Roman's POV

"Leati, you don't know anything about her! You're never even here!" Galina screams in my face.

I tense, my jaw clenched. "Don't you talk about her. Not now. You know she's in there. She's trying to sleep. And you're yelling so stop." I say through clenched teeth, worried about my daughter whom was most likely listening.

"Don't you tell me that I can't speak about my daughter Leati, don't you dare try to tell me that." Galina growls at me. "She is my daughter!"

"I'm done with this." I mutter and push past my bitter wife.

I walk into the kitchen and grab a small pink cup from the cupboard along with a matching princess saucer.

"See that's you're problem Roman!" Galina shouts after me as she enters the kitchen herself. "You're too much of a damn coward to stand and fight to work something out."

I sigh and open the refrigerator, grabbing a gallon of milk. I set it on the counter and observe the acrimonious woman standing in front of me.

"That's the thing." I say dryly. "You can only fight with a person that's willing to get in the ring with you. And fight."

I pour milk into the little cup and put it back in the refrigerator as my wife is silent. "And you." I continue quietly as I take two cookies from a jar sitting on the counter and set them onto the plate. "Aren't willing to fight."

"Then what is it that you call me doing right now!" She yells at me.

I slam my hand on the counter causing milk to splash out of the cup and for the jar of cookies to fall over. I point my finger at her. "Dammit I said stop yelling while my little girl is sleeping!" I yell myself and not another word leaves her mouth.

I run my hand through my hair, breathing heavily in the now silent house.

Suddenly, I hear little footsteps rushing back up the stairs and I close my eyes, listening to a door upstairs being closed as quiet as possible.

Galina must have heard them as well as she puts her hand on her forehead. "What did you do now?" I hear her mutter.

I just shake my head and grab the cup and saucer from the counter and walk right past my wife with them.

"Do you honestly think she's gonna want to be anywhere near the big scary stranger-man that almost broke the counter and screamed a swear word at her mommy?" She asks me and I stop walking but don't look back at her.

"Big scary stranger-man?" I ask as I look back at her. She just nods. "No. But she'll want to be near her daddy." I say quietly and continue walking.

"I wish you would just leave her alone. She doesn't need this. Or more importantly, you." Galina calls after me and her words were knives in my heart but I continue walking as I always do.

•••

I approach the door covered in stickers and open it just a crack, peering inside.

The covers are quickly thrown over a small head and I sigh.

I open the door and close it quietly behind me.

I take a seat beside the lump in the covers, setting the cookies and milk on the white, sticker covered nightstand.

"Well, I guess my little turtle is asleep, isn't she?" I say quietly. The covers don't move.

"Guess I'll have to eat these cookies by myself then..." I start and the tip of the blankets move back so that I could now see her eyes.

She blinks at me and I could see unshed tears in her eyes.

"There's my little turtle." I say quietly and push some of her hair behind her ear. She takes the covers from her head completely and I can see tear stains on her small cheeks. I swipe a new falling tear away with the pad of my thumb and she looks up at me.

I grab the plate and set it on her lap and she grabs a cookie timidly.

"Are you and mommy mad at each other?" She asks me quietly.

"No, no, baby girl, we aren't mad at each other. We were just talking and working some things out." I try to explain and I sit closer to her and pull her onto my lap.

She takes a small nibble from the cookie but I could tell she was too bothered to eat it. She lays her head against my chest and I wrap my arms tighter around her.

"Are you and mommy mad at me?" She asks in almost a whisper and my heart breaks as I set my chin on her head.

"No baby girl we couldn't be mad at you." I say and she buries her head into my chest and I can feel her shaking.

"I don't want you to yell anymore." She cries. "I don't want mommy to yell at you. I don't want you to..." She starts but is interrupted by another wave of tears.

"Shhh. I don't want to yell anymore either. We aren't gonna yell anymore ok?" She continues to sniffle in to my shirt and I could feel her tears on my chest.

I hold onto her tighter and shut my eyes hard trying to ignore everything but the little girl in my arms. I feel a tear slip down my cheek but ignore it as I wanted to feel nothing but my daughter.

I kiss the top of her head and she looks up at me.

Her small hand rubs the tear on my face away and she kisses my cheek. "You don't have to cry." She whispers.

I laugh lightly and smile at her and she smiles back. "Ok. You need to get some sleep though alright?"

"But what about my cookies?" She asks automatically. I laugh and swipe her off of the bed standing and swinging her around.

"Your cookies?" I ask and she giggles as I hold her against me. "What if I wanted them?"

"You can have one too." She says.

"Nah, that's ok honey. You can have them in the morning."

"Do you promise?" She asks me.

I look at her for a moment. "Of course I promise." I say and she smiles.

"Thank you daddy!" She says and jumps out of my arms, crawling back into her bed.

"Alright, baby girl." I say and tuck the covers around her. I pick up the saucer and the cup from the nightstand and turn off her lamp.

I begin to walk to the door when a small voice stop me. "I love you, Daddy."

"I love you more, Turtle." I say and walk back out of the door covered in stickers.

_________________________

First off, I just want to start by thanking you for reading Broken Home!

I hope that you're enjoying the story so far and I promise it will get much better in following chapters.

This was just the first chapter of this book there are plenty more.

So Chapter 1 is done!

Please share, vote and make sure to stay perfect!

~Mrs. Architect