by Cher Etan
““Privetstvie,” they replied to him and drank.
***
The cold hit them like a slap in the face as soon as they stepped off the plane in Russia. They were dressed as warm as it was possible to dress but the cold wind seemed to probe every vulnerable crevice it could find. Sophie was not as acclimatized to extreme cold as Tony was and she stamped her hands and feet in an effort to get some feeling back into them. Tony grabbed her hand and led her quickly into the airport where there was heat. He was talking in rapid fire to someone and Sophie let him lead the way on this one. She was surprised that she could even think coherently, let alone be walking and talking, travelling to Russia to retrieve her long lost brother who she’d thought dead in Hurricane Katrina, nine years ago. Who would he even be now? He had been just a boy at the cusp of adolescence the last time she saw him. Now he was a full grown man…with no memory of her or the tragedies that had befallen them. Was it fair to even remind him?
“A car is waiting for us; we’ll go straight to the site and wait there. In and out. We get Solomon, we leave the country. No time for my dad to pull any crap.”
Sophie nodded her agreement and squeezed Tony’s hand harder. She was scared out of her mind but she didn’t want to slow Tony down with her vapors.
“You have the papers?” he asked.
She was carrying the legal documents that transferred ownership of the April Shower restaurant in Boston from the Romanov Group to Roman Petrov. She still couldn’t believe that Tony had just handed it over like that – she knew how much he loved it. Their wedding had been held there for God’s sake. Sophie glanced at him, so happy at the choice she made. This man had shown her that she came first for him. She needed to reciprocate in any way she could so she straightened her spine and prepared to follow his lead.
A long black Bentley was waiting for them in the parking lot, with the air set to ‘toasty’ so they were quite warm. They drove to the cemetery where they parked near the graves and waited for Roman to appear.
“Do you want to go visit your mother’s grave?” Sophie asked him.
“No, not now. I need to be focused.” Tony replied absently. His eyes were trained outside the window searching the landscape. The driver was alert as well, scanning the surroundings as well as standing outside the door. Clearly, he was here as more than just a chauffeur.
A tall solitary black figure appeared at the edge of the trees and stood under the eaves of a cypress tree overhanging a cemetery stone. Tony stared at the silhouette before reaching for the envelope.
“I’ll have him send Solomon here as soon as he has his hands on the envelope. Be ready,” he said as he left the vehicle. The driver straightened up to follow him but Tony asked him to stay with Sophie. Sophie watched him walk away, heart hammering with the fear she couldn’t quite suppress.
***
Roman watched his son walk toward him. His shoulders were back and his stride was confident; ready for anything. A different creature indeed from the last time they had stood at this grave. But still with the same weaknesses; love, loyalty, family. Roman closed his eyes, heaved a deep breath and then opened them preparing to face his weakness; Tony.
He inclined his head toward the driver as Tony came up to him, “Was that really necessary?”
“Was kidnapping a defenseless child really necessary?”
“Hardly a child.”
“Where is he?”
“Where is my restaurant?”
Tony held out the brown envelope with April Shower emblazoned on the cover. Roman reached out and took it, opening the flap and pulling out the documents inside. He read them over slowly and carefully and then put them back inside.
“That seems like it is in order.” He said.
“So, where is Solomon?”
Roman inclined his head toward the Bentley. Tony turned around to see a young man standing uncertainly by the car door. Sophie had exited from the vehicle and was standing facing him, hands on his arms and eyes on his face. The youth was looking back down at her and they were both motionless. Tony turned back around to face his father again but found that he was alone. Not a leaf stirred in the glen. He turned around slowly to look at the gravestone with his mother’s name etched upon it.
“Mother,” he whispered painfully, “I’m sorry.”
The tears streamed down his face but froze before they could fall. He stood there for a while and then made his way slowly back to the car. Sophie and Solomon were both standing at the car door waiting for him. He found a smile from somewhere and pinned it on his face as he came up to them.
“Tony, this is my brother…Solomon”, Sophie said.
“I remember you called him Starship,” Tony said to her.
Sophie glanced at Solomon who was looking from one to the other in confusion. “Yes I did, but I don’t think we need to burden him with too many options just now.”
“Well? Shall we go?” Tony asked.
“Yes. Let’s. Solomon, we’re going home.” Sophie said tentatively taking his hand. Solomon put his hand in hers and smiled cautiously at her.
“I don’t know where that is. I don’t remember,” he told her.
Sophie nodded her head, “I know you don’t. But if you let us, we would like to help you.”
Solomon studied Tony and then looked at Sophie. ”What does he have to do with us?” he asked her.
“He’s my husband,” Sophie said, “Tony Romanov.”
“Hey Tony,” Solomon said nodding at him. “That was your father back there wasn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m sorry about that. You got caught in family drama that had nothing to do with you. Did he tell you who he was, what he wanted?”
“No, I just guessed you were related coz of the resemblance.”
“Well, I hope it’s only superficial. Shall we go?”
“Yes.” Sophie said, smiling for the first time in days. She opened the door so Solomon could enter the car and then followed him in. Tony took the front seat and they drove back to the airport where a private plane was waiting. Solomon had his passport with him, and so getting by immigration was no problem much to Tony’s relief. He hadn’t thought about it in the upheaval of the past few days but all his father would have had to do was retain Solomon’s passport to cause them a lot of problems.
***
This time when the car came down the driveway, Elijah was ready for it. He was waiting at the front hall, all the house staff lined up behind him. The car stopped at the door and three people got out. Two of them were familiar, one was…not. At least not at first; however, once he looked beyond the long dreadlocks and the height, the face of a little boy emerged, big brown eyes looking, always looking. Solomon took in his surroundings and committed them to memory to be converted later into pictorial renditions that showed things not immediately obvious to the pedestrian eye. There was a pain in his chest where a hole he didn’t know he had began to fill.
“Solomon,” Elijah croaked. The boy turned to look at him and then sent a questioning glance toward Sophie. She came immediately to him and took his hand, leading him up the steps.
“This is our grandfather Solomon. His name is Elijah Devereux. He looked after us after our parents died, with grandma of course. She died during Katrina.” Sophie said as she walked. Solomon was nodding his head in acknowledgement but he looked overwhelmed.
“Leave the boy be Sophie. You must be so tired and jetlagged young man. What would you like first? A bath or some food?” Elijah asked him. He could see the boy relax immediately after he heard the word ‘food’ and smiled. Solomon had ever been a good feeder. Elijah turned around to Katarina, brows raised in signal and she nodded ushering the maid and the gardener away with her to the kitchen. Clearly now was not the time for formal introductions.
“Some food would be nice,” Solomon said even as the housekeeper was hurrying off.
“Come inside; take a load off your feet.” Elijah said leading him in. Sophie and Tony followed behind, hand
in hand. Sophie had a curious glow about her that Tony hadn’t seen before and it made him feel soft and warm inside to see it.
They tried to tone it down as much as they could but dinner that night was filled with outbursts of hilarity and joy. Sophie and Elijah tried not to overwhelm Solomon with their happiness and Tony tried his best to act as the mediating influence but it was generally a strange night for everyone. Solomon took his leave directly after dinner, pleading tiredness. It was all his sister and grandfather could do not to escort him to his room and tuck him in. They watched him go, chests filled with emotion and then Tony took each of them by the shoulder and led them to the den.
“How are you guys doing?” he asked as they walked.
“Fine. How are you?” Elijah asked.
“I’m great,” Tony said.
“Now that we’ve all told our beautiful lies about how we are. How about a little honesty around here?” Sophie said wryly.
They all dropped into chairs in the den facing each other.
“How was your honeymoon?” Elijah asked.
“Great. No really, it was wonderful,” Tony said.
“We had such fun and Tony took me to all his establishments-“
“Our-“
“What?”
“Our establishments, not mine.”
“Oh. Right. Anyway, Tony took me around to all…our establishments and introduced me to all the staff and we swam in the ocean and we took the train to New Orleans…it was an amazing time.” Sophie finished pensively then she turned suddenly toward Tony saying,” Speaking of which, do we need to move to a smaller house now or maybe…I don’t know, let some staff go?”
Tony stared at her in puzzlement, “Why would we do that?”
“Because well, you just gave away one of your establishments. It’s bound to affect the cash flow right?”
Tony smiled at her and held out his hand so she could grasp it, “Thank you for worrying about us but no, we’re fine. You’ll see that when you start working as the accountant.”
“The accountant that you needed was for April Shower. We no longer have that.”
“True. I do have other business interests though and I was thinking about you in more of a supervisory role. Daily and weekly reports are sent to me here at my office, I’d appreciate it if you took over checking accounts, in an oversight capacity you might say.”
“Okay, since you insist but first, I need to do my CPA exams.”
“And when will you do that?” Tony asked.
“In six weeks.”
“Wonderful.”
“Well this has been fun but I’m going to leave you now. Unlike the two of you I still have a boss who expects me at the office on time so I need to get my shut eye.” Elijah said standing up. Sophie stood up as well to kiss him on the cheek and give him a hug. Tony stood as well as Sophie did. He nodded to Elijah as he left and then waited for Sophie to sit back down before he did too.
“I was thinking that maybe we could think about New Orleans now that we have Solomon back. Would you like to go home?” he asked her.
“Let’s think about that for a while. There’s no hurry is there. We just got married, we just got my brother back, we just moved into this house…let’s just…take a break,” Sophie said.
“Okay baby. Whatever you say. Shall we go to bed now?” Tony asked standing up and holding out a hand to her.
“Absolutely. Can’t wait to try out our new marriage bed.” Sophie murmured leaning into him as they went upstairs to their bed. Tony smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
“Neither can I”, he said.
The room was huge and Sophie looked around it, really seeing it for the first time. Her mind was still buzzing at the thought that Solomon was sleeping just down the hall, she was really married to this remarkable man and this house was hers. It felt like her mind was a flea, hopping from one thought to another seemingly at random.
“I need a drink”, she said and Tony loomed at her side with a glass in his hand and a smile on his face holding it out to her.
“How did you...” she began but then just shook her head and took the glass, downing it in one gulp.
“Want a massage?” he asked.
“Yes please.”
“Okay let’s start with a nice soak in the tub; let me draw you a bubble bath and then we’ll take it from there. How does that sound?”
“Like heaven,” Sophie said smiling with happiness. She felt as if she really had hit the jackpot with this one. She could already feel her body melting and heating up. Her insides were wet and ready for him.
Tony took off all his clothes, put on a terry cloth robe and then went to draw the bath for her. Sophie watched his ass as he walked to the bathroom feeling her fingers itch to grasp his cheeks and squeeze. She undressed more slowly and then walked naked to the huge bath tub and sank into the hot water with a sigh of pleasure. Her eyes were trained on his broad torso and she ran a hand down his gleaming chest watching the hairs rise everywhere she touched. She trailed one finger down and circled his erection as he made inarticulate noises. Then she lifted her hand and placed it on the side of the tub, eyes closed, smug smile on her face.
“Aaah. Gawwd, this is so great,“ she murmured to Tony as her legs stretched out. He smiled at her and ran a hand up her leg to cup her privates tenderly.
“Oh my,” Sophie sighed more in anticipation than anything. Tony took the soap and lathered it on his hands then he began to rub her all over. Sophie lay back and let him have his way with her. He seemed to spend a lot more time massaging her breasts and her butt compared to her other body parts, there was enough attention to go around, she wasn’t complaining. He was all tender solicitude and absorption, face intent with controlled emotion. Sophie lifted one leg and draped it on the side of the bath, leaving herself open to him. Tony gasped and then rose to his feet, divesting himself of his robe and stepping in the bath between her legs.
“Well hello there,” she murmured lifting her hands to him to pull him to her. He knelt down between her legs and pushed water at her so that it broke over her like a wave. Sophie was surprised at the sensation, so similar to the waves of orgasm when they broke inside her.
“Come to me” she said urgently. Although the bath was large, it was too small to fit Tony’s frame on top of hers much as they tried to make it work.
“Damn,” she said.
Tony rested his head on her shoulder and shook with laughter.
“Come on, let me wash off all this soap for you in the shower,” he said standing up and pulling her up with him.
They moved from the bath to the shower where the hot water washed off all the bubbles and suds. Tony’s hands were everywhere; squeezing and fondling, touching and caressing. Everywhere his hands went, his mouth followed.
“You’re making me feel so lazy, you’re doing all the work,” Sophie murmured with contentment.
“Yes I see how much distress you’re in about it,” Tony teased, laughing against her skin. Sophie shivered with the feel of his breath against her skin.
“You make it so easy to love you Tony,” she said pulling him closer to her.
“It’s easy because you’re easy to love.”
“Aww. You say the sweetest things.”
“They happen to be true,” Tony replied with a shrug.
“Come here, my turn to drive you crazy,” Sophie said as she sank to her knees in front of him.
“Oooh. My. Gawwd,” Tony moaned as she applied herself with purpose to sucking him dry.
“I love you,” he whispered as he came in her mouth.
“I love you too,” she replied after she swallowed.
He lifted her to her feet and hugged her to him and she held on to him tight. He lifted her off her feet and took her to the bedroom depositing her gently on the bed.
“Time for that massage,” he said.
“I love a man who keeps his promises,” she murmured stretching out on her stomach. Tony reached for the baby oi
l and massaged it into her skin after drying her off. She groaned luxuriously lifting her ass into his face so he could rub baby oil into her ass crack.
“Oh baby,” he said rubbing his slowly swelling member against her.
“Hey, massage,” she protested wiggling her behind at him even as she said it.
“Okay, okay, I’m massaging,” Tony said as he ran his hands up her back and placed them on her shoulders. Holding her really steady, he sank himself into her up to the hilt.
“Oh lordy,” she cried. He gyrated in her, making circling motions and then withdrew completely and drove into her with force.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” she whispered as he withdrew again and drove into her making sounds of effort and pleasure as he did it. He withdrew completely from her and flipped her over so she was lying on the bed with her legs on either side of him.
“Prepare to be plundered,” he growled.
“Promises promise-“she began to say but her words were cut off in a cry of pleasure as he began pounding into her with no let up. She lay back and breathed deeply feeling him like a hammer so deep inside it felt like he was in her throat. He was making incoherent noises of pleasure and that was enough to set her off. She felt her insides liquefy and convulse with sensation. Her internal muscles grasped him, milking him even as she spurted herself to completion. He cried out and came again and then collapsed on top of her.
“Fuck,” he whispered, and blacked out.
Chapter 4
Sophie woke up with a feeling of sudden nausea that sent her bolting to the bathroom adjacent to their room. She had been feeling queasy ever since Los Angeles but had chalked it up to nerves. Now it looked like the queasiness had graduated to actual nausea and vomiting.
‘Time to see the doctor maybe?’ she thought, studying herself in the mirror. Tony padded into the room behind her and came to put his arms around her waist.
“What’s up?” he asked her reflection.
Her reflection shrugged back at him but said nothing. She narrowed her eyes at it, noting how whey-faced she looked.