by Lia Lee
“Katya?” Toni pulled away from Dimitri and started toward his sister. “What’s happening?”
Katya’s eyes were huge. “My water just broke.”
“Dimitri, I think its time we head for the hospital,” Toni said. She already had her arm around Katya and was steering her toward Dimitri’s car.
Yes. Life was most certainly going to be interesting.
Chapter Twenty-Five
One Year Later…
The twilight sky made a beautiful backdrop for the twinkling lights strung between the lampposts of the café’s outdoor seating area. The place was packed, inside and out. Toni darted in and out of the building carrying trays and helping the harried servers keep up with their tables. It was just another night at Maria’s.
During a rare lull, Toni stood back and looked over the details of what she consistently called her greatest accomplishment. Fifteen bistro tables were scattered about the sidewalk outside the corner location. She’d managed to find a primo location not far from Dimitri’s estate on a quaint street with tons of charm. The neighborhood wasn’t Russian, but there were pockets of Russian immigrants nearby that appreciated the old world charm of Maria’s mixed with the trendy flavor of American pastries and deli favorites.
One of the shift managers walked up beside Toni and heaved a sigh. “We’re out of blini, again,” she said wearily. “We sell so much of that stuff I fully expect the health department to slap us with a fine for ruining people’s cholesterol levels.”
“We aren’t responsible for other people’s food choices,” Toni commented. “Which is probably a good thing given the Russian coffee, the Tiramisu, and those flaky donuts Annelle makes every morning.”
“Ummm,” the manager moaned. “Annelle’s donuts…”
Toni laughed. “Get back to work before I have to fire you.”
“Oh whatever, like you’d ever fire anyone.”
The manager hustled off to check on a few orders for coffee at the bar, and to lend a hand to the barista. Toni reflected that the only reason she never fired anyone had to do with being so careful to only hire the best, and pay better than anyone else in the city. She had walked away from her father’s mafiya ways completely. There were no deals going on out the back door. Everything was legal. And even though her boyfriend was a straight up Russian gangster, he respected her too much to try and change her mind about how she ran her business.
Speak of the devil.
DIMITRI WATCHED TONI talking to her employees. He watched her smiling at her customers, and mostly he admired how incredibly beautiful she was when she was happy. He had never regretted his decision to step back and let Toni run Maria’s on her own, in her own way, and making her own choices. The café was hers and he wanted no part of it other than to support her whenever she asked him to.
She finally caught his eye, smiling and giving a little wave. Then she held up one finger to tell him she’d be just a minute more. Dimitri had to laugh at that. One minute usually turned into ten. Toni wasn’t just an owner or a manager. She worked a shift every single day. She worked nights when it was busy, and weekends whenever she needed to. She loved this place. She’d told him one time that every time she walked into Maria’s, she felt her mother smiling down on her.
Two young women walked up behind him. They were headed for the hostess stand, which covered both the outdoor and indoor dining areas and was placed in a little bit of both. The one girl nudged the other, obviously looking at him.
“I heard the owner of this place is in the mafia. Supposedly she was like a mafia princess or something,” one of the girls whispered to her friend. “Do you think that’s her boyfriend?”
“I don’t know.” The other young woman raked Dimitri with a brazen look of appreciation. “He looks like a gangster. Don’t you think?”
Dimitri stared right at them, not even bothering to hide his smirk. Toni kept telling him not to argue when people said this kind of nonsense. She called it advertising. He called it blatant stupidity. So for good measure he gave the women a cool stare before turning his back.
Toni walked up right then, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. “Are you teasing those poor little girls?”
Dimitri grabbed her around the waist and hauled her in for a more satisfactory kiss. He took her lips passionately, moving his mouth against hers until they both forgot the silly girls, the café, and anything else but each other.
“Damn,” she whispered once they broke apart. “You can turn my brain to much in a millisecond!”
“I hope not,” he teased. “Because we still have one more place to go tonight.”
“I would never forget that!” Toni exclaimed. She linked her arm through his and began dragging him away from the café. “Even though it’s a little tough to believe that it’s been an entire year.”
“In this family, timing is the least of the weird things going on,” Dimitri commented wryly.
Toni was moving toward his car, which he’s parked just across the street. “What? You mean it’s strange that my boyfriend’s niece is also my baby sister?” She gave him a wide eyed look of exaggerated innocence. “I thought that was just how we roll around here.”
Dimitri opened the door and helped her into the car. “I think as long as everyone is loved for who and what they are, it doesn’t matter how we’re all related.”
“I think that’s the most insightful thing you’ve ever said,” Toni told him with a warm smile. “Now get in and drive before we’re late!”
***
The dining room at The Samovar was packed with friends, family, and those who might as well have been family. Toni went right in and greeted her uncles, kissing their cheeks and giving each a warm hug.
“Thank you so much for letting us use the restaurant for Maria’s party,” Toni told them both. “It means a lot that you would actually close down for the night.”
“She might not be our niece,” Viktor told Toni, “But she’s our baby sister’s namesake and that means a lot.”
Toni gave Viktor a squeeze. “She’s one lucky little girl to have so many loving people to protect her.”
Nikolai snorted. “Until the poor girl wants to start dating. Can you imagine? Between us, and Dimitri, and you and Katya, the girl won’t date until her mid thirties!”
“Sounds about right,” Toni quipped. “By then we’ll all be too old to put up much of a fuss.”
Viktor was staring at Katya. In fact, Toni had seen her uncle staring at Katya a lot of late. “Ahem.” Toni made an exaggerated noise to clear her throat. “Is there something you need to talk to Katya about Viktor?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m old enough to be her father.”
“But you’re not,” Toni pointed out. “And she’s not your typical woman either. She’s raising a tiny girl on her own. She’s not looking for the dashing hot blooded young stud anymore.”
“I think I resent the notion that I’m not a stud,” Viktor muttered.
Toni made a gagging noise. “Ew. When I want to think about my uncle’s sex life, I’ll ask. Really.”
“Oh,” Nikolai teased. “But you’ll set him up with your friend on a date? Right?”
“They’re two of my favorite people in the world,” Toni insisted. “If they made each other happy that would just be the proverbial icing on the cake, don’t you think?”
Nikolai slapped his brother on the shoulder. “At least go talk to her. Maybe she’ll take pity on you and ask you out.”
“So sad,” Toni agreed, her voice grave.
Dimitri approached her from behind. “What are you talking about? It looks like you’ve been teasing the shit out of Viktor.”
“He’s got a crush on your sister,” Toni said bluntly.
Dimitri looked mystified. “Katya?”
“Yes. Did you have other sisters I have yet to meet?” Toni reached up and tapped the end of his nose.
“No, but my brother actually showed up tonight.”
Toni
turned, gazing at Dimitri and forgetting all of the silliness of only a moment ago. “Are you all right with that?”
“Yes. I think I am.”
“Good. Because I think it might be time to at least open the lines of communication.” Toni made a face. “Believe me, I’m not asking you to forgive and forget. I have a hard time with that myself.”
“You’re a good woman, Toni,” Dimitri murmured. “You really are. Have I told you yet today how much I love you?”
“Yes, but I would happily hear it again,” she teased.
DIMITRI GAZED AROUND them at the assembled family and friends and knew that there was no better place than here and now to do this. He didn’t want to upstage his niece’s first birthday, but the birthday girl was being passed around from friends to relatives, and she was almost drunk with excitement and sugar.
Then Katya started banging on her wineglass and the big, echoing room got silent. “A year ago today we were mourning the loss of someone who was both a blessing and a curse to us all,” Katya said in a loud, clear voice.
There was a round of agreement through the room and a few “hear hears” from those assembled. Everyone remembered Boris Rustikov’s funeral.
“That was the day I think I truly gained my family.” Katya gestured to Toni, to Dimitri, and even to Viktor and Nikolai Kabalevsky. “All of you have been such a vital piece of Maria’s first year of life. You’ve supported us, loved us, and taught us to be tough. I love you all, and I want everyone to know that I couldn’t have done it without you!”
Dimitri gazed around. His men were here—even Ivan—Anatoli’s glowering presence was here, the uncles, some of their extended family, Katya, and now he knew it was the time. He raised his hand and caught his sister’s eye. She raised a brow, and he nodded.
Katya lifted her hands to calm things down before it got completely out of hand. “My brother, Dimitri, wants to say a few words everyone.”
Dimitri sucked in a deep breath and took Toni’s hand. She looked up at him, obviously expecting him to say something else about baby Maria. Instead, he went down on one knee. There was a collective gasp followed by more than a few good natured shouts in both Russian and English.
“Last year this time we were mourning your father. So many things happened all at once, that I told myself I would wait to do this until things had settled down.” Dimitri reached inside his pocket and pulled out a velvet box. “But the truth is that things will never settle down.” There was another round of shouts and cheers. People were getting excited. “So I’m going to do this now because I don’t want to wait another second!”
Toni seemed frozen, but Dimitri decided to charge on.
“Antonina Rustikov,” he began. “Will you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?”
The room went dead silent. Even baby Maria seemed to catch on. She was wide eyed and silent with her fingers stuck in her mouth. Then Toni started crying. She began nodding, and then she flung her arms around his neck and squeezed so hard he nearly toppled over. Standing up, he twirled her around and around.
“Yes!” she shouted. “Yes. Yes. Yes! I’ll marry you. I was beginning to think you were never going to ask!”
“My love, I was only waiting for the perfect moment,” he said only for her ears. “Shall I make you mad now? Or later?”
“If I’m mad, it’s because I’m madly in love with you.” Toni’s eyes sparkled. “So now. Later. It doesn’t matter. We’ve got the rest of our lives to have fun and make each other crazy.”
THE END
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Chapter One
Thursday was a blur. Natalie Baker could easily remember how it had started. She had gotten up, gotten dressed in her favorite green dress and black cardigan, her shoes as low and sensible as always. She had taken the bus to work, greeted the security guard at the front, and found her cubicle just as comfortingly cramped as always. Then Jen had come to her with that strangely grim look on her face, and Natalie remembered being alarmed.
Maybe it's the Westerly accounts, maybe there was a mistake somewhere? That would be very strange, I checked them...
“Natalie, Mr. Browning wants to speak with you. Right away.”
The emphasis was more menacing than not, and that was when it all started to move in fast forward. Everything after that moment was a blur, from the walk to the manager's office, to the manager opening his mouth and telling her that after three years of exemplary service, she was being let go.
“This is no reflection on you, of course,” Mr. Browning had said. “We are just moving the department forward, phasing out your position. Of course, I'll be happy to give you a reference, and while we regret...”
His voice faded away to meaningless squawks, and Natalie found herself staring at his mouth as it opened and shut. It was oddly fascinating to her in this state. She felt as if he were some kind of puppet being controlled by strings she could not see. What did that mean?
She stayed in that strange, fugue-like state until the door opened behind her, and Raymond, the security guard she had greeted just a few hours ago, came in with a look of stolid indifference on his face.
“Raymond will escort you to your desk where you can gather your things, and then he'll show you off the property.”
Natalie stared at Mr. Browning, shaking her head slightly.
“Do you...do you think that I'm going to steal something?” she demanded. “Seriously?”
Mr. Browning flushed, but he remained unmoved. “I'm sorry, Ms. Baker, but it's company policy, I'm afraid.”
The blurs moved faster now. Natalie remembered packing up her things, the stares from her coworkers. They were probably wondering what she had done. Perhaps she had been caught stealing or slacking off. Who knew; what mattered was that their jobs were safe. They weren't the ones on the chopping block.
Her box of personal items was pathetically small. There were a few snapshots from old friends she didn't see anymore, a sketch of a horse she had found beautiful, a dried flower that crumbled to dust as soon as she touched it. Fitting, Natalie supposed, and then she was being escorted out the door.
“Sorry about this,” Raymond muttered, pulling it shut after her.
“Yeah, me too,” Natalie said, still stunned, and because she had nothing else to do, she made her way home.
Her little apartment was in one of the shabbier neighborhoods of Chicago, but it was a studio, and it belonged to her. When Natalie entered it, the thought struck her that without a job, it wouldn't be hers for very long.
An icy chill consumed her, even if it was late August and sweltering in the city. She set down her purse and box of office debris and simply shook. God, what would happen to her if she couldn't pay rent?
Her parents were long gone, taken by an accident when she was seventeen. She had an older sister who had never had much to do with her in Canada (Oh God, does she even still live in Canada? Did she even give me her most recent phone number?). Beyond that, there were friends from school, and even the odd boyfriend, but...she was alone. There was no one besides her.
“Oh God,” Natalie whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. She thought she would start to scream if she let it out. She paced from wall to wall just so she would have something to do, but her mind was spinning in circles. She knew she
had to get her resume in order, start marshaling her efforts to stay on top of things and make sure she didn't actually fall into the abyss.
She must have paced for a few hours, at the very least. When a knock came at her door, her feet ached and her legs were unexpectedly sore. Peeking through the peephole told her that it was Mrs. Rhodes from across the hall and not an ax murderer, and she reminded herself that was a good thing. She opened the door, because at the very least, she could be polite.
“Hon, it looks like the super's going through and making sure we're using our storage lockers, so you should probably send him a note to say...”
Natalie thought she was doing a good job holding it together, but apparently she wasn't, because her elderly neighbor frowned at her.
“Hon, what's the matter with you? You look like someone drowned your hound dog.”
Mrs. Rhodes's words were so hilariously awful that Natalie had to choke back a horrified laugh.
“Oh God. No. No, nothing like that. It's just...”
The whole sorry tale came out as her widowed, across-the-hall neighbor stood in the doorway. Natalie was vaguely proud that she didn’t cry throughout it, but somehow by the end, Mrs. Rhodes led her to her own apartment, a place she had never been, and settled her onto a couch that was significantly more comfortable than her own.
“And...and I just don't know what to do. I mean, I have some savings, and I can coast along for a while, but what if I don't find a job, or I get sick or...”
Mrs. Rhodes had busied herself in the kitchen while Natalie was talking, and now she returned with a plastic jug of something dark and suspiciously lumpy. She poured out a tall tumbler and firmly handed it to Natalie.
“Things like this, you should have something sweet to help you with the bitter,” she said kindly. “Here, drink up. Sangria's good for you, anyway.”
Natalie didn't know about good for her, but the fruity drink had beautiful, ripe blackberries floating in it. Before she knew it, her glass was empty, and Mrs. Rhodes was pouring her another.