Perspective (An Exposure Series Novella): Exposure Series Book Four by Annie Jocoby

everything.” Then I kissed him, trying to drink him in. “So, Viktor found you,” I said after our lips parted. “Is there anything else you need to tell me about him?”
    “Yes, as a matter of fact. Viktor and Oksana are adopting Sophie’s baby as their own. They told Oksana’s father that Sophie is their hired surrogate, and I guess that everyone wins. Sophie doesn’t want that baby, and Oksana cannot have children and desperately wants a child. So…”
    “Oh my god, that’s great! That’s great!” I knew then that I didn’t have to tell my mom the awful story about Sophie’s pregnancy and Asher’s alleged paternity. “Thank god. It sounds like everything might work out after all.”
    Asher’s mouth upturned a little. “CJ, it seems that the clouds might be parting. Everything is finally falling into place. Now, if I can convince these Senators not to choke me off, things might actually be fine. That’s a big if, though.”
    That might have been a big “if,” but I had the feeling that everything was going to be just fine on that front.

Chapter Ten
CJ - One Year Later
    “ M y father is going to visit us this week,” Asher said.
    I groaned. Not that I minded Sergei coming to visit, but I dreaded it because he was so enamored of my mother. And my mother was actually flattered by his attentions. It was the weirdest thing – Sergei was a retired mafia Don from Russia, and my mother was just a working-class Italian from Brooklyn, but the two of them actually got along famously when they finally met six months earlier. My mother was prepared to hate him, of course, and tell him off, but she was off-put by his charm.
    That was the last thing that I wanted for my mother, though, especially since she and Clint were still an item. And Clint was my actual father. If my mother and Sergei hit it off and got married, I thought ruefully, that would mean that I would technically be married to my stepbrother. That would seem weird, to say the very least.
    I discouraged their friendship for those reasons, but I needn’t have bothered. Sergei apparently just took a Russian bride 20 years his junior, and was enjoying his retirement years with her. My mom might have been jealous about that turn of events, but she didn’t need to be. Clint really loved her, and, one month ago, he popped the question and she said yes.
    “Is your father going to bring Svetlana?” I asked Asher. I hadn’t met this woman, but I understood that she was stunning. As if a guy like Sergei would demand anything less but physical perfection from his bride.
    “I think so. He wants us to meet her, so I would imagine she’s going to be with him.”
    At that, I heard Ariela crying in the next room. She was just a few months old, and Asher and I were totally, head over heels, in love with her. I never thought that I could feel love like that. She was a handful, though. Even so, I was already ready to go again and have another one. My job was so good about giving me maternity leave, so I was grateful for that.
    And I was thriving at my job. I was really starting to come into my own, and I was feeling more and more confident in my talents and abilities. I couldn’t believe that I ever wasted my talents on chasing down celebrities. I was now a real photojournalist, changing the world, one picture at a time. I hoped that I could pass my passions down to my child. I wanted her to be whatever she wanted to be, but, if she showed artistic ability, I knew that I was going to have to nurture that.
    I came back in with Ariela, and breast fed her. She sucked on me hungrily, and I sighed. Asher smiled at me and came over to kiss me on the forehead. “Mommy,” he said. “You’re an amazing mother. Have I told you that?”
    “Every day,” I said with a smile.
    There was no doubt about it – we were doing well. Asher managed to get through the brief crisis with his business contracts, and was able to not only keep the contracts he had, but add more.