When I spot someone walking in the distance, I turn to Savina and tell her, “I have a surprise for you.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll see,” I tell her cryptically.
And then suddenly, the man, who I saw a moment ago, comes running towards us in a full sprint. He’s smiling and laughingas I pull him into my arms, holding him tightly. “Brother,” I say, clapping him on the back as we hug.
Pavel pulls back, a big grin on his face. Fuck, he looks happy for once, and it fills me with an overwhelming sense of relief and joy. I owe my brother a lot. If he hadn’t gotten the courage to run away from my father’s overpowering control over him, he would have married my Savina, and I would be probably drinking myself to death in a rundown bar in Mexico, having thrown my entire life away.
“Savina,” Pavel says before giving her a tender hug.
“Pavel, wow, you’re really here!” she exclaims with tears in her eyes.
My brother’s bodyguard…or I guess I should refer to him as his boyfriend now, comes running up to us. “Jeez, you’re fast,” Leo comments to Pavel.
“Maybe you’re just slowing down, old man.”
“Old man,” he scoffs. “I’m only five years older than you.”
“Still older,” Pavel quips. And then he turns to me and says, “When did you make the dinner reservation for? I’m starving.”
“Uh, right now actually,” I tell him after checking my watch.
The four of us talk and walk towards the restaurant that’s right off the sand. The hostess takes us to a secluded table in the back overlooking the water, and we all place our orders with the waiter, who approaches a few moments later.
While we’re waiting for our food, Pavel asks, “I’m assuming our dear old dad was pretty upset when he found out I left?”
I remember our father’s tirade at the cathedral when he realized Pavel had run away and wasn’t coming back. I thought he was going to bring the entire building down by the anger emitting from his every pore. But eventually, we were able to calm him down, and he willingly signed off on the first contract. I watched as he ripped the amended one to shreds with brutal force, effectively securing my fate with Savina as my wife, as it always should have been. I think deep down our father always knew Pavel wasn’t going to be a suitablegroom, but he was trying to prove a point or perhaps hoping that my brother would change. In the end, it all worked out somehow, and I couldn’t be more pleased. “At first, yes. But now, I think he’s mellowed out…for once,” I answer him.
“Only because you promised him grandkids,” Savina pipes up.
“True,” I say with a smile. I turn and look at my beautiful bride and imagine her belly swollen with my child. I can’t say I’m against the idea. “Maybe we’ll start tonight,” I tell her with a sly grin.
She punches my arm playfully and laughs.
God, I love that sound.
When the waiter brings out our food, I order us a bottle of champagne so that we can celebrate our little reunion. It’s so good to have all of us here together and not because we’re being forced into the situation.
“Let’s make a toast,” I offer.
My brother leans over and kisses Leo on the lips and then grins sheepishly. He looks so deliriously happy and…free. Free to be himself. Free to be with the person he loves. And I honestly couldn’t be happier for the both of them.
“To the future,” I say, raising my glass.
Pavel grins and raises his glass, along with everyone else. “To an amazing future that’s still being written,” he says before clinking his glass to mine.
Savina
“SO, HOW’S THE honeymoon going?” Darby asks me.
We’re currently FaceTiming, and I smile at my best friend’s pretty face on the screen as she carries her phone around her room. “It’s beautiful here, Darby. You would reallylove it.”
“Yeah, well, take me next time. We’ll leave Dimitri at home,” she says.
“Hey!” my husband protests from the other room.
“Oh, my bad. Sorry, Dimitri!” Darby calls out. And then quieter, she says, “You gotta warn me when he’s nearby.”
