Chapter 5
Natasha left the cab and waited until it had vanished into the night before quietly entering the house. It was almost 3:30 am and everyone was fast asleep. Without turning on the lights, she crept upstairs and into Ethan’s room. His bed was empty.
Don’t panic, she told herself, maybe he’s with James.
She tiptoed into their bedroom and in the wan light of the moon shining through the window she saw something that made her heart swell with love and devotion.
James was lying on his side, his metal arm forming a protective wall around Ethan who had his tiny fists clenched into James’ t-shirt. They both looked so peaceful that Natasha suddenly felt incredibly stupid.
How could she have doubted James for even one second? She remembered the message he had left on her phone. He had called her Natalia, something he only ever did in their most intimate moments. And he had worried that his behavior had hurt her, when really the only one hurting somebody was she by mak-ing him feel like he wasn’t a good father.
Even though she knew how dangerous it was to wake up a former assassin in the middle of the night, she walked over to the bed and carefully swept her fingers over his back.
He jerked awake, subconsciously making sure he didn’t wake the baby, and turned around. Within a split second the shock in his steel-blue eyes turned into surprise and relief. “Natasha,” he whispered carefully sitting up. “What are you doing here?”
“Realizing how stupid I was,” she said sitting down next to him. “When you told me about Ethan being sick, all I could think about was getting here as soon as possible. So I left poor Wanda at the spa hotel, took the next flight to New York and came here by cab. My mind kept telling me that you would never be able to take care of him the way I could and that he would never get well without me. But I should have known that he was perfectly save with you. I am so sorry. You’re the best father in the world, I never should have doubted you.”
“Natasha…” He laid his hand on her cheek and kissed her softly. “We both messed up but it’s just because we love those kids more than anything else.”
“That’s true.”
“Come on, let’s sleep. We can talk about the rest tomorrow.”
Natasha nodded and stripped down to her underwear before lying down on the other side of the bed. Their hands and legs entwined and their hearts at peace they quickly fell asleep, the little baby between them unaware of the trouble he had caused.