Page 92 of Wicked Mafia Sinner

"The head is crowning, Mrs. Volkov. Push."

Mrs. Volkov.

The name wraps around me between contractions. I hold it the way I hold everything that matters. Completely. Without apology.

I push once and then again. It takes everything I have. All the strength I have pours through me

A cry breaks through the quiet. Small and enormous at the same time.

Rowan kisses me and wipes the sweat away from my forehead. “You did it,” he murmurs softly to me.

The midwife meets our gazes.

"It's a girl."

Rowan's lips press against my sweating forehead. His hands shake against my skin. The midwife lays our new baby girl on my chest and when I feel her soft skin for the first time I finally cry.

“Don’t cry, my beautiful. Don’t cry.”

“She’s so beautiful.”

“She is. She’s perfect.”

I look down. Her eyes are closed. Her fists are clenched. Her hair is light, not white like mine, not dirty blond like her father. But a color in between. The color of beginnings.

Rowan stares at her with an expression full of love and light.

"What's sunshine in Russian?"

His eyes move to mine. Bright. Wet.

"Svetlana."

I look down at my daughter.

"What do you think about Svetlana Meli Volkov?"

Her full name wraps around my heart and burns into my soul.

"Da." His voice wavers. "Da, sunshine. I love it."

I rest my head on his shoulder when he comes in to wrap his arms around us. "I love you more than you will ever know."

"I will spend the rest of my life showing you I love you more."

An hour later. The midwives have bathed Svetlana, wrapped her tight in a blanket she will absolutely fight her way out of by morning. They also leave me in clean sheets and freshen the pillows behind my back.

I'm propped against pillows with my daughter on my chest and Rowan in the chair beside me, his hand resting near her head, his body angled toward us like gravity reorganized itself the moment she arrived and he’ll never give his back to either of us.

A dark-haired head pops in and I meet my sister’s eyes.

“You up for visitors?”

I’m bone tired but I know everyone wants to see our baby girl. “Come in. Get everyone.”

The brothers rotate through. Rafael and Persi are first. Both of them are in awe and Persi leans in to whisper, “First chance you get, we need a girl’s day.”

I smile up at her. Over the past eight months the wives and I have all become fast friends.