I rub my hand over my belly, thankful that Katerina didn’t cause a miscarriage. If she did manage to get into this house again and catch me alone, how quickly could Anton come to my rescue? Would he even be able to?
I roll over and wipe my face on my pillow. What a crap situation this is. I wish I had somebody to talk to. Like,reallytalk to.
That’s when I spot the phone on the end table by the window. It’s a landline phone, something that up until this very moment has translated to decoration in my mind.
Do I remember Ilya’s number? I think I do. I get up and walk over to the phone, hoping to hear a dial tone when I pick up the receiver. I hear it before it reaches my ear.
Now… her number… let me think. I look at the numbered buttons, trying to visualize her phone number. It hasn’t changed in all the years we’ve known one another…
I start dialing, the numbers coming to me slowly. It takes me a couple of tries, but finally, I hear the line trilling.
“Hello?” It’s Ilya. Thank God.
“Lee? Hey, it’s me.”
“Oh, my God. Are you okay? I’ve been worried about you all day.”
“I’m fine… physically. Mentally, not so much.” I go into the events of the day, updating her on everything that happened after I left the apartment. She listens quietly, only uttering small grunts of acknowledgment as I regale her with my adventure.
I finish telling her about Katerina and she says, “Of course, he has a crazy ex-girlfriend. Boy, what a mess this is.”
“Tell me about it. I don’t know if I can stay here, Ilya. What if she comes back? Or what if someone worse breaks in or something? All this talk about protecting me. Anton wasn’t even here when Katerina showed up. I was lucky that Anton came home when he did. If he hadn’t…” I trail off, the sobs starting to build up again. I swallow hard and push it back down into my stomach.
“Okay, take a breath. Chill out. We’ll figure this out,” she says. “First things first, though. How are you feeling? The baby?”
“I’m fine. The baby’s okay, too, I think. Thank goodness.”
“Thank goodness is right.” She pauses, and I already know what she’s about to ask me. “So, have you thought about telling him yet?”
“No, and I don’t plan to. My mind’s set on that, Lee. There’s no way for me to know that Anton can keep us both safe or that he even wants to be a father. I’ve really been thinking all of this over, and this baby has to be mine and mine alone. I don’t want someone around who’s unable to parent his own kid. I’d rather just raise it alone.”
“But… you don’t know what kind of father Anton would be. I mean?—”
“I can’t take that chance, Lee. I don’t know what kind of real monster he could be. What if I tell him and he decides to lock me up in one of these rooms until I give birth and then takes it from me and raises it to be his heir?”
“Do you hear yourself?” she laughs. “What do you think this is?Rumpelstiltskin? King Anton Romanov locking up the fair maiden until she either spins him some gold or gives him a kid? You sound nuts.”
I go to object, but I can’t. It does sound ridiculous. I chuckle as I lean back on the bed. My head hits the pillow and suddenly, my anxiety starts to drain. “I guess I might be being a little overdramatic. I just… I want to give this kid the best chance I can, you know? I don’t know if I can do that with Anton if I can’t rely on him.”
“I get it.” She sighs. “You know, I’d say you can always come back here, but that might be a really bad idea considering. You know, your dad came by.”
“So I heard.” I twist up the curled cord with my fingers. “What did you tell him?”
“Basically, what you told me to tell him. I said that I didn’t know where you were,” she says, “which, at the time, wasn’t exactly a lie. I said that you left yesterday morning and didn’t come back.”
I relax a little. At least I can count on my father not being among the ones banging on Anton’s door to find me. “I’m sorry I got you into all this.”
“Into what? He believed me. All he said was to call him if I heard from you and left his number. He was actually pretty nice… It was weird.”
I snicker. “That is weird.”
“Yeah. He even smiled. Hope he didn’t sprain a muscle doing it. Pretty sure he’ll feel it in the morning.”
I laugh. It feels good to laugh. “Probably.”
We laugh together for a few seconds, and when it dies down, Ilya asks, “So, what’s next? If you’re that worried about staying there, what will you do?”
“I don’t know. I mean… if I asked Anton to let me leave, I’m sure he wouldn’t stop me from going.” I pause, and I’m pretty certain Ilya can hear the wheels of indecision turning in my head.
