I stared into his dark eyes. "I'm glad you didn't." I whispered, playing with his hair. He laughed. I let my hands fall from him, and backed away slightly. My eyes were finally dry, no more tears that never spilt. I cried for six years of pain.
"Roza…" he tucked some of my hair behind my ear. "Will you give me a chance?" I bit my lip gently.
"Let's start with this summer." His face fell slightly. I smiled, letting my fingers just barely touch his cheek. "I don't mean that as a no." he met my eyes.
"What does it mean then?" he whispered.
"You can live like I do. As in taking care of Brantley and horses and the property." I let my hand drop once more from his body, I felt empty again. "If you want to stay after that then you can. We will make it work, you in college, me and Brantley chilling." He nodded. "I'm not saying no to you again." I promised. He smiled.
"Good." I laughed. He pulled me into a hug, his arms tight around me. "Mia told me where you were and Lissa told me to run." He chuckled. I looked up at him. "They were tired of me moping and lying about where I was going." I smiled softly.
"I heard you were dating again." I whispered. He looked down at me.
"There's nothing to worry about love… it's always been you." He kissed my forehead. I smiled.
"We should get back, Liam will be bringing Brantley back soon. If I'm not there then he will take him longer."
"Let's go." He released me. We walked together quietly. I slipped my hand into his, he looked down at our hands. He smiled before looking away. We walked quietly, peacefully back to the house. When we entered I slipped off my shoes. I saw Liam's muddy boots. I pulled Dimitri along as I quietly walked to where he would be bathing my baby. I looked where my dirty baby was.
"Liam." He jumped, Brantley squealing at sudden noise. He turned to me. "Is that mud?" I knew my foot was tapping.
"Yes?" my mouth dropped.
"You let him crawl in shit?" I screamed. Brantley started crying at my angry voice. "Oh my god… I'm going to kill you."
"No, you said he just wasn't allowed to come back covered in mud." Damn it.
"Fine, wash him and change his diaper and give him fresh clothes. You have ten minutes." I pulled Dimitri along with me to the living room where the rest of the gang was. He sat down, trying not to laugh. Mia was laughing.
"You saw Liam?" I nodded. I sat down on the arm of the seat Dimitri was in. "Is he bathing him?"
"Yes, he has ten minutes to return me a spotless baby." I fumed. "Leanne!" I called. She entered. "Get me another beer please." She giggled.
"Yes Ms. Rosie." She left. I sighed, relaxing back a little.
"Do he and Brantley have issues like this often?" I looked at Lissa.
"Daily, you should see him with the baby backpack and a horse." Mia snickered. "Rose almost blows up when he does that." She explained.
"He's galloping with my baby. He's gonna end up retarded." I've grown a slight country twang.
"Rose, just ask him not to." I looked back to Lissa.
"You think I haven't tried that? I ask, but he ain't doing what he doesn't want too."
"Yeah, men here are like that. They're super polite, but do what they want." Mia explained.
"Ms. Rosie, here you are." She handed me another beer. "Liam is asking for you."
"Okay." She left. I sighed. "I'll be back." I put my beer on the side table and walked out of the room. I went to baby room four. I looked at him. "What?" I put my hands on my hips. I saw Brantley in his diaper, giggling at Liam. I smiled at them. "You called."
"Yeah gorgeous." He put Brantley down in a play pen. "I can't find anything that matches for him." He walked over to the door, closing it. I watched him.
"Just put him in…" I went to the dresser. He followed behind me, looking over my shoulder. I grabbed a plain white onesie. "There." I handed it to him. "He's a plain dresser. In a few months he will be able to wear plaid shirts and baby jeans." I watched as he changed him. "He absolutely loves you." I whispered. He smiled.
"I love him." He picked up Brantley. "Here's your baby madam." He handed Brantley over. I smiled and held him to my hip. "About last night… Mia and I didn't sleep together, we were only talking. I swear." He held his right hand up. "I needed her help and she agreed."
"Okay, it's none of my business." I kissed Brantley's forehead. "I just don't want her involved with what my family does… do you understand that?" he nodded. "Dinner is about ready if you want to stay…" I offered.
"I would love to gorgeous." He opened the door for me and we headed back to the living room. Leanne was just announcing dinner when we caught up. "I'm staying for dinner it looks like." I loved accents, especially Russian and southern ones. They made me melt.
"Yep, I'm guessing he made something simple like burgers." Leanne took us out to the back patio and deck.
"Whoa." I looked at Lissa and smiled.
"I'll give you a tour later." I promised. We sat at the luxurious deck. I set Brantley in his high chair with the sun cover. Leanne handed me his bottle. I put it in front of him. "When is Josh brining the food?"
"Now ma'am." She nodded her respect. I smiled and began to feed Brantley. He made the funniest bottle feeding sound. He munched away at the bottle. I looked back at Leanne.
"Can you get us a round of beers and a bottle of water? Mine is still sitting where I set it." She nodded and left. I looked at Lissa. "We have soda and juice and other things if you don't want water. Just tell Leanne what you want and she'll get it."
"Water's fine. I don't want any caffeine and I only drink organic juice." I laughed.
"I was the same way, caffeine free and no unknown juice substances." She grinned. "Do you have everything planned out yet?"
"No." she sighed. "I don't have anything planned."
"Oh, but you need to. Schools, public or private?"
"Well, where will Brantley go?"
"He's in Kindercare in Chapel Hill. Already signed up for when he reaches four. Then he has his name in the Chatham school program." Her face held worry. "I can help you plan if you want. How far along are you?"
"Six months." She touched her bump.
"Are you still living in the apartment?" she nodded. "I would get a house." I looked back at Brantley, he was sucking on a dry bottle. I pulled it out from his mouth, putting the towel over my shoulder. I lifted him into my arms and rubbed his back gently. "Do you have anything bought for the baby?"
"Christian bought a crib that you can get accessories to if it's a boy or girl." She looked so proud of herself.
"What car do you have?"
"The Mercedes." Christian said. I sighed.
"Lissa, I thought you would always be better than me at the planning a family thing, but you are almost worse than I was." She frowned. "Honestly, don't you have a baby checklist?"
"What's that?" I went silent a moment.
"Okay, we will change the subject." I watched Joshua bring out the food. It was burgers and homemade fries. There was also salad and cut up fruit. I looked at him and smiled. "Thank you Josh." He nodded and headed back. "Well, do you want the sex to be a surprise or do you want to find out?"
"Well, I was leaning towards surprise… but I hate surprises." I laughed.
"I know, trust me we all know." She blushed. "So, when do you think you will be able to find out?"
"I have a doctor's appointment before school starts back up… I think I will be able to find out then."
"How many weeks exactly are you?"
"Twenty seven weeks." She nodded.
"Wow…" I frowned. "I missed a lot." She nodded, smiling softly.
"But that isn't important now, we're together again." I smiled. I wasn't there for her.
"I was thinking… maybe you could move down here…" I bit my lip. She watched me a moment.
"I've thought about it a lot." She smiled. "I'm not done with school though…"
"After the baby you will probably drop out unless you get a nanny." She looked at me. "It's true, I didn't want to leave my baby with someone that he would get to know better than his mother. His father is out of the picture and I'm all he has." I pulled Brantley back, he was sound asleep. I put him on my lap, leaning him back. I put my feet up so he was in a cradle like thing. I kissed his tiny head. "I love you baby." I whispered. They all watched me.
"You've grown up." I looked at Christian.
"I know… I had to." I brushed Brantley's hair forward. "You can be drunk and stoned and eight months pregnant. Think how the poor kid would turn out." He laughed. "This little man means the world to me. I want a girl when this little guy is about a year old."
"Really… why about a year?"
"Because, then they will go through school together and any guy that screws with my daughter will get this little guy on his ass." He busted out laughing. "What? Would you want a little girl to have a scrawny little brother that can't protect her?" he was turning purple. I sighed. "Whatever, laugh all you want… but I have eight months to get pregnant."
"Rosie, I don't even know what to say to that." Liam chuckled. I grinned at him.
"I was going to say magic juice but decided against it." He shook his head, joining Christian's laughter. Mia was chowing down as was Liss. Dimitri just watched the baby in my arms. "Do you want to hold him?" I stood up with Brantley. Dimitri paused a minute before nodding. I put him in his giant arms. If Brantley had brown eyes he could be Dimitri's kid. I sat back down, munching lightly. "Liam, how's life been treating you?"
"Good, Brantley almost has horseback riding down." I sighed.
"I won't win this fight will I?" he grinned and shook his head. "Just be careful, too much shaking of the head can lead to brain damage."
"No, we only have him walking. It's fine. I wouldn't risk my little cowboy's brain." He promised. "Good food Rosie." He winked at me. I rolled my eyes.
"Thank Joshua." I put the fry I was holding down and leaned back in the chair. I looked at Lissa. "You should practice taking care of a baby for a day." I observed. She put the fries down, swallowing.
"You would give up Brantley for a day?" she looked shocked.
"Yeah, it would give him a day off of cowboy lessons with the barn hands." I looked at Liam. "And you will probably go into shock and realize what it means. Do you want to? You can do it just before you leave in August."
"That would be awesome." She popped another fry into her mouth. "Can we do it more than one day?"
"Yep, you can do it a few times this week and next week…" It was mid-July already… "Then you leave."
-X-X-X-
It's been the two weeks. Lissa and Christian were planning everything frantically, Liam was with Brantley whenever he wasn't with someone else, Mia was going back to New York, and Dimitri and I have been getting closer and closer. Lissa and Christian were out with Brantley again and Mia was down at the pool tanning before she left tomorrow. Dimitri and I were out at the pond at the corner of the property. We were lying on a blanket enjoying the sun. "Dimitri… I want to ask you something." I pushed myself up into a sitting position.
"What is it?" he turned, facing me. He would be the father of my next child. I watched him, his relaxed body.
"You're leaving tomorrow." He nodded. "Will you…" I took a deep breath. "Will you make love to me?" I whispered.
"Are you sure?" I looked up at the sky.
"You're the only thing I have been sure about." I spoke softly.
"Roza… look at me." I looked into his eyes. "I love you." He sat up next to me. He pulled my face a little closer.
"I love you too Dimitri… more than anything, except Brantley." He laughed. "Make love to me." I whispered against his lips. We connected, skin on skin. It was real. The sparks that flew from our bodies as we came together as one was amazing. We were one, we always had been. We were two halves of a perfect whole. No one finds that kind of love anymore. We laid together in bliss. We were meant for each other, no matter how hard we tried not to be… or well I tried. I loved him and he loved me. That was all that mattered, that and Brantley Jacob. "There's something else I need to tell you." I whispered. I traced the muscles on his chest.
"What?"
"My agent called yesterday… after you guys leave, I'm going on a two year modeling tour in Europe and I'll be producing my new clothing and scent line." I leaned up to watch his expression.
"You're leaving again?"