Chapter 32 #2
I paid and raced back to the car. I handed her the cup of ice and the napkins, shoving the bag of drinks into the backseat.
The silence stretched between us comfortably, and I turned up the volume to a comfortable level.
Jae was dead to the world in the backseat, and after a while, Shiloh removed the ice from her eyes, leaving them closed as she curled into herself and leaned against the car door.
“So, I think I remember your mom saying that your grandparents were going to be here tonight, right?”
I smiled at the topic and nodded.
“Yeah, they actually asked about you. Apparently, you made quite the impression as our almost second cousin,” I said, smirking over at her.
Shiloh blinked her eyes open to look at me.
“You’re totally bullshitting me right now,” she said with a shake of head.
“No, I’m not. I swear. They really did ask about you. My grandma wants to fatten you up with her pirozhki.”
“What’s that?” Shiloh asked curiously.
“Oh, sorry. Um, it’s like a little pie, but not like an apple pie…
it’s more like a little handheld bun, I guess.
” I chuckled to myself. “I’m sorry, I’m not doing it justice.
They’re delicious though. The filling can be sweet or savory.
Like meat or Baba’s specialty is filling them with cream cheese and cherries,” I explained.
“So…they’re Russian, right? Your grandparents.”
“Yeah. Exactly. They immigrated to The States when my dad was ten. My grandpa was a professor, a biomedical engineer, and he was fortunate enough to get a job here just before the USSR dissolved. They were actually supposed to move to Canada but his job their fell through and then he got an offer for Carnegie Mellon, and the rest was history.”
“So do you speak any Russian?”
“Other than a few key vocab words, the alphabet and counting to a hundred…no. But, I can understand a lot. I took a year in school and unfortunately gave up. It was just so difficult. Baba tried when we were little and still does try to speak to us in Russian occasionally, but it never stuck.”
“Does that make it hard to relate to your family’s culture?”
I hummed in thought, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel.
“Yes and no. I feel like, especially now that I’m older and can understand the significance of it, I’ve taken more of an interest in my dad’s upbringing and culture.
And thankfully, my grandparents love sharing their culture with us grandkids.
I want to be able to pass down these traditions and stories to my kids one day.
I think it’s important to know where you came from and why your family does certain things. ”
Shiloh nodded. “Did your dad not try to speak to you guys in Russian as children?”
“No,” I shook my head. “It was kind of taboo to speak Russian when he first moved here. I dunno, Americans were kind of, like, afraid of Russians. I think they still are, to be honest. At least of the country itself politically, but, um, we don’t need to get into that whole can of worms…
Anyways, my dad kind of avoided anything to do with Russia.
He didn’t want us to have to deal with anything that he went through as a kid in school.
I mean, his name alone was already a big red flag that he wasn’t ‘American’ and so, no, he never spoke to us in Russian. ”
“That makes sense. So, your names…they’re not Russian, I mean, your last name is, but your first names are Biblical, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I shook my head with a sigh. “I know, it’s a bit strange. With the three ‘E’ names and all. So much for not wanting us to be made fun of in school. But, um, that was both of my parents actually. They were both raised as Christian, my dad Eastern Orthodox and my mom Methodist. And yeah…”
I pursed my lips, looking over at Shiloh.
“Tell me to shut up if I’m boring you,” I laughed, flicking my gaze between her eyes and the road.
“No, no. You’re fine,” she said, a hint of a smile on her lips. “It’s not boring. It’s pretty cool that you’re interested in keeping your family’s history and culture alive.”
I scrunched up my face in disbelief, “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Seriously, you’re making a bigger deal than it is, shitbird. I happen to like getting to know more about you. And I really like your name. I think it’s cute that you’ve all got a name that starts with ‘E’. Enoch, Esther, Eden. It’s cute. Are you going to name your kids with ‘E’ names too?”
I chuckled, unconsciously smiling at her.
“I honestly hadn’t thought about it. It’s not a family tradition to name the kids with an ‘E’ letter.
I guess my sister kept the tradition with Biblical names with Ruth, but I’m not sure.
It’ll depend on whatever my wife feels, honestly.
I mean, she’s going to be doing all the work growing our child, I think she can have the final say in the name.
Well, provided it's not something too strange.”
I pulled onto the familiar street, recognizing several cars that were parked along our destination. I pulled into the nearest available spot on the road. After I put the car in park, we both chuckled softly at the snores Jae was releasing.
He sleeps like a bear in hibernation.
With my seatbelt undone and my body turned towards Shiloh’s, I spent a moment studying her face.
The arch of her brows, and the way part of one was missing.
Her lashes, and how some of them were so fair they almost looked translucent.
The light spatter of freckles that sat across her nose and beneath her eyes and randomly speckled the rest of her skin.
Her hazel eyes, the burning orange, deep yellow and green that popped against her still red eyelids from crying.
Her braid, that swooped neatly over her shoulder, ending just above her waist. I could just make out a couple of pink scars on her neck, and I wondered where she had gotten them, how she’d gotten them.
“Ah, fridge nuggets!” I screamed at the same time Jae jumped and screamed in the back seat. I held a hand over my chest, rolling down my window that Eden had just knocked on. She juggled Ruthie in her arms and gave us a curious expression.
“You gonna come in or what?”
I nodded, and turned to see Shiloh smiling animatedly at Ruthie, waving back at her.
I rolled up my window before shutting off the car and we followed my sister inside. I placed my hand on Shy’s lower back, ushering her inside the house ahead of me and shut the door behind us.
We made the rounds, working our way through the house, until we reached the kitchen. Sebastian’s parents were here, and I was an idiot when I went to introduce them, completely forgetting the fact that his mom would know who Shiloh was.
Rosa gasped, her eyes going wide as Shiloh stood in front of her.
“Ay, mija. ?Que linda!”
Pretty? I think that means pretty.
She pulled Shiloh into a bone crushing hug that forced me to drop Shiloh’s hand.
I chuckled as Shiloh gave me a ‘save me’ expression when she pressed her against her breasts and rocked back and forth.
Rosa started murmuring in Spanish and I was left clueless.
I glanced at Greg, Rosa’s husband, and he chuckled, gesturing with his thumb towards his wife.
“Don’t look at me,” he said with a smile. “Woman’s been speaking Spanish to me for years and I still can’t understand a damn word.”
I laughed and shook his hand. “Good to see you too, Greg.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded. He scratched at his greying beard and glanced back at Shiloh. “So, you two?”
I nearly grinned like a maniac. “Yeah.”
Greg smiled, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. “Good for you, kid.”
Rosa finally released Shiloh, and she returned her hand to mine, squeezing tightly. I discreetly checked to see if she was getting teary-eyed and was relieved to see that she wasn’t. We managed to escape to a corner of the room for a moment of peace and quiet.
“You okay?” I asked, holding her waist as I studied her eyes.
“Yeah,” she nodded. But I could feel the tension in her body. “Rosa looks amazing. She was…a bag of bones the last time I saw her.”
I nodded, glancing over at Rosa who was fussing over the countertop filled with food. My sister suddenly approached.
“Hey, can you run to the gas station and get a lighter? We don’t have anything to light the trick candles for the cake and their going to be here any minute.”
“Yeah, of course,” I nodded, releasing Shiloh’s waist. I turned to look down at her. “You gonna stay here?”
Shiloh hesitated for a moment before nodding and stepping back. I stifled the urge to kiss her and walked away.
My phone was blowing up with texts the second I left the house, telling me to hurry because Dad and Sebastian were just down the street from the house. I swore it was the fastest trip to the Chevron I’d ever made.
My parking spot had been taken by the time I had arrived at the house, and I had to circle the block to find a space several houses away.
I did a double take at the sight of my dad’s car and found my dad and Sebastian both walking towards the house.
I shook my head because there was no way Sebastian was going to be surprised with all the cars parked outside.
We should’ve told people to park a block or two over, but I smiled nonetheless because it was the thought that counted.
I slowed my pace to not be seen before they reached the house but froze and ducked behind a parked car when they abruptly stopped in front of a neighbor’s house. Their conversation drifted over to me now that I was within earshot, and I peered around the corner of the car to watch them.
“No, I understand that she’s still a minor, but what can I do until she’s eighteen?” Sebastian asked.
“Is she not safe at home? I need something concrete to go on here, Sebastian. I can’t do anything unless you tell me something specific. I don’t want to make her situation worse by intervening at the wrong time.”