The rest of the night was spent sitting amongst my nephews, bantering, feeling the burn of cigar smoke in my lungs and the warmth of loyalty thawing the frost in my chest.
I had always been on the fringes, hidden behind a wall of ice. Always a step away from my family, on the outside in the darkness. Always alone because I thought that was where I was meant to be.
All it took was one stubborn little nightingale to drag me into the light and give me the way back to my family.
CHAPTER 35
DARIUS
Three months later.
“You can’t avoid it any longer. It’s time.” Anna tugged me across the parking lot of the assisted living center, her hand firmly in mine.
“God, woman, how do I keep underestimating how stubborn you can be?” I mumbled under my breath.
She turned to look at me. Her radiant smile never failed to make my heart stop as she just shrugged. “Look, I know you aren’t thrilled about doing this. But we’ve been together for three months. I can’t keep lying to her. Edith is important to me, and so are you. I want the two most important people in my life to know each other, and I can’t keep lying to her.”
“I never asked you to lie to her,maya soloveyka.”
She gave me a flat look. It was true that I had never expressly asked her to lie for me. But every time she brought up wanting me to meet Edith, I conveniently had business meetings that couldn’t be rescheduled.
Anna had mentioned me to Edith, calling me an investor who was helping the store, which wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the whole truth. She had never told Edith who I was to her.
The truth was, I wanted to meet Edith. I wanted to thank the woman who had been there for Anna when her mother never was. But every time she brought it up, a weird, bubbling sensation would happen in my stomach, and I didn’t know what it was or why it kept happening.
Nadia was the one who laughed at me and told me I was nervous. I had opened my mouth to argue with her, but she was right. I was terrified of this tiny little old woman.
I could face down powerful politicians and hardened criminals without breaking a sweat, but meeting this little old lady had me shaking in my Italian leather loafers. I was so nervous about this meeting I had Yelena pick out my suit.
Edith’s opinion meant so much to Anna, and if she didn’t like me, I didn’t know what that would mean for us. She valued Edith’s opinion above all else. And I didn’t want to have to be the asshole that forced her to choose me or the woman who practically raised her.
I’d like to say that if she didn’t like me, I would step back gracefully, but that was a damn lie. I would bribe that woman to within an inch of declaring bankruptcy if that was what it took.
“Come on, she is waiting for us.” Anna pulled my arm harder, and I reluctantly followed her.
“She isn’t going to take this well,” I said. Anna had told me over and over how much Edith hated change, and I had been the instrument of many changes, both in Anna’s life and hers.
“You let me worry about that,” Anna said as she pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. Her confidence gave me a little hope, but not enough.
With a resigned sigh, I followed her inside to finally meet the woman who held my fate in her hands.
Inside the building, the atmosphere was quiet, homey. I had helped Anna move Edith into a better assisted living home, one Pavel had actually recommended.
He’d had Alina’s grandmother moved here some months ago.
Alina said her grandmother had actually been improving significantly and raved about how much she loved her knitting club, as well as how the residents enjoyed gossiping about the nurses.
Edith, however, apparently fought tooth and nail. Worried that the cost of such an extravagant facility was going to drain Anna’s inheritance.
Anna didn’t need an inheritance. If I had anything to say about it, she would never want for anything in her life. But even without my financial contribution, Anna was financially comfortable.
She and I had sat down, at my insistence, and gone over the books for the shop. I had helped her make several changes, none of which Edith was a fan of, but we updated the signage, ran ads on social media, and she now had a digital inventory system that backed up to her new website.
The store was turning a healthy profit. And I had helped her claim the funds from the shell companies her mother had put in her name. Senator Collins hadn’t figured that out yet. It was going to be fun when she did.
Still, they were changes, and Edith disapproved of the unfamiliar, which was exactly what I was.
I just hoped it wasn’t enough to make her disapprove of me entirely.
