Galina snorted and rolled her eyes, but I was fucking serious. My baby girl wouldn’t be told she couldn't ever accomplish anything in this world. I’d never be like my father. I’d teach her about the world, the good and bad and how she could overcome any obstacle. And I’d do that with the one person I trusted more than anything else: my wife, soul mate, mother of my children—because I wanted a houseful of daughters who looked just like Galina and sons who would protect the women in their lives above all else.
She was my heart. My light.
I was lucky to have Galina in my life, luckier still that I was going to be a father. I’d never complain about anything again, not when I’d been given the best gift imaginable.
Happiness, love, and—most of all—knowing what it meant to actually live.