Read Online The Jersey Vignettes by Bethany-Kris - Free Book Online Page A

something off to the side caught Ana’s eye. Her birth control pills sat on the back of the sink, waiting for her to take her morning pill. She took it right after breakfast every morning. She’d used the shot for several years, but after her first son’s birth, she’d switched to the pill for an easier transition of coming off a birth control method.
    Checking over the pack, Ana noted she hadn’t missed a pill, and she was already three days into her sugar pills that were supposed to be taken during her cycle. But last month …
    Last month she’d gotten a minor infection in her ear after taking the boys swimming at an indoor pool. The drops hadn’t worked all that well and the infection traveled into her throat. Her doctor prescribed an antibiotic.
    It was a stupid mistake to make. The doctor had even warned her to use a backup method but it just slipped her mind. With her two boys and life and everything else …
    “Oh,” Ana said, louder than she must have realized.
    “Ana?” Koldan asked outside the bathroom.
    Ana was stunned.
    Completely, utterly stunned.
    “Ana,” Koldan said again, firmer the second time. Ana turned and opened the door. “Are you okay?”
    “Fine,” Ana said, still unsure but smiling wide.
    He would be so excited.
    Koldan wanted another baby. He’d been bugging her about a third for the last year.
    “I need you to go to the store,” Ana said.
    “Why?” Koldan asked.
    “I think I might be pregnant.”
    Koldan froze. “Really?”
    Ana nodded, biting her lip. “I think so.”
    She didn’t get the chance to say another thing because Koldan stepped into the bathroom, grabbed her face in his hands, and pulled her in for a kiss that took away the air right from her chest. He held her close to his body and kissed her deeper until her fucking knees were weak, and she couldn’t think.
    Good God .
    She loved this man.
    “I love you, Ana,” Koldan said, resting his forehead to hers.
    Ana laughed, breathless and spun. “Go to the store.”
    “On it, babe.”

Chapter Seventeen
     
    “So perfect,” Koldan said, holding Sasha Viviana high in the air. The baby girl giggled down at her father, her little legs kicking in her footie pajamas. “And so pretty, my dushka . Giving your daddy heart attacks already, just thinking about beating the boys off.”
    Ana laughed from the couch. “You’ve got years before you have to worry about any of that.”
    Koldan eyed Ana from the side as he balanced Sasha on his hip. “That’s not the way a father’s mind works, Ana. We panic about it for years leading up to it.”
    “Hmm.”
    “What?” her husband asked.
    “I wonder if that’s how Anton felt for me.”
    Koldan shrugged. “I don’t doubt it. Maybe I get why he hated me just … stealing you away like I did.”
    “You didn’t steal me away,” Ana said, scoffing.
    “I kind of did.”
    Ana chose not to push her husband on the topic.
    Koldan went back to giving little Sasha all of his attention. He was bound and determined to spoil that girl right rotten. Sasha didn’t seem to mind. At only six-months-old, she was a daddy’s girl through and through. Just getting Koldan in her line of sights, sent Sasha into a smiling fit of a creature. If Koldan didn’t immediately pick her up, Sasha would scream loud enough to break the windows.
    Sasha could do without Ana so long as Koldan was around. Their daughter was absolutely gorgeous. Big, wide blue eyes. Dark hair like Ana’s with the ringlet curls to match. Her skin was creamy peach with a pretty pink tone around her cheeks. She had her mother’s features and her father’s color.
    No doubt, the girl was going to be beautiful.
    She already was.
    Already, Sasha was trying to crawl, she’d spoken her first word—Papa, of course—and she had a little attitude that topped it all off. And Koldan didn’t mind indulging that attitude every single chance he got, too.
    Ana was maybe … finally … beginning to understand what her mother