at the salon."
"And I'm almost finished my business degree," Sydney added, looking very proud of herself. "None of us are doing too badly at the moment, it looks like."
"It sure does," I agreed. "How about you, Liss? How's pregnancy treating you?"
Lissa's already glowing face lit up completely. "Fantastic! It's such an amazing feeling to have someone actually growing inside of you! I've never had anybody been totally dependent on me twenty four hours a day; I love it! Christian's really excited too. Oh!" She grabbed my hand and placed it on her swollen stomach.
"Can you feel her kicking?" Lissa said excitedly. "She only started that last week…I was going to ring you and tell you, but I decided it would be more fun to show you! I can't wait until she arrives!"
I chuckled and rubbed the spot where I had felt the baby kick. "Why are you so sure that it's a girl?"
"I just know."
"Well I- oh!" Mia exclaimed, looking over my shoulders. "Hot guy approaching."
Viktoria actually growled, making us all giggle. "He's mine."
"Ladies." I had to agree with them. The man was sex on legs – nothing compared to my Dimitri of course, but a girl has got to appreciate talent when she sees it. "If you'll follow me; your facials will take place upstairs in room 3C, and your manicures and pedicures will be in the room next door to that. Enjoy."
"I wish I could enjoy him," Vika murmured as we all piled into the elevator.
"Why don't you ask him out?" I suggested, studying my badly in need of a manicure fingernails.
"I can't do that!" Viktoria exclaimed. "I never ask guys out."
"You've never asked a guy out?" Mia looked shocked.
"No, why? Have you?"
"I do it all the time!" Mia looked smug…for a moment. Then she looked worried. "You know, I'm going to be twenty four soon…maybe I should try and be less of a slut?" her comment was received with six stares.
"Well, I don't mean all of the time, obviously," she laughed as though the thought was atrocious. "A girl's still has her needs. Oh, and speaking of needs," Mia looked at me and sent a suggestive wink. "Rose, how are things in the bedroom with Dimitri?"
Karolina, Sonya and Viktoria all groaned loudly; Vika even went as far as covering her ears. I smacked Mia on the arm.
"Jeesh, sorry, I forgot you guys were related," Mia grimaced. "But seriously, they have a baby – how did you think that happened?"
"I don't want to think about it," Vika groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. "I just want more nieces and nephews, I don't care about the 'how' part."
"The 'how' part is the best part," Mia grinned, eyeing up the man who would be giving her a pedicure. "Come to mama."
DPOV
"Hello?" I called through the quiet house. It was strange hearing silence; scary really. I couldn't recall any one time where I had walked into my mother's house to be greeted with nothing but silence.
"Roza?"
"Dimka?" his mother's voice called out. "Is that you? We're in the sitting room."
I dropped by keys and phone on the worn side table by the front door, and proceeded into the sitting room, loosening my tie as I did so.
"Mama," I kissed her cheek in greeting. "Where is everyone?"
"They're having a girl's day out," she explained, handing Luka into my outstretched arms. "I insisted on being on babysitting duty."
"Was he grumpy today?" I asked, lifting my almost five month old up in front of my face.
"Quite the opposite actually," my mother's face lit up. "Oh Dimka, just wait until you hear him!"
I looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Nope, I'm not telling you. You're going to have to wait for Rose."
I sighed at my mother's antics as she stood up to make Paul and Zoya a snack. Luka scrunched up his face in concentration as he aimlessly tried to grab at my face and hair.
"Where's mommy, Luka?" Luka babbled some nonsense in response. "Are you hungry?"
"Just on time then," my mother re-entered the room, a baby bottle full of milk in hand. "He hasn't fed since this morning, so there you are." I thanked her and took the bottle, laying Luka down on his back in my arms. He sucked greedily, trying his best to grip onto the sides of the bottle but not quite succeeding. I smiled, knowing Rose loved it when he did that. We were both sure that it wouldn't be long before he was holding the bottle by himself.
"Uncle Dimka," Paul came rushing into the room, tomato sauce smeared around his mouth. "Will you play hide and seek with me? You can be on and you have to find me and Zoya…Luka can help you cos Roza says he's too little to play by himself."
"Sure," I smiled at Zoya as she stumbled into the room, clapping her little hands. "Luka and I will count to ten, ok?"
"No peeking!" Paul called as he grabbed Zoya's hand and ran from the room. I chuckled and placed Luka's now empty bottle on the table.
"Ready or not, here we come."
RPOV
Mia high pitched squeal bounced off the interior walls of the car as soon as we sat in. I resisted the urge to put my hands over my ears to shield them from the noise, while Viktoria, who had decided to travel with Lissa, Sydney, Mia and I instead of her sisters, actually did.
"I can't believe he actually gave you his number," Sydney mumbled. "What kind of idiot is he?"
"You're just jealous that I'm going to get in his pants and you're not!"
Lissa, Sydney, Viktoria and I all groaned simultaneously.
"Mia, if my baby's first word is sex, I will never speak to you again," Lissa warned her, rubbing her small bump gently.
"Oh please, I will make your baby awesome."
Sydney shot Mia a warning look over her shoulder, knowing how emotional Lissa had been in recent weeks. "Mia, Lissa's baby will be awesome anyway."
Mia looked to Viktoria and I in the backseat and rolled her eyes. Thankfully, she didn't say anything else…well, not just then anyway. Pulling up to the house, she decided that the wonderful silence had lasted for too long.
"Liss, what will you do if your baby turns out ugly?"
"Mia!" The car screeched to a halt outside the Belikovs as Sydney glared at her friend.
"You think my baby's going to be ugly?" Lissa looked at Mia and I braced myself as I saw the tears well up.
"Of course she doesn't, Liss," I cut in before Mia could do anymore damage. "You're baby's going to be gorgeous, just like you are." I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, silently praying that the water in her eyes would evaporate.
"I don't think you're supposed to decide whether a baby is cute or not…It's supposed to be like, morally wrong or something," Viktoria decided to add, seemingly speaking to Mia.
"So I just pretend all babies are adorable?" Mia looked shocked. "But not all babies are; I mean, you should see some of the kids my clients bring in with them to the salon. Talk about 'ugly.'"
"You call our client's babies ugly?" Sydney looked horrified at the concept.
"Well not to their faces, obviously. Only when they're not listening."
"Mia!"
"Wait a second," I paused. "What about my baby?"
"Oh no, I meant what I said about your baby," Mia told me, patting my knee. "He's so gorgeous…although, I'm not really surprised; just look at his parents. I'm telling you, if he was twenty years older, I would totally-"
"I swear to god," I felt my eyes fall to slits. "If you want to live any longer, do not finish that sentence."
"Alright, alright, calm down," Mia giggled, opening the car door. "Keep your panties on…although, Dimitri might change that when you go to bed tonight." She winked at me and Viktoria slammed her hands over her ears once again.
"Are you kidding me? Are we back to talking about my brother's sex life again?" I couldn't help the chuckle that came from my mouth, but hung back to walk with Lissa as the others went inside.
"You ok?" She nodded, shutting her car door and carefully stepping over the muddy patches of the grass in her designer shoes. "Don't listen to Mia. She's just…Mia. She lives on a completely different, sex-filled planet than the rest of us." We both laughed and she linked our arms together.
"I know," she agreed. "I just haven't thought about that before. What if I don't have a pretty baby?"
"Lissa! Your baby will be absolutely beautiful, I can promise you that. He's yours, after all." I nudged her gently. "And if I ever find out that you tell him I told you this, I will hurt you; but Christian isn't the…worst looking guy out there."
Lissa actually stopped walking and looked at me in mock surprise.
"Coming from you, that's better than a compliment!"
"Keep your mouth shut and we won't have a problem."
"My lips are sealed," she grinned and we arrived at the front door. "Speaking of babies, yours is probably almost ready for bed." I grinned happily, just wanting to get inside and see him. Not that I hadn't enjoyed my girly day, but all I wanted to do now was curl up with my boyfriend and baby.
"Come on then." I pushed the front door open and stepped into the house. Immediately, I was engulfed by warmth – from both the fireplace in the living room and the comfort of the Belikovs home.
"There you are," Sydney gestured for us to hurry forward and peeked through the living room doorway. Lissa and I exchanged quick, confused gazes and moved together towards her. Mia was standing on the other side of the doorway with Dimitri's sisters and Olena, who was beaming like she always did when her family was altogether. "Look."
"Oh how cute," Lissa whispered. I peeked in and grinned at what I saw.
Dimitri was lying on his front on the carpet by the fire. Luka was lying beside him, also on his stomach but his head was facing the door. From where I was standing, I could see clearly that his eyes were closed as he slept. Zoya sat by Dimitri, both colouring in one of her many colouring books and speaking gently in Russian. Paul was also there, attempting to do a large jigsaw with Ivan, whose head was lolling back against the couch.
"Wake up, Uncle Ivan!" Paul huffed and shoved him, causing Ivan to jump into an upright position.
"Sorry, bud," Ivan apologised and picked up another piece. "I was up late last night partying."
Paul's face scrunched up. "Partying? Did you play games at your party?" Ivan let out a chuckle.
"You could say that." From the corner of my eye, I could see Karolina getting ready to intervene in case Ivan poisoned the beautifully innocent mind of her six year old.
"Uncle Dimka and I played games today too," Paul proceeded to tell him. "Lots of them. He and Luka were a team cos Luka's too little, so Zoya and I were a team too."
Ivan's face fell in mock hurt. "And why wasn't I invited to play?"
Paul laughed. "You weren't here, silly! And anyway, you played games at your party."
"Well," Ivan started but Karolina interrupted, obviously knowing that there was some inappropriate comment on the way.
"I don't mean to interrupt," she smiled at them as they all looked up in shock. "But it's time for Zoya's bath."
"Mama!" Zoya grinned excitedly at seeing her mother. She toddled over and practically fell into her mother's arms. Karolina smiled and picked up the almost two year old with ease.
"We'll be back downstairs in a little while, ok? Do you want to say goodnight to everyone, Zoya?"
Immediately, she shied away and hid into her mother's hair, making us all chuckle at her cuteness.
"Goodnight Zoya," I kissed her forehead and gave a little wave as she disappeared with Karolina upstairs. Quietly, I tiptoed over to Dimitri, who was sitting up now. I sank down beside him and snuggled into his side.
"Hello."
"Hello," he replied, smiling into my hair. "How was your girly day?"
"Amazing," I grinned at the girls who had now infiltrated the room and settled themselves in any available seat. "Is he asleep long?"
"No, he only drifted off about twenty minutes ago," Dimitri smiled and stroked Luka's hair with his hand. "Think he might've missed you."
"I should hope so considering the pain I went through to bring him into the world," I joked, immediately regretting it after seeing the look on Lissa's face. "I'm kidding, Liss. It's really not that bad." Lissa smiled in relief and sat down on the other side of Luka.
"It's sort of amazing, isn't it?" she said quietly, one of her hands rested on Luka's back, while the other caressed her own swollen belly. "That right now, I have one of these in here." She rubbed her belly again. "Only she's smaller, of course. And probably doesn't look like a baby just yet."
"Liss, you're almost five months gone, of course it looks like a baby."
"Already? Really?" Lissa looked particularly happy about this. "At my last scan she still looked like a peanut. Chris and I have an appointment next week so I guess we'll see."
Just then, Luka let out an unhappy sound in his disturbed sleep. I went to pick him up.
"I'll bring him upstairs and put him to bed," I told Dimitri, giving his lips a quick kiss. "Be back in a few."
Lissa decided she wanted to help me and see how it was done, and so followed me up the stairs. Luka woke briefly as I changed his nappy and put him into his night onesie, but that awakening was quickly forgotten as Lissa placed him into his temporary cot. He was fast asleep again within a minute.
"He really is adorable, you know that?" Lissa whispered, leaning against the cot. I turned off the lights and switched on Luka's small nightlight. "How are you and Dimitri these days?"
"Great," I told her, leaning beside her. "Really great. Things are nice and easy between us again. Well, most of the time anyway."
"I'm a little worried about Chris and I when the baby comes," Lissa whispered. "I'm worried that we won't make it through the rough patches you guys went through. It just seemed so…difficult."
"It's different for everyone, Liss," I nudged her comfortingly. "You guys might not even have any rough patches. You and Chris will be more than fine, I'm sure of it. It was different with Dimitri and I because we were new to each other as well as new to having a baby."
"I guess that makes sense," she stood up and straightened her clothes. "Anyway, let's go back downstairs. Night Luka."
"Goodnight baby," I kissed his cheek and pulled up the railings of the cot. After switching on the monitor, Lissa and I arrived back downstairs. In our absence, someone (Ivan, I guessed) had cranked over a few beers and offered them around. He, Dimitri, Mia and Vika were the only ones who were nursing one – or several, in Ivan's case.
Going back over to Dimitri, I sat in between his legs beside the fireplace and stole some of his beer. He let me happily and wrapped both arms around me. I felt so happy; so at peace in his arms that I felt as if after everything we'd gone through, nothing else that could be thrown our would every knock us down.