Three Years Later

I slipped out of bed and prayed that I didn't disturb the three bodies next to me. I crept down the stairs, stepping over the one step that was creaking lately and landed lightly on the floor. I had exactly ten minutes before one of those bodies got up and it was game over for me.

I slid across the floor to the closet and opened it, clicking on the light, and using the stool to get up to the cubby in the ceiling. It was the perfect hiding place for Christmas gifts, they could never reach the cubby. I pulled the basket towards me and got off the stool, sneaking to the living room and setting the gifts out by the tree.

I looked at the shiny paper and turned on the lights for the tree, standing back and admiring it quietly. I remember talking with my friends when we were teenagers about the dream, the dream of waking up one morning on Christmas with a husband, and kids and a nice house and a career. I thought it was a bit farfetched, but now that I was living it, I was loving every minute of it.

I left the tree and went to the kitchen, getting the coffee pot going and turning to head back to the living room, running into a wall of muscle instead. I grunted as I bounced back, smirking up at my half-awake man.

"Morning," I said quietly, stroking his cheek.

"Morning," Dimitri said tiredly, kissing the top of my head and going to search for a mug. The coffee had only just started to pour when he pulled the carafe from its holder and poured what was in there into his cup.

"Sofia sleeps like you," Dimitri grumbled, taking a sip of his coffee without any of the usual milk and sugar in it. I chuckled and went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"How so?"

"All legs, I got kicked in the ribs a few times during the night," he said quietly, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I rested my head against his chest with a slight smirk. I already knew that Sofia kicked in her sleep, just not that hard. I kissed his chest and stood up straight, reaching for his mug and taking a sip, grimacing when I remembered after I took a sip that there was just black coffee in the cup.

"I'm going to check on the girls," I said before I hear the tell-tale sounds of little feet on the floor. I smirked at Dimitri and jogged to meet the girls at the stairs.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, the girls screeching to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, eyes wide and excited.

"Prepare yourselves; you are about to step into a mystical land that I like to call Christmasville!" I said in a dramatic voice before the two jumped at me, squealing in excitement as I carried them to the tree.

Dimitri and I had stayed up after the girls went to be to add more decorations to the living room, making sure the lights in the Christmas Village were set on a timer, the stockings hanging on the fireplace filled with treats and small gifts. Dimitri set down the plate of fruit I cut up last night on the coffee table and brought out the toddler-size plush chairs for the girls to sit on.

Both of the girls were at an age now where they understood Christmas and got excited about it, gasping at every gift they opened. I sunk onto the couch with my fixed cup of coffee, cuddling into Dimitri's side as the girls opened their stockings.

Sofia was all too excited about the dress-up clip-on earrings we bought her, shaking her head from side to side so she could hear them rattle. Arya was transfixed on the Elsa winter gloves we got her, refusing to take them off while she opened her gifts.

"Are you going to open any of your gifts?" Dimitri asked, kissing the side of my head and extending his arm out so he could take the toy from Arya and take it out of the packaging.

"Not yet, I'll let the girls go first. I love seeing how excited they get," I said, smiling at Sofia when her loud gasp filled the living room when she pulled out the large, glittery, stuffed Olaf and squealed, hugging it tightly to her.

"I can see a situation happening," Dimitri murmured in my ear, gesturing at Arya. I looked over and saw the crestfallen look on her face, looking longingly at the toy.

"Hey," I said stroking her cheek, her lip pouted, "Why don't you open that bag next?" I said pointing to an identical green bag.

Her brown eyes turned on me and I could see her disappointment, but I had prepared for that. Both Sofia and Arya were obsessed with Frozen, especially Olaf. Arya turned to the bag and Dimitri looked at me with a raised brow, but I simply brought the mug to my lips.

Arya pulled the paper out of the bag and stilled for a moment before a megawatt smile crossed her face and she pulled out an identical toy.

"You bought two?"

I smiled at Dimitri. "Of course I did! I'm not dumb enough to buy an Olaf for one and not the other. That would turn into a fight," I said with a smug look, sipping my coffee. Dimitri chuckled but looked back at the girls who were now sitting by the two with their identical toys, chattering away excitedly.

"Merry Christmas, Comrade," I said happily, setting my cup down on the counter and pressing a kiss to his lips. Dimitri hummed against my lips and laced his fingers with mine in my lap. Our kiss was interrupted when two bodies climbed into our laps, wanting in on the love. I wrapped my arms around Sofia's waist and kissed kisses on her cheek and then tucked her hair away from her face.

"I love you, Mommy."

I smiled and cuddled her close, smiling to myself and at Dimitri as Arya cuddled into him too.

"I love you too, baby. Both of you," I said reaching over and running my finger over Arya's arm.


I gave a wave to Jared as I passed him at the desk, heading towards Dimitri's office. The kids were at my parents' house, and I say both of their house because the two of them reconciled about a year ago. I was more than a little happy about that, and I think the happy dance Dimitri witnessed attested to that.

"He's going to be in a meeting for another fifteen," Jared called after me, and I waved over my shoulder in acknowledgement, before backtracking.

"He didn't put anything in his calendar for tonight, right? Didn't block it out? Cause I'm hoping that I didn't double book us."

Jared smirked at me. "No. He just told me he was going home to you tonight."

"Perfect," I said and turned on my heel and headed to his office again. I closed the door behind me and draped my coat over the arm of the couch before heading to his desk, setting a new picture frame on the desk wrapped in a bow. I moved the picture of me during my pregnancy off the desk and set it on the bookshelf against the wall and set the other wrapped box on the blotter.

Knowing Dimitri as well as I did, I turned to the hutch and shifted through it, pulling out the bottle of Mezcal and then snuck into the small lunchroom, grabbing some ice cubes. By the time I got back to the office, poured our drinks, checked my reflection in the window and deemed I looked way better in this red dress than I thought, and sat in his chair, I had just rested my heels on the desk when the door opened and my tired-looking husband entered.

It took him a second to realize I was there, but the tired look lessened on his face.

"What's this?" he asked, pointing to well, me.

"It's a hostile takeover," I said with a smirk, twisting on the chair. Dimitri followed my movement and came around the desk, noting the two glasses on his desk.

"And a hostile takeover involves your heels on my desk," he said running his fingers up my shin, slipping under the hem of my knee-length dress.

"Of course it does. I'm trying to seduce you," I returned, picking up my glass and sipping it.

Dimitri chuckled deep in his throat, leaning down and pressing his lips to mine as his fingers wrapped around the underside of my knee.

"I see," he simply said, "Is there a particular reason I have an amazingly hot woman trying to seduce me?"

I shrugged, my eyes sliding to the box on the desk. Dimitri followed my line of sight and picked it up, looking at the box. Dimitri picked it up and looked at the book with curiosity.

"Am I missing something?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's this for?"

I felt a pang in my chest. He couldn't have forgotten, could he? But I wasn't about to let it show on my face, so I took another sip of my drink instead.

"Roza, can you pass me the letter opener in the drawer?"

I pulled my legs down and opened the drawer but didn't find a letter opener.

"I don't see one," I said with a sigh.

"Oh, sorry, the draw in the credenza," he said and I turned to the set of drawers against the window, opening the drawer and muttered to myself about what he could do with the letter opener when I found two square, wrapped boxes in the drawer. I picked them up and turned to face him, finding a smug look on his face.

"Did you really think I forgot about our anniversary, Roza?"

I blushed a little but didn't answer. He already knew the answer.

"Open yours first," I said setting my gifts on the table. Dimitri raised a brow but sat on the edge of his desk, leaning towards me and kissing the corner of my mouth. Dimitri smirked at me but opened the wrapped gift, finding a watch tucked neatly on the cushion.

"This is perfect, Roza," he said, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me close. I smiled at him and gave him a kiss. The watch he had was his favourite, but Anya enjoyed it too and thought chucking it down the stairs would be a wonderful idea last night.

"To be fair, I did buy this two weeks ago," I said with a chuckle.

"You just have good intuition," Dimitri said kissing me again. I hummed and wrapped my arms around his next. "Best three years of my life."

I nodded in agreeance and but furrowed my brows when I realized he was frowning at his desk. "What?"

"Where did your picture go?" Dimitri said pointing to the desk. I held up the new one, the one I took of the four of us at Christmas, but Dimitri shook his head.

"No. The one of you during Sofia's pregnancy. It's my favourite," he said, getting up and looking around. I went over to the shelf and picked it up, showing it to him. He took it from me and went back to his desk where he had all of his pictures and moved them around, setting one of him and Ivan at a charity event on the shelf and putting the new photo and his 'favourite' together on his desk.

Once he was satisfied, he sat on the edge of the desk and pulled me back to him, situating me to stand between his legs. I cupped his cheeks and kissed him.

"Your favourite picture is me when I'm all fat?"

Dimitri rolled his eyes and let a sharp chuckle escape. "No, you were not all fat. You were beautiful. I just like that picture."

I snuggled into him and rested my cheek against his shoulder, running my fingers over his chest.

"I made dinner reservations."

"I know," he said with a smirk, "I called to make the same reservation."

I scoffed and shook my head, plucking up one of the boxes. "What's this?"

"A vacuum," he deadpanned, making me snicker. I unwrapped the box and cracked the box, expecting a pair of earrings, instead, there was a ring. It was a beautiful platinum band with three diamonds set in it, raised up. It matched my engagement ring too, which was even better.

"I love this, thank you!" I said, pulling it from the box and slipping it onto my ring finger. Dimitri smiled at me and I smiled back, lifting the other box too.

"Is this one a vacuum too?"

Dimitri shook his head as I opened it finding a small card inside. Puzzled, I pulled it out of the box and flipped it over, reading the perfect writing on the back.

"We're going to Italy in June?"

"We are. We're finally going to take our honeymoon," he said tucking my hair behind my ear. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck again, hugging him tightly with a little squeal. Dimitri chuckled at me but hugged me tightly.

"It only took three years," I snickered pulling away, "We should get going soon though, we don't want to miss our reservation."

I started to pull out of his arms, but he stopped me, pulling me back to him, hands sliding over my back and resting on my ass, curling his fingers over the hem.

"I changed it. We have a bit more time," he said pressing his lips to my neck. I hummed and tilted my head to the side.

"We can't do this here! You have windows out to the hall!"

"Have you really never noticed that you can't look into my office, just out?"

I furrowed my brows. "Really?"

Dimitri hummed and returned to kissing my neck, fingers pulling the hem up my legs, brushing his fingers on the back of my thighs. I couldn't exactly say I wasn't enticed; we had two toddlers at home so private time was hard to come by these days. I pulled Dimitri's face to mine and captured his lips, gripping his shoulders and pulling myself up to straddle his lap, my dress riding up to my hips. It didn't take long for my dress to be abandoned on the floor with his shirt and tie.


I absentmindedly adjusted my hair again, scoffing at Dimitri as he grinned at me with smugness.

"Did you have to make one this big!?" I asked in a hushed voice, gesturing to my neck. Dimitri snickered behind his glass of wine.

"Yes, I did."

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of wine, shaking my head at him in jest. Poor Jared had to fight to keep his face straight when we left the office, me adjusting my dress still and Dimitri's tie still missing. I giggled as Dimitri ushered us into the elevator, already pressing a kiss to my lips as the doors closed.

Our waiter came back to our table and set down a plate, 'Happy Anniversary' written out in chocolate.

"Thank you," I said to our waiter and he nodded.

"I have to say, you two were here my very first shift, and I've always loved seeing you two come in since. You two always look so happy," he said. I smiled at Dimitri and then back up at him.

"How do you know it was us?"

"You stopped me and asked me for a pen, and you were pregnant at the time. You two were celebrating something, I didn't know what though," he said.

I chuckled when I put it all together. He was the waiter I stopped when Dimitri had a new contract drawn up, giving me parental rights to Sofia. I smiled to myself and then at Dimitri, who also had a smile on his face.

"I guess we should ask for you from now on," Dimitri suggested, stroking a finger over my hand lightly. I hummed and nodded, saying thank you again before taking a forkful of the chocolate mousse cake.

"I forgot that this is where we were when we decided to be a family," I said licking the chocolate off my fork. Dimitri picked up his and dug in too, quietly savouring the dessert as well.

"I decided two days earlier I wanted us to be a family, even if I hadn't admitted to myself that I was in love with you yet," he said with a smile. I hummed and slipped my shoe off, rubbing the side of my foot against his ankle, smirking at him.

"Oh really?" I returned.

"Mmmhmm, maybe I just needed you to yell at me, it seemed to get me to admit it," he joked, making me sputter on my sip of wine. Dimitri apologized but his smile was still on his face, gazing at me with love that I could feel down to my toes.

"Maybe I should yell at you more often, get things done quicker," I quipped, smirking at him as I set my glass down. I let my eyes travel over the room before stopping on two people I picked out in the crowd.

"Oh. My. God. He's doing it," I whispered, pointing across the room. Dimitri followed my finger and laughed, setting his fork down. I dug my hand into my purse and pulled my phone out, opening the camera and starting to record it. She would want to see this.

I knew that Christian was going to propose soon, but I didn't know he was going to propose tonight.

I squealed quietly in excitement as Christian got on one knee, biting my lip as I watched my best friend say yes. The people around them all congratulated them, but I wanted to keep to myself that I knew. I wanted her to have her moment when she shared her good news. I put my phone back in my bag and turned back to our dessert, lifting my wine glass towards Dimitri.

"To a happy anniversary."

"Happy anniversary, my love."


Hello my lovelies!

I have to say, I never thought that this would get as well-reviewed and received as it did. I love all of my readers, and I am happy to see this one come to an end.

This baby started off as an idea that came to me when I was almost asleep one night, and then it turned into four chapters the same night. And after two weeks of research, it was posted.

Hope you all enjoyed this love rollercoaster as much as I did!:)