by A. C. Rose
I massaged my temples. Their stories checked out, but Vlad put in more nuances. Now I knew Grandmamma’s father had a vision about her husband-to-be before they physically met.
“For the elder ones, it is all about continuing forever,” said Vlad, “So it is up to my cousin to keep the line going. This requires a wife and heirs. Also, he has to tend to that Godforsaken area of the homeland, and the people, that my grandmother loves so much.”
Nicolai jumped in. “Don’t make it sound like a cold business deal,” he said, scowling at his cousin. “Grandmamma has given us both insights into our romantic destiny for the purpose of helping us find true love.” He turned to me. “Allison, I’ve found this week extremely romantic.”
I stayed quiet as this new information rolled out, trying to wrap my brain around what that really meant in terms of day-to-day existence and a lifetime commitment. Vlad broke my concentration. There was something very charming about him, maybe overly charming and bordering on devious. When he spoke I was compelled to listen.
“Allison, you look a little troubled,” he said. “Most women want to jump on this guy and take him home to their mothers. He’s quite a catch, as I understand it.”
“It’s just the marriage thing, in general, was not high on my list. And now…” The love thing was off my radar until Nicolai maneuvered his way in there. And the count and countess thing—definitely not on my wish list.
“Ah, you haven’t had the sixth date,” said Vlad, surprised. He looked at his cousin with a raised eyebrow.
“Tomorrow,” Nicolai explained. “Grandmamma got sick and we are trying to work things out here. And now, I am afraid I may have given Allison bigger doubts about me than the day we met.” He grinned, trying to make a joke, but he seemed unsettled. “I fear this day will make her run from me.”
Looking in my direction he mouthed, “Please don’t run.”
My heart sank a little, to see this softer, needier side of him, but I was sure it was part of his strategy to make me sympathetic to his needs.
The maid came in with the first course: soup. She must have gone out and foraged for the vegetables somewhere because it took forever for her to bring any food into the room. Everyone sat down and ate in silence. I pushed the spoon around in my bowl, but could barely lift it to my mouth. I still felt crappy from boozing it up and then barfing in Grandmamma’s bathroom. I felt Nicolai’s gaze on me the whole time. He looked worried.
He and his cousin exchanged glances. They appeared to be as close as brothers, but brothers who possibly had a bit of animosity. I couldn’t tell what their issue was, but if I had to guess, the younger cousin was more of a ne’er do well and Nicolai was the responsible one. That did not stop them from being in each other’s business. Vlad seemed to know more about my destiny with Nicolai than I did.
“Vlad, tell me more about that ‘Godforsaken area of the homeland’ you mentioned before, the place your grandmother loves.” I placed my spoon in my soup just as the cook arrived to collect the bowls. Then she returned with a dish that had a yellow covering and red peppers on top, with small pieces of beef, and a dish with potatoes, peas, and lots of mayo or sour cream. The food temporarily stalled my information gathering. It also made me a little nauseous.
“Oh, Salad de Boeuf, thank you, Helen,” said Vlad, smiling at the older woman. “Just the way you used to make it for Grandpappa.” It was apparently a favorite dish.
“And here’s potato salad,” she said, setting it close to Nicolai. “Exactly the way you like it.” Nicolai smiled at her like a kid on Christmas.
She spooned out a big portion for the men and some for me. I was touched when Nicolai asked her to also bring me a regular salad and the coconut milk in the fridge. She brought both out and set them at my place.
The hot cousins both dug in to their food as she waited for their reaction. She seemed pleased to see them enjoying her Romanian classic cooking so much.
“Helen, you’re the best,” said Vlad, grinning at her and his full plate, and then singing her praises to me and Nicolai. “Man I’m starving, and I can’t eat this stuff when I’m doing fashion shoots. But how can I resist Helen’s cooking? Never! She’s been cooking for us since we were little.”
She blushed and headed back into the kitchen. I realized how fond of them she was and that there was a lot of history between there. Maybe she was just different and not so scary.
“So Vlad, what were you referring to before?” I drank the coconut milk to soothe my stomach and began to slowly work on my salad, while continuing to probe. “The Godforsaken place?”
He looked over at Nicolai, who nodded to go ahead to explain.
“Grandfather was able to get back possession of his manors in Miklosvar, which is in Transylvania,” he explained, chewing as he went along. “He also began the project of restoration to his family’s old lodge on the land there. But part of the deal was he would also make renovations in the village and on the roads. The place has not changed much in the last hundred years, and the people still live off the land. Rebuilding brings income into the economy and provides jobs.”
He jabbed his fork into a serving plate to scoop up more food.
“Grandmamma has kept it going all these years since Grandpappa died.” He took a sip of his drink and paused, eyeing me for my reaction. “She wants Nicolai to take over, and to build a place for the people she considers her tribe, so they can come and chant or meditate or something. She has money in a foundation to cover it.”
“That’s sweet,” I said, looking at Nicolai. It sounded like a good cause, in that moment.
“Sweet until you have to drive on those crappy roads or you crave Starbucks,” Vlad said with a laugh. “It’s antiquated. And as the Countess of Miklosvar you will have to reside there.”
Nicolai dropped his fork with a clank. He cleared his throat, as if trying to get my attention, but I kept my gaze on Vlad.
“Seriously? Like move in?” I stopped chewing for a moment. And stopped breathing, too.
“Just for a few weeks each year,” Nicolai interjected. “It’s beautiful there. The Prince and Princess of Wales bought a home there. There must be worse things than being stuck in a foreign country alone with me, no?”
I stared down at the plate and played with my food. Having to live in another country for an extended period of time was a deal breaker for me. I mean, I was no Grace Kelly jetting off to Monaco to be a princess. And this was Transylvania. Why would I want to go there?
“Please look at me, my love,” said Nicolai, pulling back his alpha powers of seduction and serenading me with his sexy voice.
I looked up. His gaze captured mine, the way it always did. Holding me, pulling me in, making me feel things—even if the circumstances now seemed overwhelming.
“This was not entirely my choice,” he said. “To carry around all the baggage of my inheritance.”
“Then why carry it at all?” I finally looked at him.
“Family honor and duty. Tradition. Grandmamma.” He put down his fork and wiped his mouth with the linen napkin. “And you. I didn’t really understand it until I got to know you, but this could be an adventure, if we share it together.”
He did it again. He made me want to cry and melt into him. Although there were a million reasons my red flags have been flying all week and all day, there were two things I believed in this moment: Nicolai truly cared for me, and I cared for him.
Maybe we could work this thing out? Every time he said something that touched my heart, it made me want to have faith in him.
“I’ll tell you one thing, Nicolai,” I said, regaining my sense of humor. “On top of everything you and I have to work out, if we make it to date six, you are going to have to deal with my boss. I don’t even want to think about her reaction to this whirlwind of insanity. And God forbid I take any time off for a trip to Romania.”
“Oh, we will deal with Sheila,” he smiled at me and laughed. “So what’s the verdict, have we suff
iciently welcomed you into the family?”
“More like sufficiently hypnotized me with Romanian folk magic,” I laughed. “But I guess that’s how things roll in this family. So I suppose I feel welcomed.”
Vlad just sat there quietly finishing his food, watching my expressions.
Nicolai stood and took our plates into the kitchen. “I must stay with grandmamma, tonight,” he said when he returned to the table. “So I think it is best to get you home. I will come to you tomorrow and you can let me know your decision.”
“Nicolai, maybe I should stay here with you,” I said, apprehensive. Perhaps it was separation anxiety. I had a weird feeling that something bad might happen, maybe that his grandmother could pass away and I would be so far away. “Maybe we shouldn’t part.”
“I don’t want to be separated, either, but I am needed here and it’s only fair that you have this time to go home and give some thought to all that was discussed,” he said. “And that you rest.”
Vlad stepped over to say good-bye, kissing me on both cheeks, acting extremely friendly. “I hope you will be my cousin, soon,” he said, bending in a little too close to whisper in my ear. “Keep in mind, this intensity will blow over when Grandmamma is gone. Many of his choices stem from his desire to serve her wishes.”
What the hell did that mean? That Nicolai’s professed feelings for me would blow over too? That he wouldn’t care as much about us or family responsibility if Grandmamma were gone? Or that we would be freer, and less pressured to follow family protocol? I smiled at Vlad but felt a new kind of angst brewing inside of me as I headed for the door.
Nicolai walked me back to the car, where Sam patiently awaited. He seemed to have his communication system with Sam tightly orchestrated.
“I love you,” Nicolai said. “Poti sa ma iubesti?”
I searched his eyes for the translation.
“It means, can you love me?”
I wanted to say yes and throw caution to the wind, but every time I turned around there seemed to be a new obstacle to face down or discuss.
“Ask me tomorrow.” I pressed my cheek into his shoulder. He held me tight.
“If you find it in your heart to take the chance with me, then we can do this, Allison.” He kissed the top of my head and pulled me closer.
“I hope so, because this looks like a hot mess right now.” I didn’t want to tell him the comments Vlad made on my way out, but I couldn’t shake it from my mind. Those comments, combined with our intensive family information session, were weighing on me. Nicolai was right. I needed to go home and chill out from the day.
“I think what we have is hot, but not a mess,” he said optimistically. “Any problems that come along with this have solutions. I promise you.”
“You never answered me about the spiritual part of it all.” I was probably too weary to take this on, but it was one of the last pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
“The Count and Countess of Miklosvar have traditionally maintained leadership of a spiritual community of seers in Transylvania who are devoted to using their gifts to help people toward the betterment of humanity,” he said. “They confer on many foreign affairs and current events. It was a secret society, forced underground during communist rule and still not part of the mainstream. My grandmother, being Russian-born, expanded the circle to healers around the world. At ninety-eight years old, she is still at the helm. She has always used her gifts and her title to do good works.”
“And this gets passed to you as well?” There was a gulp that followed the words. If I met him at a social event and dated him for six months, this might all seem like an impossibly charming romance. But he wanted me to say “da” to it all tomorrow.
“Yes.” I expected him to be uncomfortable, but he seemed happy.
“But I don’t have any second sight or healing powers.” I shifted from foot to foot trying to find words that didn’t insult those who do. “I search everything on Google. The Internet. That’s my superpower.”
“You do have these powers, you just don’t know them all yet,” he said, kissing my forehead. “Haven’t you noticed more gut feelings about people and things lately? I’ve been kissing your third eye every night to try to help open your sight.”
That’s what that was? He even licked between my eyebrows. I flashed to every time he touched that part of me. “Why didn’t you explain?”
“I was giving your natural abilities a little prodding,” he said. “But you can develop these if you choose, with or without me. It’s just that the full moon has special powers. Man is like the sun, but woman is part of the moon. And the full moon increases powers of intuition. It brings things to fruition.”
He was making sense again, in his own offbeat way.
“Is there anything else I should know?” I was slightly terrified to ask because, frankly, I’d heard enough for one day.
“Only that having more information does not change real feelings.” He looked up into the darkened sky at the nearly full moon. “When you strip away the layers and look at the purest essence of it all, what I’m offering to you is love. If you take away the baggage and family drama, I’m just a man asking a woman to love him.”
Did he know he was kind of lifting that line from one of my favorite movies, Notting Hill? I didn’t even care. I heard that louder and clearer than anything else. I wanted nothing more than to believe him with all my heart.
“Come to me soon.” That was all I wanted to say.
He helped me into the limo and kissed my hand.
Chapter Twenty-one
On the way home, restless and edgy, I tried to sort through the multiple revelations that were dropped like tiny bombs all day. Especially the last one, which could be construed by a jaded mind like mine as Nicolai trying to enlist me in some kind of cult. Was this secret spiritual society filled with Moonie-like followers led by Grandmamma? She didn’t strike me as being that devious, but then again, she sent her eldest grandson on a quest to find true love based on dreams and intuitive hunches. Has she sent hundreds of others into the same wedding abyss, with a deadline to consummate these spiritually arranged marriages beneath the full moon tomorrow? Jeez.
I pulled out my smart phone and searched for Miklosvar in Central Romania. There was no information, obviously, about the secret spiritual society, but I was surprised to see that it had a small population and was a place where people traveled by horse-drawn carriages, tended homegrown crops, and baked their own bread. It sounded like Doctor Zhivago meets Little House on the Prairie.
I read that after the collapse of the Berlin Wall families were able to go back and claim estates that had been seized by the state. There was another count mentioned who had turned his family home into a Bed and Breakfast, so I figured there was a paper trail somewhere to back up what Nicolai and Vlad shared.
Based on what I found, it was a fairly common belief that that Transylvania sat on one of Earth’s strongest magnetic fields, a vortex of sorts, and the people who lived in the region had extra-sensory perception. Maybe the small town of Miklosvar was filled with intuitives who could predict the future without being touched by the real world?
I looked at photos of some of the homes and estates, and they looked like summer bungalows as compared to Nicolai’s other family home. Where was Nicolai’s family property? It seemed like going to Romania would be like taking a camping trip in the deep woods.
I read about a nearby city called Sighişoara, which seemed livelier. It was considered a medieval Saxon village but had a population of over 26,000 so there were more castles and churches and things to do. It was also the location of the home of Vlad Tepes—Vlad the Impaler—who was credited as the inspiration for the Bram Stoker character, Count Dracula.
Why was Nicolai’s cousin named Vlad? Oh my God, was this a secret society of love-biting, arousal tasting, rich vampires I was being courted into?
Fuck. Aisha had told me to reach out if I needed her, so I texted her.
“Did
you know Nicolai’s Grandmother was a countess?” I add five exclamation points.
“Yes, I heard that,” she texted back immediately. “I also read somewhere that the title had no power or status in her country anymore, but that it had street cred around the world. Let me check. I think an interviewer asked her about it.” She returned with a quote pulled from an online publication: “My title is authentic, and we do have the Incorporeal Hereditaments in the lawyer’s vault, but after the war and the dissolution of the monarchy, it meant nothing. But a title is a title. I am used to it. And it adds a status that helps open doors to do my work in the world, and occasionally, to get a theater ticket to a sold out show or a better seat in a restaurant.”
“You’re slipping up lady. How did you forget to mention that?”
“Oops…”
“Well, better late than never. Thanks for the info. Today I discovered Nicolai is a count!” I sent a smiley face rolling its eyes. “Did you know that?”
“I didn’t know that part. Billionaire problems are such a drag—said no one ever.” She added a smiley face with a heart emoticon.
“I met his grandmother today, and I kind of fell in love with her.”
“Did she sell you on marrying her grandson?”
“She tried.”
“I also met the model cousin,” I wrote. “His name is Vlad Petre. Is he on your list?”
“Oh no, that’s a new one. How did he slip through my radar?”
“Maybe he goes by a different name professionally.”
“I will get on that as soon as I can and let you know what I find. Meantime, you enjoy your evening.”
“Thanks, Aisha. See you Monday. Don’t forget we have The Today Show early in the morning.”
I suddenly remembered the item Grandmamma had given me. I rooted around in my purse, where I’d dropped it, but couldn’t seem to find it. I decided to look under better light once I got upstairs.