Bound For Eternity

12

After a few days' rest, we were back at the hub. Alberta and a few others were swooning over Noah. My mom looked proud like a pig in shit as she showed off her grandson, holding him in her arms while Baba was in the basement with Dimitri and a few others.

"How are you feeling?" Alberta asked.

I nodded and stretched out on the couch. "Good. I guess I was lucky that I was out for the last duration of dilation," I said with a slight chuckle, "But I'm glad I wasn't doing it alone."

I looked at Emily as she sat on the other couch, a small smile on her face.

"But you're loving motherhood so far?" Emily asked with a raised brow.

I nodded and smiled as Mom handed Noah back to me.

"Oh, I love it!" I said in a softer voice, kissing Noah's face as he cuddled him to my chest. "Even though I'm already exhausted, it helps to have a husband who doesn't sleep."

A few people chuckled. "Oh, I don't doubt that," Alberta laughed as she got up, offering to get me another tea.

"How have things been with Ellison?" I asked Emily in a whisper. She sighed heavily and shrugged.

"Slow, but we had a good long talk last night. He's adjusting to being an Ekon and we had a good heart-to-heart. Ellen will always be his 'mother' of sorts, and I can accept that. I just want to be in his life, now that it's safe."

"Is it though? Safe?" I asked worriedly. It was something that had plagued my mind since the first night with Noah. It had kept me away for hours before Dimitri brought Noah up on the bed and made me hold him kangaroo style to calm myself.

"It's safe," Emily whispered softly, "Dimitri is making sure of that now."

I raised a brow at her. "What do you mean?"

Mom cleared her throat and got comfortable on the couch beside me, handing me a towel from the diaper bag when Noah spit up a little.

"I think that this conversation can wait until later, Rosemarie," Mom said softly, "Let's just enjoy the company for now."

I looked at the two of them skeptically. "You two are up to something."

Mom smirked at me and shrugged. "Aren't we always?"

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I stretched with a quiet groan as I walked into our bedroom, smirking at my husband.

"You know, if you're trying to start the work for number two, I think I might be persuaded," I laughed as I climbed onto the bed.

Dimitri looked up from his book and smiled at me.

"I wasn't, but good to know," Dimitri laughed.

I smiled at him and ran my hand over his forearm. "So."

"So?"

"I know that the whole situation has been tense, but do you think you're ready to tell me what happened in the hub that day?" I asked softly, slipping my fingers between his. Dimitri let out a slow breath and opened his arm to me as he set his book on the nightstand. I curled up next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"There was a reason why we didn't want you coming downstairs," Dimitri admitted and I nodded and waited.

"We were questioning Tasha."

"I thought she was killed during the raid at the house," I said quietly.

Dimitri shook his head and tucked some hair behind my ear. "No. We told you that because we didn't want you to feel any added stress. You were a new mother and we all wanted you to able to bask in that after the birth you had," Dimitri explained. I furrowed my brows and nodded.