Lion's First Roar Read Online Free PDF

mouth and cover him with a towel. The stimulation of being rubbed clean was all he needed. Like a little lion, their son roared powerfully, clearing his lungs and throat and turning bright red as he punched the air and wriggled in search of his mother’s comfort and heat.
    Oblivious to the pain, Vivian hugged their son close and turned tearful eyes toward him. Her voice thick with emotion, she said, “Kolya.”
    “ Solnyshka. ”Leaning down, he shared a kiss with his wife that nearly took him out at the knees. Gutted by the experience of watching their son, their first child, come into the world, he held onto the bed rail with one hand and used the trembling fingers of the other to hold Lev’s tiny hand. Remembering what Romero had said back at the cabin, he pressed his forehead to Vivian’s and whispered, “Look at what we made.”
    “He’s perfect, isn’t he?”
    “He’s absolutely perfect,” Nikolai agreed.
    Somehow he managed to keep it together enough to cut the cord. After that, the next couple of hours passed in a blur of activity. He walked Lev to the nursery to be weighed and bathed, but only after making sure Vivian would be all right without him. The paranoia that someone might try to take his son or harm him was so strong. He stood in a designated area of the nursery while staff weighed and bathed and dressed Lev.
    By the time Lev was ready to come back to Vivian’s post-partum suite, she had showered and changed and was in bed finishing a meal. As soon as she was done, the nurse who doubled as a lactation consultant aided Kiki as they helped Vivian bring Lev to her breast for his first nursing.
    Nikolai stood next to the bed and watched with a mixture of awe and wonder as his wife mastered this new skill. He tried to take in all of the advice the consultant and doula offered, but he began to feel jittery as if coming down from a high. Slowly he became aware of the rattling noises coming from their hospital bag. He unzipped the side pouch and realized their friends were blowing up their cell phones with text messages and phone calls.
    Certain that answering all the messages would take forever, he decided to send Yuri and Lena the news first, mainly because Yuri had agreed to be Lev’s godfather and Lena was a social networking queen who would make sure anyone and everyone knew the baby was here.
    Lev is here. 7 lbs 3 oz. Vee was amazing. She’s resting now.
    A knock at the door drew his attention from the phone. He tucked it away in his pocket as a nurse entered the room with a familiar paper bag in her hand. “A friend of yours dropped this off at the desk. He didn’t want to bother you, but he said that he wanted to make sure you had a good meal tonight.”
    “Thank you.” Nikolai took the sack bearing the Marquez bakery logo from the nurse. When Sophia had been born last year, Nikolai had sent a hot lunch from Samovar to Dimitri. It seemed his friend was now returning the favor.
    While Vivian nursed Lev, he took a seat in the corner of the room and enjoyed the breakfast burrito and Mexican pastries Benny had sent him. For a late night meal, it hit the spot. When he reached inside for a napkin, he spotted the note written on the inside. Kostya’s handwriting was easy enough to recognize.
    Hospital is locked down. Our friends are in the nursery and on the floor.
    Nikolai wasn’t the least bit surprised that Kostya had arranged a way to control access to their room and the baby. More and more, the cleaner had taken on a role that could only be described as that of the underboss. More and more, Nikolai wondered if it wasn’t time to shake up the organization a little…
    A short while later, the nurse left and so did Kiki, but not before squeezing him in a bear hug. The doula caught him off-guard and had her arms wrapped around him before he could sidestep her. He awkwardly patted her back and thanked her while Vivian smiled at them from the bed.
    Alone with his wife and his son, Nikolai eased