Page 113 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
“The old couple gave Fedor more money so we could rest an extra day, but that next morning, Roman couldn’t get up, no matter how hard I tried to help him.”
Lark lifted herself high up on her knees so that she could hold Kostya against her breast. She barely contained her sobs.
“Honey, what happened next?”
“Fedor packed up the tent, and there was Roman lying in the snow, with no blankets, no nothing. Irina was crying and even the oldbabushkaanddedushkatold me we had to leave Roman.”
Kostya stopped talking, and Lark didn’t want to know the rest of the story. She didn’t. But she had to. Kostya had been living with this for thirty-four years. He needed to share this.
“What happened next?”
“Roman grabbed my hand and yanked me hard. I didn’t know he’d have that much strength, but there I was with my face in the snow right next to his. He used every swear word we’d ever learned and told me I had to leave him. I had to take Irina and go.”
Lark felt Kostya’s tears as they trickled onto her breasts. “And?”
“I begged Fedor to carry Irina with him. To please take her. He refused.”
Lark was shaking. One sob escaped her.
“Even though I was responsible for my baby sister, I couldn’t leave Roman, I just couldn’t.” Kostya’s arm’s gripped her even tighter. “I held Irina on my lap and rocked her. I sang every song I knew until I was hoarse. I have no idea when he died, but when I finally stopped singing, his arms and legs were stiff and his lips were blue. I couldn’t save him, Lark. I couldn’t.” He looked up at her, so lost and bewildered. It was as if it had happened yesterday.
Lark couldn’t stop sobbing. How had this little boy survived?
“But you left? You caught up to them?”
Kostya nodded. He gave a wet chuckle. “I’m pretty sure that the old couple walked really slow so that I could catch up. Fedor was furious.”
“I hope he burns in hell.”
Kostya looked up at her. His eyes didn’t contain any shadows.
“I do too.”
Lark wiped away his tears and kissed his forehead, his cheeks then finally his lips. The salty taste of despair eventually morphed into soft pleasure.
“Will you come into my bed with me, Lark Sorensen?”
“There is no place on Earth that I’d rather be.”
* * *
Things had changedafter that night.
Lark fell into an easy rhythm in Kostya’s home. She knew that she was in love, totally and utterly in love with the best man in the world. She had no idea where the future might lead, but being with him was the happiest she had ever been.
She checked in with Trevor Simmons daily, ensuring that Schroeder and the rest of the men at Sanofi would eventually be arrested. Currently, the FBI was still gathering all the evidence they required to arrest them, but they had no leads on the mysterious foreigners. They were leaning hard on Mel Stanley to see what he could remember. Trevor knew that Lark was holding something back, but she refused to give up Candy. Trevor was just going to have to work the case without her.
Lark cuddled up on one of the deck chairs with a thick wool blanket and a mug of tea. Kostya would be back from work in a few hours, and she was contemplating calling Amy to figure out something to cook him for dinner, but she highly doubted that would be happening. Lark believed in cooking like she used to believe in love. Which meant she didn’t.
She swiped through her phone to see what could be delivered. They’d already gone through all of his frozen meals, so she had to figure out something different.
Her thumb hovered over Amy’s number when her Mom’s picture popped up. Lark grinned and accepted the call, so happy to see that she was calling via Facetime. She really wanted to see her mom’s face.
“Hi, Mom. I’ve missed you.” She snuggled back into the deck chair and pulled the blanket over her legs.
“If you missed me so much, you might have called me,” her mom countered with a twinkle in her eye.
“Oh I’m sorry, did I miss some voicemails and texts?” Lark teased.
