by Lacey Legend
“Mommy, you really shouldn’t push yourself,” Vera said sympathetically. “Even if you feel fine, you saw what happened last night. It’s best to just stay home, right Daddy?” Vera said.
“It’s your mother’s decision,” Joseph said, looking at Margot.
“I think I’ll go. I might not feel the greatest, but what else am I going to do?” Margot said, looking at Olivia.
“If you’re sure, Margot. I’ll be right there with you the entire time if you need any help,” Olivia reassured her.
“What are you going to wear?” Vera asked. Olivia knew this meant she wasn’t getting a third dress from her.
“I don’t know,” Olivia said, hoping Vera wouldn’t have as big of an attitude as yesterday.
“Well, you could just wear the same dress again tonight, that is, if you didn’t get it too dirty on your nature walk last night,” Vera said with a smirk. Olivia thought about how the dress was still in a ball in the corner of her room. If this was what she had to wear, then so be it, she thought to herself. It wasn’t ideal, but she would rather wear a trash bag to the ball than sit in that cabin that night, giving Vera a chance to get closer to Ruslan.
As Olivia cleaned up after breakfast, she heard a loud pounding on the front cabin door. “I’ll get it,” Joseph called as he opened the door, revealing a delivery man holding a large box.
“Oh, gimme gimme! That’s probably the jewelry I ordered the other night,” Vera called.
“I thought your credit card got stolen,” Olivia replied. “How’d you buy the jewelry?”
“I used PayPal,” Vera said, grabbing the box from Joseph’s hands aggressively.
“Wait a minute honey, that said it was for Olivia,” Joseph said, grabbing the box from Vera and passing it to Olivia.
“For me?” Olivia asked, confused.
“What did you order?” Vera said annoyed.
“Nothing,” Olivia replied, confused. She set the box down on the counter and opened it, revealing tissue and a note. It said it was for Olivia from her “secret admirer.” She pulled back the tissue to reveal a long mesh gown adorned with crystals in all the right places. It looked like it cost thousands of dollars and Olivia was sure it probably was. She knew exactly who her secret admirer was.
“What the hell!” Vera said, not afraid to show her jealousy anymore. She stormed into her room and slammed the door. Margot was sitting in the living room but could see the dress from there.
“Oh Olivia, you’ll be the most stunning girl there!” Margot responded. The crystals formed an intricate design over the breasts and bikini area of the gown, revealing a bit of skin under the mesh layers. The way it shined under the light made it seem like someone had added a special effects filter to the crystals. Olivia was shocked. It was certainly more stunning than any of the dresses Vera had packed.
Olivia took the dress into her room and hung it on the back door. She sat on her bed and stared at it for a moment. No one had ever given her anything as nice as this. She thought back to high school and all the dances she never got to attend. Her parents hardly ever had any money for her. When her mother died, she inherited a little bit of insurance money, but she mostly had to use that to buy groceries and school supplies as her father wasn’t about to do that for her.
As soon as she was old enough to get a job, she started working at the local fast food restaurant, taking orders for rude customers after school and until the restaurant closed. She had barely more than a week off since her first day at that job. She would have to scrape and save her pennies to buy anything nice, but most of the time, that just meant a pair of shoes that didn’t have holes in them.
She had gotten asked to go to formal dances a few times in high school, but never had enough money to buy a dress, shoes, or any of the other costly things young girls needed to go to dances like those. She looked up at the dress hanging on the door in front of her and thought about how all of that would be worth it when she got to see the look on Ruslan’s face when she stepped into the ball.
****
Olivia stepped out of the limo, zipped up tight in the crystal gown her “secret admirer” had sent. She hadn’t felt that beautiful in a long time and certainly felt more stunning in that dress than any of the ones she had borrowed from Vera. She was lucky enough to wear just a size smaller shoe than Margot, who had given her a pair of heels for the night. Margot was mostly wearing flats and slip-ons nowadays but would pack the occasional heel if she was feeling up to it.
The event was being held at an old theater, really making it feel like a stunning ballroom. There were red curtains all over the walls and crystal chandeliers that shined almost as bright as Olivia’s dress. It was about the size of a high school gymnasium and already quickly filling with people.
A small string instrument band was set up on stage situated next to a piano as well. Olivia thought about how she could have walked into that ballroom in any decade and it would have made sense. It was a timeless occasion and she was planning on having the time of her life. It was a breathtaking sight and an amazing way to spend one of her last nights in Moscow.
Margot wasn’t having a great day, but certainly wanted the chance to enjoy the ball. It might be her last fancy event in her life. Still, she found a table to sit at while Joseph and Vera escaped to mingle. There wasn’t going to be a dinner served that night, but there were still some tables set up for people to eat appetizers or sit and mingle. Olivia didn’t mind sitting down with Margot while others schmoozed at these events. She preferred it to standing next to Margot and her husband while pretending to be interested in a conversation she knew nothing about.
All too often she would find herself listening to one of Joseph’s friends or associates go on about their wealthy life and how challenging it still was for them. Olivia would drift off in her thoughts, thinking about what it would be like to own something more expensive than a decade-old car. She did pretty well as a single nurse in Chicago, but still couldn’t compare to some of the wealthy men they ran into.
She also didn’t mind getting a chance to get close to Margot. Vera and her mother didn’t have the worst relationship, but they definitely couldn’t call themselves mother-daughter best friends. They certainly had their differences and Vera didn’t always appreciate her mother as much as she should. People tried to tell Vera that, but you can’t really appreciate something like that until you don’t have it anymore.
When Olivia had her quiet moments with Margot, she was given the chance to have the kind of conversations with a motherly figure that she so wished she could have had. She had been alive longer without a mother than with one. As a child, she didn’t know anything other than a mother who used drugs. She would try to hide them from Olivia and do them in secret, but Olivia had an idea of what was going on.
One day, when she wasn’t even a teen yet, she walked into her mother’s bedroom to find her passed out on her bed. She tried to shake her awake but instead her mother started to vomit. She got scared and didn’t know what to do, and sat on the bed with her mom instead of calling 911. When Olivia thought back to that, she wondered if she could have saved her mother had she known what was actually going on.
Having conversations with Margot and trying to build a somewhat close relationship gave her hope that maybe she would be able to make up for the mother-daughter bond that she missed out on.
“I think I might try to dance. Do you mind finding my husband?” Margot asked after they had been sitting at a table together for about twenty minutes.
Olivia had yet to see Ruslan, so she was excited to get the chance to mingle in the crowd to find her prince charming. Just as she pushed through a few people, she felt someone grab her shoulder. Ruslan? She turned around to see Pasha standing there. He was a rather short man, but still a bit taller than the tiny Olivia.
“So, you like your dress?” he asked, looking at Olivia up and down. Her heart sunk. Had he been the one to gift her the stunning garment? Her and Pasha barely
exchanged more than a few words, but the way he was looking at her made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She was devastated after thinking this entire time that Ruslan had been the one to give her such a beautiful dress.
“Oh, um, yeah, thanks,” she said quickly before she got into a conversation with a man she didn’t really care to talk to. She had been so sure that it was Ruslan who gave her the dress. What would he think now if he saw her wearing a dress one of his associates gifted her? Hopefully he wouldn’t have to know. She found Joseph talking to a group of men and asked him to go dance with Margot, still not seeing her lover anywhere.
She decided to grab a drink before heading back to the table. There were servers walking around with trays of appetizers as well as glasses of champagne, but she wanted something a bit stronger this time. The ball was already not going as she had imagined. Maybe that was her own fault for building the entire thing up in her head too much.
As she approached the bar, she spotted Vera and Ruslan chatting. He didn’t seem totally unenthused to be having a conversation with Vera, a sight that tore through Olivia’s heart even more. Vera was being her usual flirty self, getting a little too touchy on Ruslan. She thought she was going to have a stunning night with this man, but she realized she should start accepting the truth.
Just as she was about to walk over to the two, Vera reached her hand up and touched Ruslan’s face, an intimate sight that Olivia didn’t want to see at all. She quickly turned away, stomach boiling, and heart torn. She wanted to get out of that dress as soon as possible. She had hoped Ruslan might be the one taking it off but knew better by that moment.
She went back to the table to find it empty. Margot had managed to make it to the dance floor to share a dance with her husband. She was at a table that gave her a pretty good view of the ballroom. She spotted Margot and Joseph dancing together and felt heartache thinking about how she wanted a man like Joseph who loved her so. He could have anyone in the world, but still wanted to be dancing there with his wife. Olivia wondered if she would ever find someone like that she could call her own.
She wondered if Ruslan would even talk to her that night. It was clear he was a desirable man at that point. Olivia watched him walk across the dance floor and to the stage. He could have been a rock star for how many young girls like Vera had stopped him for a quick chat. Each desperate girl gave a big smile and an intimate attempt at a cute gesture, like grabbing his arm or touching his back. Ruslan still just made his way through the swarm of hungry girls and stepped onto the stage in front of the band. They stopped playing and Olivia heard the microphone come on and Ruslan’s voice began to speak.
“Hello everyone! I want to thank you all for coming out here tonight to give your generous donations to our fund. Without people like you, the world would be so much worse off. Please drink and eat as much as you want, and most importantly, don’t be afraid to dance! Cheers!” He raised his glass, as did everyone else that had been listening and drinking.
Olivia wished so badly that she could be the one to stand by his side all night, but that reality seemed more distant than ever before. A group of girls had formed a line close to the stage, Vera standing in front. Ruslan seemed to be on the hunt for someone to dance with, and Vera was a willing participant. Instead of grabbing one of the young girls fanning over him, he pushed through the crowd and started walking directly towards Olivia. She wasn’t sure if she would accept his invitation should he ask her to dance.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you all night,” Ruslan told her. The way his mouth formed a half smile after he said that made him all the more desirable.
“You have been? You seemed pretty interested in Vera last time I saw you,” Olivia explained. She realized as the words left her mouth that she might be sounding a little too jealous. Jealousy was never attractive on anyone.
“Are you joking? She’s the hardest person to get out of a conversation with,” Ruslan explained. Olivia took a drink from her glass. She looked around and saw that a few of the hungry girls were staring at the two. “You look amazing in that dress. I knew you would.”
“So, you did get me this dress?” Olivia asked, confused.
“Of course! Do you have any other secret admirers I should know about? I mean, I didn’t do it all alone. I had to have Pasha pick it up. But still, I saw it and thought it would just look amazing on you. And I was right,” he told her. She felt dumb for overthinking the situation. She had felt so uncomfortable in the dress thinking that it was Pasha who had given it to her. Of course, he wouldn’t have done something like that!
She was relieved to hear the truth and get her confusion on the matter all cleared up.
“Shall we?” he asked, reaching out a hand towards Olivia. There was no one she would have rather danced with. They walked to the middle of the floor and Olivia felt as if she was moving in slow motion.
They pushed through crowds of people, all looking at her and Ruslan, wondering who this mystery woman might be that he’s so intrigued by. Olivia didn’t realize that she was the most stunning woman there that night. She might not have looked like any of the other ball attendees, but that’s exactly what made her all the more beautiful.
She felt amazing, being the center of attention as everyone looked towards who Ruslan had chosen to dance with. Since they were about to leave, she wasn’t as worried about anyone seeing her dance with him. People could think what they wanted. She just wanted to hold him close and hold him tight. They danced for the third time, getting closer each moment. Olivia never wanted that moment to end.
She would normally feel a little strange dancing in front of all those people, but when it came to being held in Ruslan’s arms, she didn’t feel scared at all. He made her feel like the only girl in the world.
“What is it about you?” he asked, squinting hard into her eyes.
“What do you mean?” She smiled sweetly.
“Why can’t I stop thinking about you? You’re always in the back of my mind. I wish I could have you on my arm all night, introducing you as my girlfriend.”
Olivia’s heart melted. That’s all she had wanted to hear from Ruslan the entire night. She leaned her head down onto his chest, forgetting about everything else in the world other than the sound of his heartbeat.
Chapter12
After the ball, Ruslan had managed to slip Olivia another note. They had danced to three songs together until Vera interrupted the two to tell them that they had to go home. Vera protested leaving and tried to do everything she could in that moment to get her parents to stay.
They weren’t about to allow that to happen, as Joseph worried too much about what would happen to Vera alone if she got lost in downtown Moscow. Though she was a college-aged girl, they were right to not completely trust in her. They would normally send Olivia along to help her make her way around, but Margot wanted to have Olivia close in case she needed anything after returning home. Olivia knew that she would feel the effects of the ball harder than she did the dinner party last night.
The note from Ruslan asked to meet at the red tree once again. This had certainly become a special spot for the couple and Olivia liked having a place that she could call her and Ruslan’s. Something about the way the red leaves still stuck to the tree made it all feel mystical. Ruslan’s bright blue car always waiting for her illuminated by the moonlight was a refreshing sight after Olivia’s long days.
Having something to look forward to at the end of the night made the boring work stretch longer, but she didn’t think she would want it any other way. Sure they could have met in a better scenario in which Margot wasn’t dying, but Olivia believed that this struggle only brought the two closer in the end.
She felt crushed knowing that it might be the last note she received from him in Russia. After tonight, she only had one more day in Russia. He said that he would visit her in Chicago, but could she really trust that? Of course, they had a strong connection and she believed in that but long-distance relationshi
ps could be hard. The two had such different lives that she feared they wouldn’t mesh well once everything was back to normal.
She thought about how she could potentially find nursing work anywhere but didn’t think Russia was exactly the place she wanted to be for a long time. She felt silly already envisioning moving across the world for Ruslan, but her passion for him was so strong that she couldn’t help her mind traveling that far.
She went through the motions of waiting for the family to fall asleep again, this time changing into some more casual clothing so as to not ruin her crystal gown. The way Ruslan had looked at her all night made her feel like the most beautiful woman ever, but she felt confident that he would look at her the same in her T-shirt and leggings.
Although she never wanted to take the dress off, she knew it wasn’t practical to be walking around the snow in a floor-length crystal gown. It didn’t seem to go very well with her snow boots either. Even though Ruslan had done an impeccable job guessing her size for the dress, she still felt it was a bit tight, so she was happy to be relaxed in some comfier clothes.
After what had happened the other night, she didn’t want to travel further than five minutes from the cabin. Having Ruslan come to her window seemed a bit too risky, as Joseph and Vera had been banging on her door the other night. She wanted to be able to hold him next to her all night but going to his place wasn’t an option either.
She needed to stay close enough should something happen to Margot, but far enough away that she wouldn’t risk getting caught. She thought about how her and Ruslan might be able to come forward with their relationship if anyone ever found out the truth about Peter’s murder.
She also wondered if Ruslan was just using it all as an excuse to keep their relationship secret, so he could easily break things off if he wished. Olivia didn’t want to let thoughts like these into her brain. Instead she decided it was probably about time to go.