Nef’s POV
The Caps have left to go on a 5 game road trip. Twelve days without Sasha. Right now I’m sitting in my car at the end of the cul de sack where he lives. I’ve spent the last two days trying work myself up to go and talk to his mom. The first time I couldn’t stop the car. Literally, I pulled into the cul de sack, did a U-turn and kept on going. Yesterday I managed to almost pull into his drive way before I left.
Come on Nef, you can do this. I pulled into his drive way and I sat there again. I couldn’t bring myself to turn off the engine and get out of the car. After what seemed like hours I turned off the engine, grabbed my purse, and got out of the car. I still had the key he’d given me. I even managed to put said key in the lock before I turned around and left. I can’t do this.
His neighbors must think I’m crazy. I’m sure they think I’ve lost it. Tomorrow. I’ll come back tomorrow. I can do it tomorrow.
That whole tomorrow thing? Yeah, that was a lie. It took me another two days before I could work up the courage to go back there. I called and spoke to Valeri. He apparently had noticed me driving by the house and figured that I was trying to work myself up to it.
”If you don’t want to talk to Tatiana you could at least come and talk to me.”
I hadn’t spoken to him since Ovi’s house, which was weeks ago. Since the second time I met him when we went out to lunch together I talked to him multiple times a week. When I arrived Valeri was in the living room watching television. He told me that Tatiana was upstairs taking a nap.
”She doesn’t have to hide. I won’t say anything to upset her,” I told him.
”I think she’s more worried about saying something to upset you.”
”What did I do wrong? I mean I know she’s never liked me but why?” From the moment she laid eyes on me she’s hated me and done everything she could to drive me away. It had to be more than just because I’m not Russian.
”She doesn’t hate you. She didn’t choose you and she thinks that you’ll take Sasha away from her. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but she’s a little controlling,” he said.
”A little controlling?” Understatement of the year.
”When Sasha didn’t come home after the hospital she was terrified that she’d driven him away. You know he still hasn’t slept here since then? If he’s not with you he’s with Ovi. When he did come home it was just to pick up clothes. He hasn’t spoken to her all that much. It’s hard losing a child, no matter how far a long you are. We know that. We know that better than either of us would like. I know that she would never wish that on you.” I could imagine that sometime during their 30 plus years marriage Tatiana had a miscarriage or two.
”Valeri, I know that. I know she doesn’t like me and I know that she doesn’t want me anywhere near her son but I don’t think that she would ever intentionally do something to hurt me.”
I sat there talking to him for a long time. So long that I was surprised when my phone rang. Sasha was calling me to say goodnight.
”I didn’t realize it was so late,”
”Where are you?” he asked.
”At your house, talking to your dad.” There was silence on the other end. He hadn’t expected that.
”Umm, okay. Is everything alright?”
”Yeah, I just hadn’t spoken to your dad in a while and I wanted to catch up…and talk about you behind your back.” I laughed into the phone.
”Oh you’re so funny.”
Valeri took the phone from me and told Sasha not to worry, that he would take care of me. I still hadn’t spoken to Tatiana so I made plans to come back the following day. Now I wanted to talk to her to keep Sasha from worrying. I didn’t want to cause him any unnecessary stress or heartache.
The next time I arrived at Sasha's place Tatiana was sitting in the kitchen waiting for me. Valeri left us alone to talk.
”First I’d like to apologize to you,” she started.
”Keep your apology. It doesn’t do either of us any good. You don’t like me. I don’t particularly care for you. We do however need to find a way to coexist.”
”What do you suggest we do?”
”The same thing I’ve been trying to do since I met you. Let’s be civil to one another and we’ll be fine. I don’t want Sasha to feel like he has to choose between us. We both love him and that should be enough to get along.”
”I just wanted what’s best for him,” she said gripping her coffee mug tightly.
”And what you thought was best cost us our child. Let Sasha and I decide what’s best for us. It’s bad enough I have to worry about other women throwing themselves at him, I shouldn’t have to worry about his mother trying for force women on him. I shouldn’t have to worry about what plans or plots you have to ruin my relationship.”
”I didn’t give you a fair chance and for that I’m sorry. I was so worried about what you were after and how you were going to take advantage of Sasha that I didn’t take the time to get to know you.”
This was the first time that Tatiana and I had sat down together to talk to one another. I learned that she had been the matriarch of her family for so long that it was difficult to let go. It had been her ingenuity and strength of character that had saw her family through the Soviet collapse of the early 90s. Valeri had gone from the Chief Financial Officer of a major industrial company to next to nothing.
”It didn’t matter how much money he was making it was still worth next to nothing. We didn’t want to take anything away from our children so we worked hard so that we could give them whatever they asked for.”
”Sasha told me about how you moved with him when he went to Trakor. He told me about what you were willing to give up so that he could live his dream.”
There was still a long way to go before either of us would be completely comfortable with one another but we were making progress.
”Are the two of you planning more children?” she asked toward the end of our conversation.
”We’ll try again when we’re ready. We want to try living together first.”
It was still too soon to considering having another baby. Sasha had promised that we could have as many as I wanted but it’s too soon for that.
”And are you two going to get married?”
”According to Sasha, I don’t have any other option,” She laughed at that. Sasha can be very pig headed when there is something he wants. He’s liable to have a tantrum if I say no. ”I love him but I’m still not sold on the whole idea of marriage so soon. I’m only 24. There is no rush.”
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