Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Anya
Eating my first unplanned meal at home goes really well. Wednesday nights used to consist of fish tacos with rice and beans, which I can see myself asking for again in the future. But I don’t find myself missing them after filling up on a dinner of delicacies.
Given the freedom to make anything for our family’s meal, Grigory created a feast of variety and luxury he normally wouldn’t indulge in without explicit instruction.
The appetizers alone were a sight to see.
Buttery toast points with caviar, smoked salmon canapés, stuffed mushrooms, and various cheeses with meat.
The main course of prime rib, scallops, vegetables, and garlicky potatoes was my favorite part, though.
The cut of beef was too much of an extravagance for me to put it on my original weekly menu, but it has always been one of my father’s favorites.
Getting to share that with him again made me feel warm and pleased inside.
The pop of a champagne bottle breaks through the quiet conversation and sound of plates being cleared from the table. Nadya claps as her father lifts his knife to pop open another bottle, and Aunt Irina begins to fill crystal glasses with bubbly.
Dad lifts his eyebrows at them. “Two bottles?”
“This one,” Irina starts, waving the silver-colored container at him as she works, “is non-alcoholic champagne. For our girls.”
Her thoughtfulness makes my cheeks lift as a smile spreads to my lips.
I could have the regular champagne if drinking age were the only factor.
Though the law says you must be twenty-one, our family has never cared for following the rules.
We make our own, and we only obey the word of my father—our Pakhan.
He wouldn’t mind if I drank, if I were medically able to and I wanted to partake. But I’m not, and I don’t think I would want to even if I was. My medication can’t be mixed with a great many things, alcohol being at the top of the list. Even so, the concept of drinking has never appealed to me.
“A toast,” Aunt Irina decides, lifting her glass as she finishes handing everyone else their own. “To having our Anya back home. We’ve all missed you so much, solnyshka.”
“I missed you all too,” I say, lifting my own glass to salute hers from across the table. “I’m so happy to be home.”
“Tap my glass, Papa,” Nadya says almost demandingly, tugging on Uncle Lev’s sleeve.
He softens as he looks down at her and half smiles, moving his champagne flute to hers.
They clink together, making a gentle chime, and she grins widely.
She’s grown up so much recently, part of me expected for her to ask for a taste of the real stuff—but she seems content to sip on the non-alcoholic sparkling wine.
I take my first sip as everyone else does, feeling my mouth fill with crisp and fresh bubbles. There’s a slight grape flavor, not too sweet or too tart. I would probably drink it again, so I tell myself that I’ll look at the bottle before the night is over to note the name of it for later.
As much as I’ve been enjoying this time with my family, I’ve been itching to call Matteo.
Dad gave me my phone as soon as we arrived, but I was only able to exchange a few quick texts with him before I was pulled in a hundred different directions by Nadya and Aunt Irina.
Uncle Mikhail and his sons are here too, but neither Aleksandr nor Vik have spoken to me.
Even now as we’re toasting my homecoming, they simply drink their champagne in silence.
They’ve both always been a bit sullen like their father, but Uncle Mikhail has always made it a point to be kind to me, where his sons haven’t been close to me since I was little. Aleksandr is my age while Vik is Nadya’s, but the boys aren’t much for socializing.
Unless they’re simply trying not to scare me off by being distant. I could see that too. Uncle Mikhail didn’t flinch when I hugged him in greeting earlier, but he likely won’t ever be as warm to me as Uncle Lev is. I don’t mind, really. It’s just who he is.
Imagining my last texts with Matteo, I start to worry that I should have made time to call him before eating.
Anya
Just got home, but everyone came to see me. I’m sorry, I might not be able to call until after dinner.
Matteo
Don’t apologize. I’m glad everyone came to see you. You deserve it :)
Anya
Thank you :) It isn’t overwhelming yet, so that’s a good sign.
Anya
Have you spoken to Nico today?
Matteo
*confused emoji* My brother Nico?
Matteo
Why??
Anya
Long story, lol. Talk about it soon? I’ll let you know as soon as I’m free to call.
Matteo
I hope you know that while you’re enjoying a delicious and fun family meal I’m going to be helplessly wondering why the heck you just asked me about Nico. He didn’t do anything to get himself in trouble, did he?
Anya
He didn’t do anything bad.
I was going to send a message quickly explaining that I’d seen his brother earlier in the day, and that he was looking after me, but then Nadya presented me with her flowers and I couldn’t be rude by ignoring her to text him.
And her bouquet was really pretty, despite my uncle’s worry that I might find the glitter to be odd.
I almost wish they weren’t living so that they wouldn’t die eventually.
“Did our lovely niece tell you that she’s trading in one Moretti for another?” Uncle Lev asks, running his fingers over top of his wife’s hand.
Aunt Irina nearly chokes as she swallows her current sip. “What?”
“You’re not funny,” I tell him, glaring as I cross my arms.
“Explain yourself, muzh,” she demands sharply.
“You should be telling her to explain herself,” he tells her, a sort of playful mischief dancing in his eyes as he pretends to be innocent. “She’s the one who planted a kiss on Nico Moretti right before our eyes.”
Nadya gasps, looking devastated. “What about Matteo?”
Irina balks right along with her daughter. “What?”
Fingers wrapping around a rolled cloth napkin, I lift it up and throw it at him, satisfied when it hits him square in the nose. He almost looks proud as the material falls to his lap.
“She kissed his cheek,” Dad supplies as I continue to scowl at his brother.
“Barely,” I tack on in a huff. “My lips barely touched his cheek. He watched over me for two months. I was saying thank you.”
“He did what?” Aunt Irina asks, mouth dropping open. “I am so lost.”
“He made himself Anya’s secret personal security while she was away. Had a whole team with him there,” Uncle Lev explains, finishing off his drink.
“That was nice of him,” Nadya decides, nodding once to punctuate her claim.
For the first time all night, Aleksandr makes a sound. A laugh, really.
Affronted by his timing, Nadya glares at the younger spitting image of Uncle Mikhail. “What are you laughing at, pridurok?”
My eyes widen, hearing her call him a jerk with such venom.
“Nico Moretti is anything but nice, rebyonok.”
Child.
Well, at least he didn’t call her anything worse. The table may erupt into a physical fight if he did.
“Watch it, both of you,” Uncle Lev says, surprisingly giving Nadya as stern of a look as Aleksandr.
“He is a jerk,” she defends, lifting her chin. “He never talks to me and now he laughs at me like I’m stupid. And he forgot my birthday last year!”
Oh boy.
“He did not forget, he was in Russia,” Uncle Mikhail starts to explain.
He’s quickly cut off. “Oh, phones stop working in Russia now, do they, dyadya?” Nadya gives him an icy stare and crosses her arms.
“Nadya,” Aunt Irina says softly, taking her daughter’s hand. “Be kind to your uncle. He loves you very much.”
She frowns, trying not to pout as she mumbles. “Sorry, Dyadya Mikhail.”
Our quiet uncle doesn’t pretend to be offended. “It is fine, Nadya.”
“Nico is nice,” I say, trying to steer away from any awkwardness. “He’s just selective with who he’s nice to. Something I think all the men at this table have in common, no?”
“Oh, she got you with that one.” My aunt giggles, looking at the group of them before turning back to me. “Although I didn’t know you were close with another Moretti, solnyshka.”
“It’s recent.” I shrug. “Matteo trusts him, so I do too.”
“Then I do too,” Nadya chirps, shooting me a supportive smile. “When you marry Matteo, can I be one of your bridesmaids?”
My eyes bug out of my head at her question and it’s Uncle Lev and my father’s turn to choke on their tongues.
Dad shakes his head, looking at his niece like she’s said the most insane thing imaginable. “Who said anything about marriage?”
Nadya lifts a shoulder. “I ship them.”
Uncle Lev groans. “You…what?”
“I ship them, Papa. They don’t have very good ship names, though. I’ve narrowed it down to Mattanya or Antteo. I’m still brainstorming.”
Aunt Irina grins at me across the table. “Hmmm, aren’t you going to claim you are only friends with your Matteo?”
“You wouldn’t listen if I did,” I huff, standing up from the table. “Thank you all for dinner, it was lovely.” Until it wasn’t. “But I’ve been home for hours now and I’ve yet to see my room. I want a proper shower and some alone time, if you don’t mind.”
“And will you be calling my future nephew before or after your alone time?”
“Or both?” Nadya quips.
I ignore the two of them, reminding myself that I love them and the fact that they feel like they can tease me is a good thing.
“Eat dessert without me, I’ll come and get some more later.”
My little cousin jumps up to almost shyly offer me a hug goodbye, and I gladly accept it before heading upstairs. Despite how badly I really do want to shower, I can’t resist dialing Matteo’s number first.
It only rings three times before I hear his voice.
“Hey, stranger,” he greets, voice full of warmth and welcome.
“I got my phone back,” I reply dumbly, silently cursing myself as I do. Of course I have my phone back. I’m talking to him on it, and we already texted.
“I see that,” Matteo says, a smile evident in his voice. It’s like I can see it on his face, even though we aren’t looking at each other.
Why aren’t we looking at each other?
“Do you want to switch to video chat?” I ask, not feeling half as shy as I might have before. I want to see his face again. It’s been too long without it. “I have to do some stuff soon, but I wanted to talk to you first.” To see you first.
“Hell yeah, we can switch over. Do you want to see the kids? It’s almost bedtime, but they’re still up.”
No, I almost burst out. I just want to be alone with him.
“Maybe tomorrow,” I tell him instead. “I think my mind is a little busy and I don’t want them to think I’m not happy to see them.” It’s not entirely a lie, but it’s not the whole truth either.
I’ve been waiting for too long to see Matteo again, to see the man who wrote me so many beautiful letters and so many entertaining emails to have our time now be interrupted by anyone—even those two babies who I adore.
When his face fills my screen, my breath catches. His hair is just as messily styled as it always is, and his eyes are just as strikingly blue. The smooth skin of his face almost glows and makes me wish I could reach out and feel it for myself.
“There she is,” he says, looking at me in return.
I squirm under his gaze, stepping back to sit on the edge of my bed. I didn’t look in the mirror before calling him, but thankfully I don’t have anything on my face or any makeup out of place.
“You look…” he starts, the soft words trailing off his tongue.
“Different?” I prompt, running a hand down the top of my thigh absently, soothing myself before I can read too much into his loss of words.
I gained a few pounds while I was gone, a healthy bit of weight that has filled out my cheeks a bit. Tiffany claims she can’t see the difference, but I can. I’m not upset about it—I actually like it, I think.
“Happier,” he says, finally settling on the word. “Not different, but almost cheerful. It looks good on you, meraviglia.”
I can’t stop the blush that floods my face. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“Just the truth,” he argues, smiling as he does. “So, I’m going to pretend I’m not dying to hear what you have to say about Nico for a minute. I don’t want one of my smelly brothers to be the first thing that we talk about.”
A giggle bubbles out of me and I shake my head as I laugh. “What would you like to talk about instead?”
Matteo chuckles, joining in on the humor before asking, “What are your plans for the rest of the night?”
“I still have to unpack,” I say, almost grimacing as I remember how much I have stuffed in my bags that needs to be removed and sorted through.
“I have laundry to set aside to be cleaned. I have to shower too, and probably do some skin care. I don’t exactly feel dirty from staying at the facility, but I hate not showering before bed if I’ve left the house. ”
“I get that,” Matteo says with a nod. “I shower a lot now that the house is full of babies. Nothing prevents sickness like keeping germs from spreading. Feeling clean is always good too.”
“One of the best feelings,” I confirm. “You? Any plans for tonight?”
“Movie night with Jade and anyone else who wants to join. Not for a couple hours now, though. Gotta wait for the little ones to go to bed. I’m more excited for the snacks than the movie this time, though.
Martha made ice cream and my sweet tooth has been on a rampage high lately.
I feel like a pregnant lady—except I want Oreos and peanut butter cups in my ice cream, not pickles. Although pickles are good too.”
I laugh at his description and feel comfortable enough to lie back, my hair spreading out underneath me.
“I’m going to have some sweets later,” I mention with a grin. “Grigory made sharlotka, it’s an apple cake I used to really like as a girl. And chocolate cake, that’s Nadya’s favorite.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for future bribery,” he quips. “And I’ll have to try this apple cake of yours sometime, too. If you like it, it must be good.”
My stomach feels warm at the suggestion.
After a moment, he asks, “Has it been enough time to ask about Nico?”
I laugh at his sudden change in topic and shake my head.
“Yes, it’s been long enough.” I take a deep breath, ready to explain the full story. “So, about your brother…”