He said: Absolutely. It was in silk and satin. But after your pregnancy, I admit to switching back to lace and leather—
(Note to editor: We’ll be deleting that last line about my post-pregnancy wardrobe.)
“The doctor said that I had to take things slowly. He didn’t say I was an invalid.” Mairi’s sputtered protest came out as a laugh as Damen and Drake both hastened to open the hospital’s doors for her, beating the security guard to doing his job.
“We can’t be careful enough,” Damen muttered after shooting the hapless guard a cold look for not being quick enough to do what he was supposed to.
Mairi rolled her eyes even though a warm rush of pleasure washed over her at Damen’s concern. Poor Damen, Mairi thought as she peeked at her husband. Although he still looked jaw-droppingly gorgeous – the crowd of nurses and female interns outside her doctor’s office was proof of it – Damen was also noticeably paler than usual.
Damen caught sight of his wife’s look and grimaced. “I know what you’re thinking and I do not agree, matakia mou.”
She exclaimed with wide-eyed innocence, “I’m not thinking anything.”
He almost snorted. “You cannot fool me, my beautiful wife. You are too poor a liar, and your eyes are too expressive.” As he spoke, he automatically held her back when he saw a bus bearing down on them, not wanting to risk Mairi crossing the road when there was a huge vehicle about to drive past. “I am not being overly protective.” He was not. He was just being cautious, which was understandable after the little talk he had with Mairi’s doctor. Damen had absolutely no idea that women in this age still died of pregnancy. How the f**k was that possible? People were able to make a f**king airplane fly but they couldn’t make pregnancy 100% safe for expectant mothers?
When the bus drove past them, Mairi again tried to step off the sidewalk, but she was stopped by her husband once more. Looking up, she saw that a motorcycle was bearing down on them this time. She burst into laughter, and glancing at Drake over her shoulder, she said, “Tell him he’s overreacting, Drake. You know it’s true!” For once, she did it without any ulterior motive of making Damen jealous. She was just too happy, the way Damen had devoted his every moment to her since he had learned of her pregnancy last night making her feel lighthearted and bubbly.
Everything felt perfect. The sun couldn’t shine brightly enough, the sky couldn’t be blue enough, and oh God, she couldn’t seem to stop smiling. For a moment, she lost herself in cloud nine, and because she was looking at Drake, she completely missed the fleeting look of stark pain in Damen’s gaze when he heard her talk to Drake in an affectionate voice.
Drake didn’t. The chilling kind of look Damen often directed at him was impossible to ignore, but as always, Drake deliberately paid it no heed. He was done interfering between the two, the guilt inside him still fresh. At night, an imaginary Paige would sometimes chide him for causing too much pain for both Damen and Mairi. The Paige in his mind would urge him to make things right between the two, and what Paige wanted, she got. Even if she was not real. Even if it meant he would have to kill a thousand men to have her smile.
The problem was, fixing other people’s hearts was not really his forte.
All Drake knew was how to break them.
“Drake, tell him,” Mairi was insisting as Damen hailed a cab, her husband obviously deciding it was the safer option compared to taking the short five-minute walk back home.
Around them, people who recognized Mairi and Damen started taking pictures. Mairi appeared completely oblivious to it, but Damen and Drake were not, both of them not ruling out the possibility that either Yehor Kokinos or Esther Leventis would snap at any moment and do irreparable harm to Mairi.
Mairi, his wife, who was, Damen thought with a mixture of exasperation and tenderness, as clueless as ever. Dressed in a lilac high-waist dress that effectively hid her tiny bump, Mairi looked more like a beautiful girl fresh out of college than an expectant mother.
The glow about her made Mairi appear more mesmerizing than ever, and Damen suspected it was why the Greek public was still unable to get enough of her. Local gossip websites were filled with photos of them, and the most popular of them were often the most mundane. A shot of Damen and Mairi walking to the market holding hands, a shot of Damen assisting his wife out of the cab, or a shot of Mairi chatting happily with a tavern owner while he brewed coffee.
As Mairi and Damen continued to lead normal lives minus the trappings that came with Damen’s previous billionaire lifestyle, the public slowly began to see themselves in his wife. No longer was she a notorious gold digger in their eyes. Instead, she was a Cinderella who had found her Prince Charming…and chose to love him still even if he was no longer a prince.
A cab finally stopped before them. But before Mairi could get in, Damen held her back while Drake went forward to inspect the vehicle’s safety and determine whether the driver was someone to be suspicious about.
Mairi threw her hands up. “You’re acting just as ridiculous as Damen! What’s next? Secret Service agents tailing us?”
Drake almost smiled, and when he turned around to face the couple, he saw that the ex-billionaire’s lips had twitched, too. Mairi’s words were actually true, with Damen selling off his sports car to afford the fees of Drake’s men and ensure that they worked incognito in keeping Mairi safe as well as tailing his enemies, waiting for them to betray themselves.
“It’s safe,” was all Drake said.
Mairi sighed. “Hopeless. You are both hopeless.”
Inside the cab, Damen immediately pulled Mairi to him, wanting her close to him all the time.
Mairi didn’t resist at all when Damen tugged her close. She wanted the same thing, but she just couldn’t bring herself to reach for him first, seeing it as an act of weakness she couldn’t afford to make.
Ahead of them, Damen spied a boutique for infants. “Would you like to stop there? We haven’t bought anything yet for our baby.”
There was a tiny pause before Mairi said brightly, “I think it would be way cooler and more meaningful if we did it the old school way, don’t you think?”
His forehead furrowed. “What are you suggesting?”
“I could knit…”
“You can do that of course, but I don’t want you tired unnecessarily. Besides, there are other stuff that we must buy.” He paused. “Unless of course you are thinking of building a crib for the baby, too?”