Redemption: (Dark Desires Book 3) (19 page)

When the twins were three
months old, they were christened. Raven and Mihaela were the godparents of
Mihai, and Andrei and Natasha were the godparents of Valeria. Godparents, in
the strictest sense of the word, were meant to be the spiritual leaders of
their children. She wasn’t worried about the role models that they had chosen
for their son. However, Andrei had a lot of ground to cover to fully embrace
the role he would play in their daughter's life.

Vlad had assured her that
Andrei was capable of handling the job but, she, however, still needed to be
convinced. Macy had offered to step in as the twins’ legal guardian should
anything happen to either her or Vlad. Valerie had confidence in Macy as a role
model. However, Vlad refused to get on board stating that Raven and Mihaela
would provide more of a stable home. That argument had been put on hold so that
she could plan her dream wedding.

After a year of planning the
ceremony, in between looking after two infants, finally passing her driver’s
tests and working out at every free opportunity to get her body back into
shape, Valerie stood at the end of the isle staring at her husband in his black
tux. She had tried to get him involved in the preparations as much as possible.
Unfortunately, Vlad had been useless because he didn't care about the finer
details. The only thing that he had been able to contribute was his favourite
colour – red, and his favourite foods. The church aisle was lined with red roses
in glass vases and red rose petals were sprinkled down the white carpet.

Macy, Toni and Natasha wore
satin, crimson dresses and the men wore crimson ties and pocket squares with
their black tuxes to match. Mihaela had generously offered to cater for the
reception with a special Balkan/Afro fusion menu. She flew out three weeks in
advance and had put together a team for the avant-garde dishes that would also
form part of the new menu in her restaurants.

“You look stunning!” Natasha
beamed over her shoulder.

Valerie was snapped back into
the moment. She returned her best friend's smile, too nervous for words. The
people gathered consisted of her friends -both old and new, her extended family
and the members of Vladimir's clan.

The music for the procession
began, and she strolled down the white carpet in her Gavin Rajah dress. It was
a white, mermaid styled wedding gown with hand-stitched Swarovski crystals. Her
hair was braided and swept up with the short veil pulled back, hanging just a
few inches past her shoulders. Before she could climb the stairs to the altar,
she stopped and turned to her left. Her mother and aunt held Valeria in her
little red dress, and Mihai in his miniature black tux, on their laps. The
twins gave her their toothless smiles and her heart steadied.

Throughout the priests' sermon,
Valerie was lost in Vlad's ice blue eyes. The only time she heard what was
being said was when it was time to say their vows.

"I'm still not very good
with words, but I’m hoping I get it right this time. I knew I wanted you from
the first time I met you – ”

Raven cleared his throat
signalling Vlad to keep it PG and got a chuckle from Andrei.

"I just didn't know how
much," he finished. "When I was half way across the world, and you
were still on my mind, I knew. I may not have been ready to admit it to myself,
but I knew you were special. Someone I never wanted to lose touch with, even an
email was better than not hearing from you at all. I took the time to try and
figure out how I could be a better man for you, the kind of man a woman like
you deserved to have in your life.

I have let you down in the
past, but I've worked to make sure that I've kept the promises I made to you.
No one will ever love you as fiercely as I do. You keep me grounded. You are my
anchor and the place that I can finally call home. I'm honoured to have you
carry my name. I'm not only committing myself to you but also our children. The
ones here today and the ones that will follow.” He winked at her and gave her
his customary smirk.

Valerie was in tears. This
arrogant man she met almost two years ago was nothing but a big marshmallow on
the inside regardless of the psychotic things he had done to redeem himself. As
if to drive her silent musings home, Vlad pulled out his pocket square and used
it to dry her tear tracks and wipe away the mucus that was threatening to ruin
her perfectly applied makeup.

“Damnit! How am I supposed to
compete with that?" Even Macy, who was once Vlad’s staunchest opposition,
was struggling to keep the tears in check.

"I love you and that smirk
of yours. I'll never forget the first time I saw it. I seriously thought that I
was reaching for more than I could handle and I was right - at first. Things haven't
been easy between us, but you've helped me grow into the woman that I am today.

If I'm your anchor, then you
must be my ship, and I would gladly follow you to the ends of this earth
because home will always be where you are. I may regret this in the delivery
room, but yes I want more babies. You are such an amazing father, and I
couldn't have asked God for a better man or husband."

As soon as the last words left
her lips, Vladimir leant down and gave her a deep, breath-taking kiss that was
welcomed with loud hoots from all those gathered. The priest cleared his throat
to get their attention. Once Vlad broke the kiss, the priest requested the
rings that would be exchanged from the best man and maid of honour.

“Bless, O Lord, these rings to
be a sign of the vows by which this man and this woman have bound themselves to
each other; through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen."

Vladimir slipped on Valerie’s
platinum band over the engagement ring she currently wore, and she slipped on
the platinum band she had bought for him to replace his original ring.

“Those whom God has joined
together let no one put asunder. You may
now
kiss your bride," the
priest declared.

*****

5 Years Later

Lying in bed watching his wife
getting dressed was an even bigger turn on than when Vlad undressed her.
Valerie was an incredible mother to his children and the more he thought about
it, the more he wanted to see her pregnant again. He enjoyed the months of
catering to her every whim and fancy, especially those of a sexual nature. Valerie
had nearly worn him out in the best way during her pregnancy. He mulled over
their eight year age gap and wondered whether it would prohibit him from
keeping up with her in three years’ time when he turned forty.

She had already accomplished
her goal of graduating and starting her own business – a business he took a
keen interest in even though he was supposed to be a silent partner. Maybe she
would be open to the idea of extending their family now that the twins were
starting school.

"Come here," he coaxed
as he lay in bed naked with a growing erection.

"You need to get up and
get dressed. We're going to be late," said Valerie in reply as she
buttoned up her white shirt, tucked the tails into her grey high waist skirt
and went into the closet to find a suitable pair of shoes. Why Vlad chose to
lounge around naked after a shower was beyond her considering that they were
preparing to take the twins to their first day of school.

“It’ll be worth it. I promise.”

“Dad? Daddy,” came Mihai’s
voice from the other side of the door.

Vladimir was up and in action,
grabbing his pyjama bottoms along the way, ready to resolve this morning’s
crisis. When he opened the door and looked down at his son, Mihai was already
dressed in his school uniform – black pants, matching blazer and a white shirt
ticked in, sans the tie. He lifted his small hand and presented the problem to
his towering father.

“Can you put it on? I forgot
how you showed me.”

“Of course little man.”

Ushering his son into the room with
his free hand, he picked him up and sat him on the bed before slid the material
around his neck. After a few crossovers and loops, he made slowly for Mihai to
observe, the tie was in place. "How does it feel?"

"It's choking me. Do I
have to wear it?" Mihai whined his cheeks were already turning pink.

"Yes, just like how I have
to wear mine." Vladimir stood up and ruffled his son's recently cut locks.
"Is your sister ready?"

“Leri is always late! I knocked
on her door, but she don't answer me.” He bunched his eyebrows together in
displeasure of his sister’s actions this morning.

A series of hurried footsteps
raced closer towards the three Branza’s currently in the master bedroom. “I’m
finished! I finished it! Our deal still stands right? Fair is fair,” Valeria
hurried out the words to her father. Her silky black hair had not yet been
combed and other than her chequered-green school dress, she wasn’t wearing
socks or shoes.

“Yes, fair is fair,” Vladimir
agreed amused at the last minute hand in of the task he’d given her.

“What deal?” asked Valerie as
she came out of the closet with a pair leather, grey pumps.

Valeria looked to her father
for help. Her mother already looked like she was about to give her an earful
because she was not yet dressed. And if mommy knew that daddy had promised to
give her R.100 for completing another book, then she was going to get scolded,
and everything she had made so far would have to be returned. She could kiss
the LED Nike Light Up sneakers she wanted, goodbye. Images of her piggy bank
returning to the dry state it was once in floated around in her mind.

“I’ll tell you later,” said
Vlad walking over to Valerie to give her a pop kiss. Sexy time had effectively
been snuffed out once the twins came on the scene. He would have to make up
something plausible because he had no intention of divulging the “business
deal” he had struck with his daughter. Valeria needed an incentive to get tasks
she didn’t like done. While Mihai was flying through books, his daughter was
falling behind. She was smart; she just needed a little push in applying
herself and for one reason or another, money seemed to work.

Mihai didn't need an incentive –
yet. The glint in his hazel eyes when he made a request meant that it wouldn't
be as easy as slipping him a few notes when that day came. Even though they
were twins, they were very different, and he understood the unique personality
traits of his children.

“Fine, get dressed. Both of
you,” she pointed a finger at both Vlad and Valeria. “I’ll be downstairs getting
breakfast ready. Common little rascals – I don’t need you collapsing from
hunger on your first day. You can’t have me looking like a careless
mother." She took both of their small hands in her own and led them
downstairs.

Getting back into the car, Valerie
had to take a few breaths to keep the tears at bay.

"Don't cry. They'll be
alright," said Vlad trying his best to comfort her.

“How can you know that? They
were always with us twenty-four-seven. I knew that they were either with you or
somewhere in the house. Now I have to leave my babies with strangers. They
didn’t even want my kisses when we left them in their classroom.” The tears she
had tried to keep locked in trickled down her cheeks.

When had they grown up? It felt
like she needed them more than they needed her. She hated to admit the twinge
of jealousy she felt towards the relationship the twins had developed with
their father in the last year. He had somehow managed to become the cool dad
while she just mother-henned the whole parenting thing. Once upon a time only
she could get them to stop crying when they woke up in the middle of the night.

“If it makes you feel any
better, I’ll admit to running a background check on the pre-school staff. I may
also have installed a few hidden cameras.”

That made her laugh. “No, you
psycho! You did not! That must violate a few privacy laws.”

“Only if they find them and can
prove that it was me. I am getting better, though." He reached over and
held her hand as he drove with one hand on the steering wheel. "I almost
put a tracker on them, but I held back – for now. I just need to find an item
they won’t lose or take off during the day."

“How considerate of you.”
Valerie gave his hand a squeeze and focused on the road again. The news of the
drastic security measures Vlad had taken eased the anxiety she felt about
leaving her children with strangers for the day. So what if she were a
helicopter parent? They would always be her babies and God help anyone who
tried to take them away from her. Vlad wouldn’t need to step in because she
would kill them herself.

Noticing the familiar streets
of the block adjacent to their own, she turned to face Vlad. "Did you
forget something?"

“No. I meant what I said last
night. I want more babies and we need to get a move on. Today!”

“But we’re going to be late for
the briefing!”

“And I care?”

Valerie shook her head and
stared out of the window with a smile on her face. Her husband always got what
he wanted in the end. Today she wasn't putting up a fight.