Mrs. Field apologized for not announcing her guest and anxiously backed out of the room. Clearly, Pieter had not allowed her the opportunity to do so.
“Because I’m not a guest, I’m family. Aren’t I, Sabrina?”
“What are you doing here, Pieter?” Her voice had grown stronger with the repetition of the question, as had her anger.
“I don’t like your tone, Sabrina.” Pieter swaggered to the middle of the room and sneered at her. “My brother lives here and in fact I have a key because I finalized the deal on this place with the broker. Your mother.” He laughed.
“I happen to know he’s out of town,” he continued. “I also saw his office plastered with photos of young Alexei. I hope you haven’t broken our agreement and told Vlad the truth. Because if you have, I will claim the boy and your cozy life as a socialite will be over.”
“I started to tell him, but he didn’t want to know.
You have nothing to worry about, Pieter.”
“Believe me, if Vlad knew I was Alexei’s father, he would care. Big bro would never make a mistake like that. He always takes responsibility. And all because Lily left it too late to tell me. If she hadn’t, I’d’ve told her to get a termination. She played the wrong card looking to snag a rich baby daddy.” He shook his head.
“That’s my mother you’re speaking about, Pieter.” Sabrina’s voice rose. “My dead mother. And that’s not how it was. She had no idea she was pregnant at first; it was a complete surprise. Some women don’t realize right away.” She put a hand over her roiling belly, on her own non-existent baby bump.
Pieter’s gaze followed the movement and continued until they fell on the book opened on the side table between them.
“I can’t believe this. You’re pregnant? Like mother, like daughter, huh? Don’t tell me you thought you would cement your relationship with him by getting knocked up?”
He laughed; a nasty cackle of a sound and Sabrina suddenly had enough.
“I don’t need to cement my relationship with Vlad, he’s as happy as I am about this baby,” she lied, itching to smack the smirk off Pieter’s face.
“No, she doesn’t need to do anything to cement our relationship.”
Vlad’s voice startled them both as his long arm pushed the solarium door wide, his face like thunder and his voice a low snarl.
“I don’t know how long you’ve been harassing my wife, Pieter, but it stops now. Because of your actions, Sabrina was left to support Alex when she could barely support herself. She struggled to the point of exhaustion to care for him because you bailed out. She mothered Alex all of that time alone and now I will father him. As I will the new one on the way.”
Pieter stared with disbelieving eyes as Vlad put a protective arm around Sabrina’s shaking shoulders.
“Get out, Pieter. I’ll be changing the locks on the door today, and if you ever show up here again it better be because you got an invitation. I’ll be sending you the paperwork. We’ll be adopting Alex.”
“Vlad, just so you know, I didn’t mean it. I just panicked when Lily told me. I didn’t mean to run out on her.”
Pieter, ever the younger brother, was seeking approval or maybe forgiveness. Or was he sincere? Doubtful, Sabrina thought.
“So that’s why you decided to come here and threaten Sabrina in our home? Get out, Pieter. Now.” He slammed the door on his brother.
Sabrina fell back onto the sofa, dizzily trying to process the last few minutes.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in San Diego?” “Nicholson is there,” he said, naming his chief
deputy. “Little does he know but he’s going be doing a lot of traveling over the next several months.” He smiled down at her.
Sabrina was biting her lip, afraid to ask the most important question of the many on her mind.
“You came back,” she whispered.
“I got as far as the airport.” He shook his head, stared at the rug. “You have to understand, I was stunned, absolutely staggered, that you’re expecting,” his accent thickened, “my…our…baby. I couldn’t process it at first. I shut down and I escaped, I guess, in work. Like I’ve always done.”
“But?” She tried to encourage him.
“But of course it hit me that if I ran out on you, I would be just as bad as my father, whoever he is, and I don’t want that for you, or for our child,” he said, “our children.”
Sabrina’s tentative smile widened.
“I knew you would come back. It’s a lot to take in.
Two children, when—”
“When a few months ago, I was a bachelor who never knew what he was missing.” The corner of his mouth quirked up.
“Such as?”
“This,” he said and Sabrina giggled as he pulled her onto his lap, and claimed her lips until they were both breathing heavily. When she reached up to resume their kiss, he lightly ran his finger along her lower lip.
“Wait. I need to tell you some things,” he said.
“A few days ago, you shut me down when I tried to tell you about Alex, about me,” she protested.
“I didn’t want to know. I thought if I ever met the yahoo that fathered Alex, I would throttle him. I couldn’t believe what I heard Pieter say. Have you always known it was him?”
“No, not till the night of our wedding. I guess he got nervous then that I knew, that my mom had told me and that I’d told you. But she hadn’t. I think she was sad, and she just couldn’t talk about it without being upset. I stopped needing to know. And then after she died…”
She shrugged, lost again in the initial shock of those early days alone.
“You were left dealing with the reality of a baby. A fatherless, motherless baby.”
Sabrina nodded. “Pieter said something and I think it’s true. You always do the responsible thing, Vlad. I couldn’t stand it; I couldn’t stay with you, out of your outsized sense of what is the right thing to do. It’s enough for me that you know the truth about everything—that you don’t think I plotted against you.”
He shook his head emphatically. “I stopped believing that some time ago. Seeing you with Alex disabused me of that idea pretty quickly. But I had to hang onto it, to keep you close. Who knows? Maybe it was Pieter who planted that story. It could’ve been his off-base way of ensuring Alex was looked after. And yes, I’ve always wanted you, Sabrina. From the moment I saw you, you hooked me like a fish on a line.
But you deserve someone very different from me.” “Different? Oh, someone who loves me back you
mean…” She nodded, finally catching his meaning and scrambling off his lap to stand facing him, her back to the door ready to flee. In the space of a moment, she’d lost all hope.
“No!” he said. “Damn it, I love you. How could I not? You pulled me in from the first moment. I had nightmares and you saved me inside of them. You know why you need to go. I’m a bastard.”
His voice lowered. It seemed nothing would ever lessen the shame.
“Please, come here?” he asked.
She sat on the chair directly facing him.
“I wasn’t even left at the orphanage. Pieter and I were found on the streets. Do you know what that means? They didn’t even bother to take us to some place semi-safe where we’d have a roof over our heads. They couldn’t have cared less. When I had the chance, I escaped that place and found my way, our way, to a tanker that eventually brought us west. We changed our names. I was, I still am, so ashamed. But this is who I am. You deserve to know. And you deserve better.”
“You love me?” The rest of what Vlad had said was so much blather at that moment.
“Sabrina, do you hear me? I have no idea what I come from, except that it’s a place so low our parents just abandoned us. I have no experience or memory of family or caring. I was left on the streets when I was four years old. I’m piss poor fatherhood material, husband material, too, for that matter.”
“You’ve told me this. Can’t you see it doesn’t matter? Those experiences, your childhood, you survived and you’ve thrived. You’re an amazing father to Alex.” She had tears in her eyes for that abandoned little boy.
“Vlad, look at who you are to us. Actions mean more than labels. You did your best to take care of Pieter, and let’s just say he was probably always a handful.” She smiled into his eyes. “You took us both on, and Alex adores you. For God’s sake, you pulled him from the sea, saved his life. You’re what they call a natural.”
“I have one more thing to say.” He took her chin and forced her now buoyant eyes to meet his solemn gaze. “If you wanted to, you could leave me now and lead a very good life, never struggle financially again. And with your own money.”
“What do you mean?” Now what was he saying? “Because I happen to know that your father, Billy
Boyd, was apparently a late blooming modern artist out West. Some of his recent works have sold in the millions. And with the art market the way it’s been recently, you’re a millionaire several times over.”
“What?” This was too much to take in on top of everything else.
“He died. Your father was a rising star sculptor when he died. He had no will, but you are his only living kin, his blood and it all goes to you. When we married, someone handling his estate must have spotted your name in the media, and I was contacted a couple of weeks ago on your behalf. You’re a multi- millionaire, Sabrina. You don’t need to stay with me to ensure security for Alex and our unborn child. I release you from that asinine contract. I only did it to keep you close. Once I had you, it was impossible for me to let you slip away. I knew I had to tell you, but I thought, with this kind of financial security there’s no way you’ll want to stay with me. You won’t need to. And so I was waiting for the right moment to mention it…”
He waited, even now, unsure of her reaction, his face blank of all expression, as she absorbed that huge piece of information.
So her father was dead, too. She and Vlad had only each other now and their growing family. And that was all she wanted. All she needed. Her smile beamed, and when she stood and opened her arms, he immediately scooped her up and settled her back onto his lap.
“So?” he said his voice still devoid of emotion. He needed to hear the words.
She snuggled deeper in his arms, put her lips to the side of his neck, planting little kisses there as she spoke. “So, I love you. Only you. On top of that, I would never do a thing to hurt your foundation work overseas, because you do good for so many kids who are like us, like both of us. I’m staying right here, Vlad. Forever. I have everything I want or need. We’re a family. And I think I’ll use that money from my dad to explore a photography career.”