Page 255 of Mile High Ruin

“He is very small.”

“Yes.”

“And loud.”

“Also yes.”

Leonid makes a thin, annoyed sound against him.

Vadim looks down. “He disagrees with you.”

“He’s three weeks old.”

“He has opinions.”

I smile because Vadim says it like this is a family trait he respects.

A few weeks after the birth, when Leonid is strong enough for a short, supervised visit outside the NICU, I take him to Ethan. Vadim walks beside the wheelchair, one hand near the baby carrier and the other near my shoulder, which is unnecessary but strangely reassuring.

Ethan is sitting up more now. He’s still thin, still sick, still connected to things I wish he didn’t need, but there’s color in his face that wasn’t there before Vadim’s specialists arrived.

When he sees the baby, his eyes fill.

“Oh,” he says, and for once there is no joke ready.

I carefully place Leonid beside him with the nurse’s help. “Your nephew.”

Ethan touches one tiny hand with the tip of his finger. “He’s real.”

“Yes.”

“He looks angry.”

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

“Maybe he’s upset you named him like a Russian prince.”

Vadim says, “He is welcome.”

Ethan looks up at him. “Thank you.”

The room goes quiet.

Vadim inclines his head once.

Ethan doesn’t make it dramatic, which somehow makes it worse. “I mean it,” he says. “For her. For him. For me too, I guess.”

Vadim’s face remains controlled, but his voice is lower when he answers. “You are her brother.”

“That doesn’t explain all of it.”

“No,” Vadim says. “It doesn’t.”

I look away because I’m crying again, and I’m tired of these men making me emotional when I’m supposed to be recovering.

By the time Leonid is finally discharged from the intensive care unit, I’m so used to the NICU routine that leaving feels unreal.

For weeks, every day has been measured in numbers. His oxygen. His weight. How much milk he takes. How long he sleeps. Whether he keeps his temperature steady. I know the sound of every machine near his cot, the names of the nurses who take the night shift, and the exact face doctors make when they are pleased but don’t want to promise too much.