“Of course,” Reiner replied without hesitation as his arms tightened a little around my body.
“After we settle things here, let’s head back home. I know that we can’t keep on living like this, so we’ll have to find a way to operate this orphanage remotely. Once we figure that out, we can operate the other orphanages remotely too just like this one,” I proposed the idea that I had thought of before.
“We’ll need strong team members and managers in place to do that. It’ll take time but it’s not impossible…” Reiner replied encouragingly.
“Thank you…you’re such a wonderful husband. One day, I’m going to be less selfish and less stubborn, I promise,” I declared passionately.
“Don’t worry about me and just focus on getting your act together, Natalia,” Reiner said with a hint of warning in his voice.
Despite his tone, I could feel how supportive he was. It had always been that way. Reiner always wanted what was best for me and had always looked out for me in his own way. I couldn’t have asked for a more caring partner to share my life with.
“I think that you’ll make a wonderful father,” I whispered before I could stop myself.
Reiner body stiffened evidently when I brought up this sensitive topic.
“And you got that from watching me play with a couple of kids for a few days? Isn’t that a little bit of a small sample of data points?” Reiner retorted.
“Not at all. I’ve been collecting data on this for far longer than you realize…” I replied, half teasingly.
He takes care of me so well too and I’m not even a kid. Reiner is kind, caring, compassionate, considerate, and the list of his positive attributes goes on and on. The fact that he works so hard to put me before himself was enough proof that he would probably be an outstanding father.
If only, he wanted to have children…
“I already told you that I’m fine with having children as long as you want to,” Reiner stated plainly.
“But you never said that you would want to have children,” I replied smoothly.
Reiner just nodded without saying anything more.
“It’s ok. I’ve already decided to give you a few years to change your mind,” I replied casually.
“What does that mean?” Reiner asked, clearly confused.
“Let’s build our own family. What about having our first child in two to three years’ time? Is that enough time for you to mentally prepare yourself?” I suggested brightly.
“Maybe…” Reiner replied softly before he placed another tender kiss on my forehead.
I stared deeply into his eyes before I crushed my lips against his boldly. Happiness never felt so simple…
…
A few days after that discussion with Reiner, we spent some time planning out what exactly needed to happen to bring my dream closer to reality. This was my first time ever creating a work plan that was more for the medium and longer term. Reiner was a big help as always and somehow, we managed to put together a plan that we thought would be good enough for us to convince King.
Just like I had decided on that day, I gave Lucien a call. My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I thought that I might faint from the pressure as I waited for the line to connect.
“Natalia…” Lucien’s voice spoke through the phone.
“Lucien…” I whispered.
“It’s not usual for you to call me first,” Lucien commented with a slight hint of disapproval in this voice.
Right, maybe I should call him a little more often from now on. I made a mental note of that before gathering my courage for what I needed to say next. Although I had planned my words already, when the time came, my lips shook from nervousness.
“I’m sorry…” I managed to say.
“That’s not what you wanted to tell me when you called, is it?” Lucien asked as he urged me to get to the point.
“About the money that you gave me…I think…I’ve finally figured out what I want to do with it,” I finally managed to say.
“Really? Tell me about it,” Lucien said with frank interest.
“I’ve been helping King manage an orphanage that he runs after there were some issues with the old management team. I took over from them and started managing it instead. King has other orphanages too that need help so I was thinking that I would like to work to support the children in need,” I explained while trying to remain calm.
“I see. Interesting. So, you want to get into philanthropic work to support orphans?” Lucien asked to make sure that he understood me correctly.
“Yes, that is correct. I think that it would be a good use of my time and your money,” I replied firmly.
“It’s not my money anymore. It’s your money now so as I said before, you can do whatever you wish with it,” Lucien replied without pause.
“I know that, but I want to know if you think that it’s a good idea…” I protested.
“Of course, it’s a good idea. Helping other people who are less fortunate than you will always be a beautiful thing, Natalia. I wished I could do more philanthropic work myself. Maybe you can talk more about it with Edward,” Lucien said approvingly.
Right, Edward does a lot of philanthropic work although the scale of his works is just on a completely different level than what I had in mind for my humble beginnings. Edward ran multiple foundations funded by his own wealth and by the wealth of others that believe in the same cause. I wouldn’t dare think of going anywhere near Edward’s level and scale.
“I don’t think I’m aiming for anything as grand but maybe I’ll talk to him about it,” I replied.
“Good. Let me know how it goes. I’m waiting to see what great things you’re going to do,” Lucien said supportively.
“Thank you. I feel slightly pressured,” I admitted honestly.
“You should be. That’s the only way you can really push yourself forward,” Lucien replied firmly.
“Thank you, Lucien…” I thanked him as I closed my eyes in relief.
“Don’t be a stranger and give Edward a call,” Lucien repeated his advice again before hanging up.
–To be continued…