Tamed

"No! Nevada, come back!" I exclaimed, but before I could reach her, Alexei's long legs already had. Quickly he scooped her up and carried her back to where we were sitting.

"Baby?" Nevada primped up and looked as if she were about to cry.

"I know, sweetie, but it isn't our baby," I gently told her.

"Tell you what," said Alexei. "Tomorrow I'll take you shopping, and you can pick out whatever baby you want."

Nevada grinned, and I looked gratefully at my husband. I knew that she already had plenty of dolls, but if it would make her happy again, I was all for it.

The fireworks didn't end until late at night, and the traffic on the way home was terrible. After we finally got there, Alexei and I were too tired to do anything but tumble into bed and fall right to sleep.

Nevada's second birthday was a couple of weeks later. Since she was still so young, we just had a small party and invited a few close family members. I bought her a cake with Minnie Mouse decorations and got vanilla ice cream to go with it and, since it was a nice day, we all ate outside. I dressed Nevada up in her sailor dress with lacy white socks and red patent leather shoes, and Alexei took lots of photographs.

Several weeks after Nevada's birthday, I was fast asleep when I heard Alexei come into the bedroom and switched on the bedside lamp. One look at his face and I knew that something terrible had happened. "What happened?" I asked.

"I just worked a horrible accident." He sat on the side of the bed and began to take his shoes and socks off. "Head-on collision between a Toyota and a Dodge truck. Poor little car was crumpled up just like an accordion."

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed. "Was the driver killed?"

"Life flight flew her to the hospital," he told me. "They doubt she'll make it."

I could see in his eyes that there was even more to the story. "And?"

"And..." He sighed heavily. "She's someone we know."

"Who is she?"

"Sydney."

She was still alive and hooked up to life support when I went in to work the afternoon shift the next day. She lay in bed in a full body cast, pale and perfectly still. The only sound in the room was the beeping of the equipment.

"You should have seen her when they brought her in last night." I turned to see Madison standing beside me. "She was bleeding all over the place! We had to give her four units of O negative."

"Alexei worked the accident she was in," I told her. "He said the baby wasn't with her."

"Oh, she has a baby?" Madison sounded surprised.

"A little boy only a couple of months old," I replied.

"How sad!" Madison exclaimed. "They don't think she's gonna make it, you know. They're trying to get all her family together."

As I stood listening to the hiss of the ventilator and watching Sydney's chest move up and down, memories of the previous fall came rushing back to me. I thought about the night I'd overheard Sydney and Olivia talking about what had happened to Alexei, how angry I'd felt, the fight I'd had with her, how badly I'd wished I had a weapon with me at the time. The idea of dashing into the room and unplugging all the life support equipment overwhelmed me, but just as quickly, I pushed it away. I knew that I'd never get away with it, and my children needed me with them, not rotting in some jail cell.

As I went about my tasks, I pushed Sydney to the back of my mind, and when I left the hospital that night, she was still clinging to life. Alexei was awake when I got home, sitting in the recliner with his arms behind his head, obviously deep in thought. "Is she still alive?" he asked me.

"Just barely."

"I've been thinking," he said. "If she dies, what will happen to her baby?"

"I'm sure one of her family members will take him in, or he'll go into foster care."

"But what about his father?"

I was puzzled. "What do you mean? He'll be school age by the time his father gets out of prison."

"If that guy's really his father."

I felt a cold chill creep up my spine. I knew exactly what he was talking about but didn't want to admit it. "But you told me you used a condom with her!"

"Condoms aren't one hundred percent effective," he reminded me. "There could have been a tiny rip or hole in it, and if so, that might have been enough to get her pregnant. If that baby's really mine, then I'm responsible for him."

I felt my heart sink as I slumped onto the sofa. A moment later, I felt Alexei's arms around me but angrily shrugged them away. "I'm so sorry, Addison," he said. "But you know as well as I do that it's only the right thing to do."

"But what will we tell the children?"

"We'll just tell them that they have a new baby brother and that he's coming to live with us."

"But we don't even have enough room for a third child!"

"Sure we do. We could put the crib in our bedroom for now, and then when he's older, we can move a toddler bed into Montana's room."

"Sounds like you can't wait to have him here." I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"This is a really big if, Addison. Chances are the DNA won't even be a match."

"You mean you're planning to have your DNA tested?"

"Of course! How else would I find out?"

Alexei went to the lab to have the testing done on his next day off. He wanted me to go with him, but I refused. In fact, we had a huge fight the night before.

"How can you expect me to just cheerfully agree to raising that woman's child as my own?" I spat.

"Am I not raising your two children as my own?" he retorted.

"That's different!"

"How is it different?"

"It just is, that's all!"

"I don't see any difference."

He left for the lab the next day without saying good-bye. We didn't say much to one another for a couple of days, and then on the third day, he came to me and put his arms around me, and this time, I didn't resist him. "Let's not be mad anymore, OK?"

"Yeah." I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. "When I took you back after the affair with Sydney, I knew this was a possibility. I just never imagined that it would happen this way."

"Yeah, me neither." He chuckled. "I'll admit that was probably the biggest mistake of my life. but that little baby is completely innocent. He deserves a real home with people who love him."

That statement made me think. Could I ever love Alexei's child by another woman? I remembered helping with the delivery, how I'd felt when I'd looked into the infant's smoky blue eyes. It had reminded me of how I'd looked into Montana's eyes the first time I'd seen him. I also thought about how good Alexei had always been to Montana and Nevada. He really had treated them as if they were his own.

I didn't have to think about it for very long.

The next day, I was setting the table for dinner when Alexei walked in. The expression on his face told me nothing at all. "The lab just called with the results of the DNA test," he told me.

"And?" I waited breathlessly for his response.

"It wasn't a match. I'm not the father."

"Oh." Waves of relief washed over me. So I wasn't going to be raising Sydney's son, after all. At the same time, I felt a twinge of regret mingled with concern. I couldn't help but hope that the baby would end up being raised in a loving home.

"Are you disappointed?" I asked Alexei.

"To be honest, yeah, I am, just a little bit," he admitted. "Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't love Montana and Nevada; I do, with all my heart. It's just that..."

"You want a baby of your own."

"Well, yeah." He came to me and put his arms around me. "What do you say, Addison? I know we were talking about waiting a year or two..."

"Well, until Nevada's out of diapers, at least. Potty training's coming along, slowly but surely, but we've still got a ways to go."

"Yeah." He kissed me lightly on the forehead. "Well, just think about it, OK?"

Sydney's condition remained unchanged. One day her nephew, Cole, came in to visit her, alone. "Where's November?" I asked him.

"I'm not seeing her anymore," he told me. "That didn't last very long. To tell you the truth, I still have feelings for Lara. I'd love to be back in touch with her, but I just feel kind of awkward about calling her, since...you know."

"No, I don't know."

"Well, I could tell it really hurt her when I told her I thought we should see other people. I'm afraid she's still mad at me about that."

"No way to know unless you ask her." I personally knew that Lara was still seeing Arthur and was happy with him as far as I could tell, but I didn't want to discourage Cole.

"Could you call her for me, Addison?"

"I'm sorry, Cole, but that's something you need to do on your own." I saw the crestfallen look in his eyes and changed the subject. "I wonder who's taking care of Dylan now." I didn't say anything about Alexei and the DNA test.

"Sydney's Mom is for now, but that's only temporary. She can't keep him long-term. Her health's too bad."

"What about your Dad? He's Sydney's brother, after all, so he's Dylan's uncle."

"He's still in California. I don't think he even knows about Dylan yet."

I thought about Lara. Wouldn't it be nice if... I pushed the thought from my mind. That would never happen.

I finished my shift and went home. Alexei was sitting in the recliner, reading a book in Russian. He looked up when I walked in.

"Cole came to visit his aunt today," I told him. "He said Sydney's Mom's taking care of Dylan for now."

"Well, it's good that she's able to do that."

"She can't for much longer. Her health's too bad." I saw the longing in his eyes, and it gave me a very uncomfortable feeling.

A few days later, Madison and I were eating lunch together in the cafeteria when I felt someone's finger poke me in the back. "Freeze. You're under arrest." I turned around to look into my husband's laughing face. It was the first time I'd seen him inside the hospital in uniform.

"The pharmacy got broken into last night," he told me. "A couple of us came to dust for fingerprints. Thought I'd stop by to say hello before heading back to the station. Hi, Madison." "He nodded at my friend. "How's Oleg? Haven't talked to him in awhile."

"He's fine! We're planning to have dinner together at that new Asian place on our next day off. It would be great if you guys could join us!"

"Sounds great!" Alexei looked at me. "What about it, Addison?"

"I'm all for it," I replied. "I'll see if I'm off and if my folks can watch the kids."

As it turned out, luck was on my side, and several days later, Alexei and I sat across from Oleg and Madison at the new Asian restaurant. "It's been too long since we did this last," I said to Alexei. "We should do it more often."

"We really should." He squeezed my hand underneath the table.

Later, Madison winked at me and nudged her head in the direction of the lady's room. "Excuse me for just a minute," I told Alexei before following her there. As soon as we were inside, she grinned at me and grabbed my arm eagerly.

"Please tell Alexei that I don't know how to thank him for introducing me to Oleg," she said. "He's the most wonderful man I've ever known. I never imagined I'd be happy with just one man for the rest of my life, but he's made me see that I really am finally ready to settle down."

"Wow, I can't believe he's actually tamed you," I remarked. "Alexei will be glad. But wait, what about Oleg's wanting to be an Orthodox priest? Wouldn't getting married mess up his plans?"

"I asked him about that," she replied. "He said that as long as he gets married before he becomes a priest, it's fine. He just can't get married after he becomes a priest."

"So you two are engaged now?"

"Well, not exactly. We've talked about it, but we haven't set a date or anything."

By the time we returned to the table, the waitress had brought our food. Alexei and I played footsie underneath the table as we ate, and I could tell that Oleg and Madison were doing the same thing.

Lara called me the following day. "Would you like to go to the mall this evening?" she asked. "It's been ages since we've hung out together, and I'd love to touch base with you again."

Suddenly I had an idea. "Would it be all right if I invited my brother and his girlfriend along, too?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." She sounded a little taken aback, which didn't surprise me.

I called Mom and asked to speak to Aidan, and she told me that he and Jana had gone to play goofy golf. Thinking quickly, I called Lara back and asked if we could do goofy golf instead of the mall.

"Well, sure, I guess so," she replied. "Why are you acting so strange, Addison?"

"It's too complicated to explain right now," I told her. "Just trust me. I know you won't be disappointed."

She laughed. "All right, my crazy friend."

Lara and I arrived at the goofy golf course at about the same time. Aidan and Jana were, of course, already busily at play. Aidan looked up in surprise when I arrived, and Jana glanced up a moment later.

"Hi, bro," I said. "You know Lara. Jana, this is Lara. Lara, this is Aidan's girlfriend, Jana."

"Hi!" Lara smiled and extended her hand.

"Hi," Jana said shyly, shaking Lara's hand.

"I've been wanting to get you two together for ages," I told them. "You have something important in common."

They both just stared at me, surprised. "What on earth are you talking about, Addison?" asked Lara.

"Show Lara that picture of your Dad you showed me, Jana."

Puzzled, Jana took the photograph from her purse and showed it to Lara, who gasped. "That can't be your Dad!" she exclaimed. "He's my Dad!"

"Was your Dad in Las Vegas about nineteen years ago?" asked Jana.

"Why...yes, he was!" Understanding slowly dawned on Lara's face. "Do you mean to tell me that..."

Jana laughed. "We're sisters!" Tears were in their eyes as they embraced one another. "So where's Dad now?" asked Jana.

"He lives not too far from here," Lara replied. "I wonder why he never told me about you. Have you ever met him?"

"Never. My Mom never talks about him. She just gave me that one picture. I was raised by my stepfather, but he and my Mom got divorced a few months ago."

"I'll have to introduce you two as soon as I can," said Lara. "You know, it's funny he never mentioned you to me. I wonder if he even knows you exist."

Jana shrugged. "I have no idea. Is he still married to your Mom?"

"Oh, no. They got divorced a long time ago."

"Did either one of them ever get married again?"

"They both did. And then got divorced again." Lara sighed. "You know, I think they still have feelings for each other."

"Do you have any other brothers or sisters?"

"Nope. You?"

"I have a half-brother, Asher. He's twelve."

By now everyone had lost interest in playing goofy golf. Jana left with Lara in her car to see if their Dad was home, and Aidan and I both went back home, too.

When I got home, I saw that Alexei was pushing Nevada in one swing while Montana swung in the other, and Simba pranced around, barking happily. "Hey, boy!" I exclaimed as I bent down to scratch between his ears.

"So how did the meeting between Lara and Jana go?" asked Alexei. I'd told him of my plans before I'd left.

"It went great! Lara's taken Jana to meet their father. Thanks for watching the kids for me. I really appreciate it."

"Hey, no problem at all!" He came over and gave me a quick hug and kiss. "I think it's great that you got the two of them together."

"Yeah." I took over pushing Nevada and he went into the house.

Later I cooked roast beef and potatoes for our dinner. After dinner, Alexei and I did the dishes together while talking and laughing and then sat in the living room watching television and playing with the kids. While we were doing that, Lara called me.

"I just wanted to say thanks for bringing me and Jana together," she said. "She's great. We had a blast at my Dad's. It turns out he'd been sending her Mom money to help support her all along. I asked him why he never told me about her. He said that he was afraid I'd be mad at him because of my Mom, even though they were already divorced when he got together with her Mom."

"Then I asked why he'd never tried to visit her or get in touch with her. He said that he'd known she was in a stable family unit and hadn't wanted to disrupt that."

"Well, I'm glad you guys all had a nice time together," I said. My mind was on Cole and what he'd said to me when he'd come to visit his aunt in the hospital. Lara hadn't mentioned Arthur to me at all. Perhaps she wasn't even still seeing him. At any rate, I knew that it wasn't really the appropriate time to bring the subject up, so I didn't.

After I'd gotten the kids to bed, Alexei and I were snuggling together on the sofa watching a movie when I found my hand slowly moving southward until it reached the elastic of his underpants, then gently slipping beneath them to fondle him. When I'd gotten him hard, I slipped to my knees and tugged his shorts and underpants down.

He gave a gasp of pleasure as I slipped him into my mouth and began to suckle him while lightly massaging his balls. When he was close, he began to grunt and thrust, and we moved to the bedroom, where we tumbled onto the bed and he quickly removed my shorts and panties, put on a condom, and entered me. Afterwards, we lay perfectly still in bed, holding one another tightly, until I heard his gentle snoring.

Later that month, we went to WalMart to buy Montana's school supplies. While there, we met up with Nicolai, Kennedy, and their children. "I'm gonna be in the big school this year," Montana proudly told Taylor and Morgan.

"This is my last year there," Taylor replied. "I'm going into the fifth grade. I'm gonna be in middle school next year. I can't wait! I want to be a cheerleader."

"That's fine with me, as long as you can keep your grades up," said Kennedy. "You know that has to come first."

"Oh, she'll be fine," Nicolai assured his wife. "That's a whole year from now, anyway."

Busily I searched for all the items on Montana's school supply list. After what seemed like ages, I finally had everything together, and we all headed for the check-out lanes.

"Mama! Potty!" Nevada cried as we were standing in line. Hurriedly I grabbed her from the shopping cart and took her to the restroom.

Fortunately, we made it there on time. "Good girl!" I praised her. When we were finished, I returned to the check-out lane we'd been in to see that Alexei and Montana were nowhere to be found.

"We're over here, Mommy!" I turned in the direction of my son's voice to see him standing near the exit with the rest of the family. Alexei held the bags containing our purchases. I heaved a huge sigh of relief and rushed to join the others.

When we got back home, I labeled all Montana's new school supplies and put them in his backpack, ready for the first day of school. Then I bathed both kids, read them a story, and put them to bed.

I was watching television with Alexei when Montana called out to me about thirty minutes later. I entered his bedroom to find him lying in bed wide awake with a worried look on his face. "What is it, sweetie?" I asked him.

"What if the kids at the big school don't like me?" he asked.

"Of course they'll like you!" I replied. "Why wouldn't they?"

"I don't know."

I laughed and tucked him back in. "Silly boy, go to sleep!"

I was almost out of the room when I heard his voice again. "Mommy?"

With a sigh I turned back to him. "What if the teacher's mean? What if the work's too hard?"

"Everything's gonna be fine, Montana." I went back to him and kissed his forehead. "Now go to sleep."

Alexei gave me a questioning look as I returned to the living room. "Pre first day of school jitters," I explained.

The following Monday morning, Alexei and I stood with Montana at the corner of our street, waiting for the bus. I saw that a slight blonde woman accompanied by a blond-haired boy of about six were there, too. The woman introduced herself as Katrina and her son as Monty.

"Oh yeah, I remember seeing him get off the bus in the afternoon last year," I told her.

"I recognize you," she told Alexei. "You gave me a speeding ticket a couple of weeks ago. I had no idea you lived right down the street from me."

"Sorry." Alexei looked terribly embarrassed. "Rules are rules."

At last the bus arrived, and I watched Montana mount the big steps, suddenly realizing how small he looked by comparison to them. Suddenly I felt Alexei's arm around me, giving me a reassuring hug. "He'll be fine, Addison!"

I arrived at work later to find the emergency room in total mayhem. "Somebody crashed into a school bus," another nurse told me.

My heart nearly stopped. Montana! "What school was it?" I asked.

"I don't know," the other nurse replied. Frustrated, I asked several other co-workers the same question, until at last someone told me the name of the school. I sagged with relief to learn that it wasn't Montana's school.

I joined the others in starting I.V. lines and applying bandages. A dozen or so of the children were seriously injured, and despite the best efforts of the emergency room personnel, we lost four of them. As I gazed at the little bodies lying there so very still, overwhelming sorrow overcame me. I thanked my lucky stars that I wasn't the one with the heartrending task of notifying the parents.

Although I soon became busy with other tasks, the vision of the dead children haunted me for the rest of the day, and I knew it was something I'd remember for the rest of my life.

That night, Alexei and I lay cuddling in bed after making love when he asked me about it. "Something's been weighing heavy on your mind all evening," he remarked. "What is it?"

"Oh, Alexei, it was horrible!" Unable to hold it in any longer, I burst into tears. "Somebody smashed into a school bus this morning, and they brought all these little kids into the emergency room. They were all hurt and scared and crying, and four of them...four of them...didn't make it."

I began to sob heavily, and he held and comforted me. "When I first found out about it, I was so s-scared..." I stammered when I could speak again.

"I know, sweetheart. I know," Alexei murmured.

"It could just as easily have been Montana's bus," I continued.

"I know, darling." Tenderly he kissed my forehead. "It's all over with now. Everything's all right."

Several weeks after the beginning of the school term, Montana's kindergarten class went on a field trip to a farm. I volunteered to go along as a chaperone, because I thought it sounded like fun. I took Nevada along with me as well instead of sending her to child care that day. All the little girls in Montana's class gushed over her, saying how cute she was and almost coming to blows over who would sit beside her on the bus.

We rode far out into the country, and the bus finally came to a stop on a dirt road in front of a large field that contained a barn, a silo, and a dozen or so grazing cows. "Look at the cows, Mommy!" Montana exclaimed.

"Moo! Moo!" cried Nevada, jumping up and down excitedly.

The farmer took us on a tour of the farm, where we saw a tractor, a baler, and a combine harvester, and then he showed us the inside of the barn, where we saw sheep, pigs, and chickens.

"Wow, Mommy, it's really big in here!" Montana exclaimed.

"This baby chicken just hatched this morning," the farmer told the children, passing the little ball of fluff around for each child to hold. Nevada cried when I told her she was too small to hold the baby chick because she might crush it. I distracted her by letting her pet a sheep.

At the end of the visit, the farmer let each of the children taste some fresh milk from one of his cows, and then it was time to get back on the bus and return to the school. Nevada, of course, fell asleep almost as soon as the bus began to move. Montana chattered excitedly all the way back. "I'm gonna be a farmer when I grow up," he told me.

"I thought you were gonna be a policeman."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm gonna be a farmer and a policeman."

On the way home from the school, I had to go through the drive-through at the bank, and by the time we got home, Montana was yawning, but Nevada was wide awake.

The sky was filled with dark, angry storm clouds, but I hardly noticed them as I pulled into the hospital parking lot. I was thinking about a very sweet elderly man, Mr. Jones, who'd gone into cardiac arrest on my last shift. We'd brought him back, but he was still comatose and unstable. I really hoped that he'd survived the night. Before he'd lost consciousness, he'd been such a pleasant patient, so sweet and kind. He'd reminded me a lot of my grandfather.

"Have you been listening to the weather?" Madison asked when she saw me.

"Not really," I replied.

"There's supposed to be a really bad thunderstorm brewing," she told me. I thought about my children, safe at home with Alexei. How I wished I could be home with them!

After performing my regular duties, I went to check on Mr. Jones and was relieved to see that, although he still hadn't regained consciousness, his vitals were now stable.

Suddenly I heard a loud clap of thunder, and the lights blinked off for just a second and then blinked right back on. I knew that that meant that we had lost power and the backup generator had just kicked on. I was sure that Montana and Nevada would be frightened and was glad that Alexei was there to comfort them.

Even the flurry of activity inside the emergency room couldn't drown out the wind's angry squalls, and as more and more people came in with anxiety symptoms and panic attacks, the floor in front of the door became slick with rain water. Several coronary patients had heart attacks during the night, and one elderly man went into arrest and couldn't be resuscitated. Thankfully, Mr. Jones never regained consciousness throughout the entire ordeal.

In the early morning hours, the storm finally abated. Although exhausted, I managed to finish my duties but was very glad when it was finally time to go home. As I stepped into the parking lot, I saw that, even though the rain had stopped, there were huge mud puddles all over the place, and limbs that had been broken off trees were scattered all about. A large tree had been blown down and was blocking the road, so I had to take an alternative route home.

As I arrived, I was relieved to see that our house was still standing and that none of the windows were broken. I unlocked the door and entered the house and suddenly felt that I could hardly move. I made my way to the bedroom to find both kids in bed with Alexei. All three of them were fast asleep. Nevada lay in Alexei's arms, and Montana lay snuggled up beside them with one arm thrown over them both. The three of them were absolutely adorable.

Trying to be as quiet as I could, I slipped off my shoes, undressed down to my underwear, put on my pajamas, and lay down beside them. I was asleep within seconds.

I awoke around noon to the delicious aroma of take-out Asian food and suddenly realized that I was famished. I got up and walked into the dining room to find Alexei and the kids in the middle of enjoying their meal. Alexei saw me and grinned. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Boy, what a night!" I sat down in front of my waiting plate of hot steaming food. "We had so many patients it was unreal! This old guy had a heart attack right there in the emergency room, and they had to bring the defibrillators out and use them on him right there. Then some kid threw up all over Madison and she had to change clothes, and the roof started leaking, and..."

"Daddy took us to the park," Montana told me. "We didn't wake you up because he said you needed your rest."

"Nevada swing!" Nevada said happily.

"That's right, you sure did!" Alexei smiled.

"All three of you were sound asleep when I got in this morning," I remarked. "I don't know how you slept through all that thunder."

"They didn't," Alexei told me. "It got really bad around midnight. Nevada woke up screaming, so I cuddled in bed with her and told her a story and sang to her. I'd barely gotten her back to sleep when Montana ran into the room. 'I'm scared, Daddy,' he told me. 'Well, hop on up here with us,' I said. He climbed up onto the bed beside us and held onto me and fell asleep that way."

"That's the way you were when I came in," I replied. "The three of you looked so cute together! I almost wanted to stay awake just so I could watch you, but after last night, there was just no way!"

"Well, I hope you're feeling well rested now," Alexei said.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine now," I told him.

Later that month, I got the shock of my life when Cole and Lara showed up together on our doorstep. Lara was holding Dylan. "Hi, Addison," she said. "Guess what? We're married now!"

My mouth dropped open. "You got married and didn't invite me?"

"It was a spur of the moment decision," Cole explained. "I called Lara and she was crying. She'd just caught that guy she was seeing cheating on her. I ran right over, and we patched things up, and here we are!"

"Cole wanted to get married right away, and I didn't see any point in waiting," Lara continued. "We knew we loved each other, so we just went to the justice of the peace and did it right then and there."

"I can't believe you guys actually eloped!" I was still too shocked to be angry.

"To be honest, I have a hard time believing it myself," said Lara. "I never imagined I'd do something like this."

"Well, congratulations, both of you," said Alexei, who'd wandered into the room while we'd been talking. "And hello there, you little cutie!" He tickled Dylan, and the baby laughed. He didn't have any teeth yet, and when he opened his mouth, my heart just melted. I looked at Alexei and could tell that he felt the same way.

"We're his legal guardians now," Lara told me. I knew that Sydney still hadn't shown any signs of emerging from her coma and had been transferred to a long-term care facility.

"Well, he couldn't have better parents than you two," I told her.

Cole and Lara ended up staying for dinner and visiting for several hours afterwards. Dylan was five months old now, and Montana and Nevada both fell in love with him instantly.

"I want a baby brother, Mommy," Montana said after they'd left.

"Maybe you'll have one some day," I told him.