Alexei, Her Russian Billionaire

He was perfect.

Shortly after, Nikolai was taken up to the neo-natal unit and Alexei followed them, promising to come back. Maya had to wait until they stitched her back up and they took her back to her room. She was told that she wasn’t to get up for a day or two and she couldn’t do any heavy lifting for six weeks or the stitches would come out.

Maya wasn’t sure she was looking forward to six weeks of doing virtually nothing. Although cuddling her son almost constantly would make up for it.

A short while later Alexei came in. He had divested himself of his scrubs, his hair still out at odd angles. It was then Maya noticed how pale he was looking. Dark circles were under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept.

Maya didn’t care right then that they had been arguing. She was just glad to see him there. She reached out to him and Alexei came immediately, leaning over and kissing her enough to take her breath away. He pulled back and smiled.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Maya ran her fingers through his hair and smoothed it down. “How’s our baby?”

“Nikolai’s fine. The midwife said she’s confident he’ll be allowed to stay with you in a couple of days.”

“Thank God for that.” Maya closed her eyes in relief. “I can’t wait to hold him again.”

“Neither can I. Other than not breathing for a couple of minutes he’s a good weight and his checks are perfectly normal. The midwife joked he probably would’ve been about ten pounds if you’d carried him full-term.”

Maya shuddered. Ten pounds. She couldn’t imagine having to push ten pounds of baby out.

Alexei stroked her head and kissed her forehead.

“How are you feeling now?”

“Sore but I’ll be fine. They’ve given me some iron tablets for the bleeding as my iron count was down. And they want to keep me in for a few days to make sure I’m okay.”

“That’s good.” Alexei’s smile faded and he drew back a little, Maya’s hands falling from his head. He looked uncomfortable. “Look, Maya, I’m sorry about what happened. I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that.”

Maya wanted to forgive him. She really did. But she still remembered how much he had upset her and how things were left between them. That was a lot to forgive.

“You hurt me, Alexei.” She pointed out. “You let your paranoia take over and it got too much. I wasn’t taking it.”

“I know. You didn’t have to put up with my crap.” Alexei sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand. “I flew to Russia so I could get away from it all. But as soon as I entered customs in Pulkovo airport I knew I had to come back. I couldn’t keep running away when things got hard and overwhelming. Plus there was little Nikolai. I couldn’t desert him.” Alexei looked away. “I knew deep down you hadn’t cheated on me. That was just my past talking to me again.”

Maya had known it was. But there was only so much she could take. She tugged at his hand and urged him towards her, cupping his unshaven jaw in her hand.

“You should’ve trusted me.” She whispered.

Alexei closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. He kissed her hand and Maya felt the warm tingle from his mouth travel up her arm. He still had an effect on her.

“I’m so sorry, Maya. Can you forgive me for this?”

Maya pretended to think, pulling faces until Alexei groaned.

“Don’t be like that, Maya. Please tell me. Can you forgive me for being such a bas*ard to you?”

Maya giggled. Then she sighed.

“It’s going to take some time. You did a lot that I can’t forgive overnight. But our son needs a father. I’m not going to take that away from him because we’ve got things between us.”

The relief was clear on Alexei’s face as he closed his eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. He moved up the bed and drew Maya gently into his arms. Maya hugged him tightly, breathing in the cologne he wore and feeling his familiar hold around her. She had missed this. She had missed him.

“Thank you.” Alexei pulled back and kissed her. “I love you, Maya. Will you still be my wife? I haven’t got rid of the ring. If you want it, you can have it.”

Maya wanted the ring back. She wanted to get married. But she wanted to let Alexei stew for a little longer. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“I’ll let you know once I get up and moving.”

*****

Maya didn’t want a lavish wedding. She just wanted somewhere they could have their friends in an intimate gathering.

It was Alexei’s idea to have the wedding in the gallery. Maya worried about a wedding license as the gallery didn’t carry one but Alexei got a special license so they could get married there. Jenny teased that as soon as the wedding vows were over Alexei would be hiding in his office as he usually did. But Ivan had promised to keep Alexei with the guests and he was locking the office to make sure the groom didn’t hide.

The wedding couldn’t have gone better. Maya was up and walking fine after her C-section and the pregnancy weight she had been carrying had fallen off her easily. She slotted perfectly into the white wedding dress one of her designer friends had made for her, a simple bodice with spaghetti straps and an A-line skirt. Her friend had even made a special outfit for Nikolai, who spent the vows curled up sleeping in Jenny’s arms.

The service was in English at Maya’s request. She knew some Russian weddings were known for being long and Alexei was happy to accommodate. So once the service was over, they set up the gallery for the reception and Maya changed into a dark red dress that clung to her curves with a skirt short enough she could move around in. From the looks Alexei had been giving her after she came out the staff bathroom, she had made the right choice.

He was watching her now across the room while Maya stood talking with Jenny and Caroline. They had offered to stand in as family with Howie giving her away. Maya had sent invitations out to her family in Arkansas but only her aunt, uncle and her two cousins had turned up. Her parents had refused to reply and all of her siblings had messaged back saying she wasn’t part of the family anymore. That had hurt and Maya had had a good cry about it for a couple of days. But, she had surmised in the end, it would be a better day without them. They had always been criticizing her and Maya wasn’t having that on her day.

Most of Alexei’s family, however, had turned up. His parents were warm, loving people and adored Maya. Nikolai was a big hit with them as well. Alexei had taken them to one side and had a heart-to-heart, which had resulted in Alexei himself shedding a few tears along with his mother. Maya was glad she had sent the invitations out.

Both his sisters and even his brother had come along with their children. There was a little bit of tension between Alexei and his younger brother but it eased after a while, especially when Nikolai was being passed around; that really broke the ice.

Alexei’s young nephew also came with his brother but not Katya. Alexei had expressed explicitly that Katya wasn’t to attend but he wanted his nephew to be there. Apparently Katya had kicked up a fuss about it but had given up once she was told and no one was paying her attention. They were finally seeing her for what she really was.