Page 88 of The Breath Before Forever

Vaslav reached in to fix the hat, only to be frozen when the baby’s blinking gaze seemed to finally focus on him. “Hello there.”

She was small. Too tiny even if she could eat on her own and didn’t seem to have any other troubles besides underdeveloped lungs that just needed time and occasionally medication.

Vera bent down beside Vaslav, fixing the blanket around the baby and then stroking the tiny fingers grasping onto the edge of the fabric. “She likes to be rocked to sleep, but she won’t take a dummy at all.”

“A dummy?”

“Those soother things,” Mira said where she had to stand with Kiril in the doorway.

Vaslav nodded over his shoulder at her like he understood, but he really had no fucking clue. A baby was so out of his element. This entire situation felt un-fucking-real to him.

The baby yawned again, startling Vaslav just like the first time. Even if there was no noise to her sleepiness.

“She’s not going to bite you,” Vera said.

Yes, she would.

Eventually, the damn things got teeth.

Vaslav sighed, pulling the blanket away from the baby so he could access the car seat’s safety buckles.

“Well, what’s her name?” Kiril asked, finally jumping in on the conversation.

“What are you doing?” Vera asked Vaslav.

“Picking her up. I need to get the fuck over it. You know—just do it.” Vaslav fumbled twice with the five-point harness before Vera swatted his hands away to do it for him. Clicking the connectors apart seemed incredibly easy for her.

Had she practiced?

“There, you can pick her up now,” Vera said. “Support her head and back.”

The baby fit in both his hands. The zippered sleeper—pink like her blanket and hat—swallowed the girl in fabric. He’d picked up rocks heavier than the child. Vas would be a liar if he said that fact didn’t scare him even more.

How did people keep little humans alive?

At least, the baby stopped wiggling when he rocked her against his chest. Except there he could smell the lotion and baby powder that seemed to soak into his lungs with every breath. After a few seconds of him doing that and staring over the front yard, it wasn’t so bad.

“She doesn’t have a name,” Vera said, answering the question that had hung in the air since Kiril asked it. “Igor didn’t want to name her.”

Vaslav reached for Vera’s hand, and squeezed.

She shrugged. “He had a hard time even looking at her. I think it’s just—”

“We’ll pick one,” Vaslav interjected, stopping that worry of Vera’s in its tracks. “We’ll figure out something for her. She can’t be nameless.”

“Yeah, okay,” she muttered with a nod.

*

His dick was testament to his wife’s innate ability to turn him on without even needing to try. While a migraine played the drums between his ears, his cock would still get hard with Vera straddling him. She’d only climbed into the bath with him to do that thing he liked with her fingers on his scalp, but he was weak.

Well, she did get in naked.

On top of him.

Practically ready.

His favorite sex—perhaps not his best, though—was when he had to do very little work. She did the heavy lifting on top, getting herself off how and when she wanted, while he enjoyed the show she gave him.