Brothers Forever

by Tawa M. Witko

  “Ms. Estelle,” Dimitri says as he takes her hand and lifts it up, walking around her like he did the first time they met.

  She giggles and then smiles as he kisses her hand. “Family seating is up front,” she tells him firmly.

  “I didn’t want to presume anything,” he says, looking at me.

  I am breathing hard. We haven’t seen each other since I went to Chicago to ask for help regarding the situation with Sonya but we have communicated over the past year. After Elkins and I obtained his personal cell phone, he decided to no longer use it. I tried to explain to him that Elkins was smarter than most. But he did not feel comfortable. I suggested email but he felt that was also not secure. We had decided to write each other like we did while I was in college, which is what we have been doing. He has been very determined to not do anything that might jeopardize my business in any way. He is watching me and finally I can’t take it anymore and take a step towards him.

  “Bolʹshoĭ,” he says, hugging me tightly and then tapping his forehead against mine.

  “Mladshiĭ,” I whisper.

  When we finally step away from each other, I just shake my head and smile. “How did you know? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  “I invited him,” Estelle answers for him, placing her hand on my lower back. I turn to her and she smiles. “Life is too short to hold grudges. He is family. He should be with us. I know he can’t make all of our…” she pauses, touching my face. “I know he can’t come to all of our momentous events but he will try.”

  “I love you,” I lean down and kiss her softly. I then glance at the two men with him. “Stephan, Viktor,” I say with a huge smile.

  They both laugh and then quickly grab me, hugging me, and speaking in Russian at the same time, teasing me about how professional I look and that I have gotten old. I tease them right back, in Russian of course, telling them they are just as old as I am and reminding them that I recently got the better of Nikolai and could do the same to them. We are all laughing and getting louder and louder until finally Dimitri intervenes.

  “Тихо!” He says sternly to Viktor and Stephan and they both silence their laughter. “English only,” he says a little softer and they both nod. “We talked about not drawing attention to our presence here.” They mumble apologies to both Estelle and myself, but all I can do is smile. I have missed Dimitri so damn much.

  “I’m sorry, Estelle.” Dimitri looks at her with a serious expression.

  “It’s okay,” she replies, all smiles.

  “Your son didn’t come?” I ask, just noticing that he isn’t here.

  “No, he said it wouldn’t be good for both of us to be gone at the same time. That someone should always be there,” he says with a shrug.

  I nod. “That makes sense. He is being responsible.”

  He shrugs again. “Yes, he is very responsible.” He sighs. He is still not happy about his son following in his footsteps but he has stopped trying to prevent it.

  “We should head to our seats, the ceremony will start soon,” Estelle tells us.

  I smile at her and we turn and start heading to the front of the church, seeing that everyone is watching us. My father, of course, has a noticeable scowl on his face. I am sure Dimitri was the last person he expected to see here. Well, he is sort of the last person I expected to see as well. As we reach the front of the church, Michael stands, motioning for Rachel to stand as well. He and Rachel meet us at the front of the church. Michael smiles and immediately offers his hand to Dimitri before I even say anything.

  “How do you say uncle in Russian?” He asks, grinning.

  Dimitri smiles and the boys laugh. Dimitri looks at me and I am sure he is remembering that when we met I asked him a similar question. Michael and I have talked a lot about Dimitri and my relationship with him. He has been fascinated with it and often said he wished he would have had a chance to meet him. I never thought he would but here we are.

  “You are definitely your father’s son,” Dimitri says, winking at me before turning back to Michael. “The day we met, he talked my ear off and then asked me how to say Junior in Russian. That is how I became Mladshiĭ and he became Bolʹshoĭ.” He laughs at the memory. “If you would like to call me uncle, it is дядя.”

  Michael smiles and pronounces the word several times until he has it exactly right. He then turns to Rachel. “This is my wife, Rachel, and our son, Johnathan Charles Livingston,” he states proudly.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Rachel says when Dimitri turns to her.

  Dimitri leans down and kisses her on both cheeks and then looks down at Johnny, smiling before kissing him on the forehead. He then turns around and Viktor hands him some sort of white satin material that he then hands to Michael. Michael looks down at it and then at me and I nod.

  “Open it, Son.”

  He looks at Rachel and she nods as well. He carefully unfolds the material to reveal a beautiful gold cross and we all notice that the material it was wrapped in has embroidery on it. It appears to be a satin baby blanket with blue trim around it. Michael and Rachel are looking at it, smiling, and I glance down at the gift and then look at Dimitri, my eyes moist. I take a deep breath and turn back to Michael and Rachel.

  “Son, this is a St. Olga cross. It is a special gift given at baptisms in Russia. This design is the Russian St. Andrew Cross.” I say, running my fingers along the etchings on the front of the cross. I then turn it over to show him the engraving. “This says, сохранять и защищать, it means save and protect.”

  I then take the blanket and move it so that they can see the elegantly embroidered cross with blue silk thread entwined in it. Under the cross is Johnny’s full name, his date of birth and todays date. And underneath that, there is a saying embroidered in Russian which I read aloud to him and Rachel. As I read it, I can feel tears pooling in my eyes because I know that this was written by Dimitri. This was not some standard verse used for baptisms. He thought about what he wanted to say which makes me wonder how long he has planned on coming today. Michael and Rachel look up at me with confused expressions as I turn to Dimitri who is watching me intently.

  “Thank you, Mladshiĭ. It’s beautiful.” He smiles and nods.

  I turn back to Michael and Rachel. “It reads… May God watch over you and always bring you happiness and joy. May you know friendship to last a lifetime with someone who will share your ups and downs. May you know love that keeps you from losing yourself. May your family always protect you until your final days.”

  Estelle gasps and brings her hand to her mouth, looking at Dimitri. She surprises all of us by moving over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. She whispers something to him and he closes his eyes and nods. She steps back and touches his face lovingly before turning to the rest of us.

  “Thank you, дядя,” Michael says sincerely.

  Before we can say anything else, the priest motions for us to take our seats. Dimitri and I both smile as we watch them walk over to their friends and tell them who Dimitri is and what he gave them. Michael and Rachel then quickly remove the blanket that is swaddling Johnny and wrap him in his new blanket and place the cross around his neck. I am touched not only by his gift but that Rachel and Michael used it right away. I look at Dimitri, who is watching them with a smile on his face. I place my arm around his shoulder and then walk him and the boys to the pew where Elkins is. Elkins is eyeing Dimitri as he sits down next to him.

  “Mladshiĭ, this is my very good friend, Benny Elkins.”

  I look at Elkins who is now glaring at me. I know the thought of officially meeting the head of the Komarovski family is not something on his to do list but here we are. I motion with my head and then frown as I look down at his hand. He reluctantly brings his hand up. Dimitri takes it and shakes it firmly.

  “So, you are the man that broke my encrypted system. I had to…remove my computer analyst because of you,” Dimitri says with a smirk. />
  “Well, you should have hired a better person,” Elkins replies sarcastically, ignoring the implication of what Dimitri just said.

  Dimitri chuckles. “Apparently, there are few that can do what you do and Bolʹshoĭ will not share with me.”

  Elkins starts to say something and I shake my head quickly and narrow my eyes. I know what he is about to say, the same thing he said to me so long ago, I don't work for the mob. Elkins sighs and nods at me just as the minister announces that we are about to begin. I sit and quickly grasp Estelle’s hand in mine, smiling brightly at her. She was so right. Having Dimitri here makes today perfect. I know that we can’t do this kind of thing all the time, but I am so happy that he is here because I will honestly take our brotherhood any way I can get it. I glance around the church and see our friends and family and everything feels right. I have always thought of myself as some kind of bad ass, but now I realize that my strength never came from within me at all. It came from those around me, my family, my friends and my dedication to them all. And suddenly I realize with complete certainty that it is through them that I am truly… invincible.

  OUTTAKES

  Aleksei Komarovski

  Benny Jenkins

  Dimitri Komarovski

  Outtake 1

  Aleksei Komarovski

  “Bolʹshoĭ!” Erik says, trying to get my attention. “How long do we have to wait for your dad?”

  I shrug. Dad never tells me anything unless it’s about me going to school out of state. Why does he want me to leave Chicago so badly? Forget that. I’m not going anywhere. I glance at the front entrance and see some dude in a suit come in and walk to the bar. Mikhail starts to say something but I put my hand up. He frowns at me but shuts his mouth.

  “I need to speak to Dimitri Komarovski.” I hear him say and immediately stand up, my boys following behind me.

  “No one sees Mr. Komarovski.”

  “Are you his secretary?” He asks and I frown.

  What’s this dude’s problem? Doesn’t he realize who I am? How dare he talk to me like that? I glare at him and hold back the urge to beat the crap out of him and throw him out of here.

  “Are you trying to start a fight with me, old man?” I ask angrily.

  He frowns and tells me he’s not as he turns around and looks at Yulian once again, asking if my dad is around. Does he want a problem?

  “I already told you that no one sees Mr. Komarovski, not without going through me first,” I say with force.

  He once again ignores me. This guy is pissing me off. I don’t want to hurt some old guy but he is asking for it. Yulian looks over at me. He isn’t sure what he is supposed to do. Dad should be here soon and I want this guy gone before he gets here. I don’t know what he wants but he doesn’t belong here, that’s for damned sure. But before I know what’s happening, we are all fighting. This guy knows what he’s doing too because he has my boys all pissed and flustered to the point where they pull their guns on him quicker than normal.

  “Not so funny anymore is it?” I say as my boys hold him. “So, why do you want to meet with Mr. Komarovski?" I ask him again.

  When he refuses to answer, I back hand him across the face like I have seen Dad do so many times. He gets this look on his face, and the next thing I know, he has me in a headlock with a knife at my neck. Where the hell did that come from? WHO IS THIS GUY?

  “Put your guns away or I will cut him,” he says calmly and I can feel the tip of his blade go in my neck slightly.

  “BOLʹSHOĬ!” I hear from the door and look up, seeing dad walk through.

  Great, he looks pissed. This dude lets me go and I stumble forward just a bit. “I didn’t start this. He came in here asking for you,” I say quickly, but dad isn’t even looking at me. He is looking at him. He walks passed me and up to this guy.

  “Bolʹshoĭ?” Dad says with… affection?

  “Mladshiĭ?” The man answers, taking a deep breath.

  “What the hell is going on?” I say and dad looks at me, frowning.

  I stop talking and try to listen to them. They are talking to each other and making jokes and then they are talking about mom and I don’t like the look on this guy’s face. What's he trying to say about my mom?

  “What the hell do you know about my mother?” I step up to him with my fists clenched at my side.

  He ain’t going to say anything about my mom. But before I can even do anything, dad turns to me and glares. I step back and a few seconds later he tells me to go to the bar and calm down. Calm down! He wants ME to calm down? I look between them and mumble that this sucks but he doesn’t say anything. I step up to the bar and throw down the shot Yulian sets in front of me.

  “Who the hell is that?” Leo asks.

  “Did your dad call him Bol'shoi?” Erik then interjects.

  “Shhh,” I say, frowning and not taking my eyes off them but my mind shifts to the first time he called me Bolʹshoĭ.

  “Aleksei, come, it’s almost time to open presents,” mom says.

  I am too busy messing around with Mikhael, Leo and Erik. We are now wrestling in the grass while all the adults are drinking at the tables. It’s my ninth birthday today. Dad is with Uncle Stephan and Viktor and some of his other men, Nikolai, Ivan, Yury and Anton. They are in deep conversation so they aren’t paying attention to us at all. Then Misha, some kid of one of dad’s associates gets in the mix and starts saying things to Erik, saying he shouldn’t be here, that his father was disgraced or something like that. Erik looks upset and that just makes me angry. I don’t even know Misha and he is being mean to one my friends. That’s not right. Without thinking, I tackle him and start hitting him so hard that he starts crying.

  “ALEKSEI!” I hear my dad yell but I don’t stop and then I feel his hands on me basically throwing me off him. “BOLʹSHOĬ … ОСТАНОВКА!”

  I hear a loud gasp from everyone and then my dad turns as white as a ghost. He starts breathing hard and he looks upset. He glares at me and his chest is heaving. Mom walks over to him and tries to touch his arm but he jerks away from her, storming into the house and we all hear things crashing against the wall. I look up at my mom and she is crying and I look over at his men and some look sad and others look angry but everyone else just looks… shocked.

  “Mom…” She doesn’t say anything. “Mom, why is dad upset?” She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. “Mom, who’s Bolʹshoĭ?”

  She looks down at me. “We aren’t allowed to talk about him,” she says, touching my face softly, wiping her eyes. “Come, bring your friends,” she tells me, but all I can do is look at the house.

  I see all of dad’s men get up and rush to the house. I glance at my mom and she isn’t looking at me anymore so I run up to the house, tip-toeing inside so they don’t hear me. I do this all the time and they have never caught me yet. Dad is pacing in the room and there is broken glass and ceramics on the floor and the coffee table is overturned. He has his hands in his hair and he is cursing, but not at anyone, just cursing. He picks up one of mom’s vases and throws it against the wall.

  “You have the heads of the other families out there!” Stephan says in a panic.

  Dad waves his hands and looks up to the ceiling. I think he’s trying to calm down.

  “DIMITRI!” Nikolai shouts and my dad turns to him with a look of hate on his face. “You are showing weakness in front of the other families all because of someone that no longer exists, someone that never should have been a part of our family in the first place!” Nikolai sneers.

  “You have always hated him, Nikolai,” Viktor says angrily, approaching him

  “He’s not even here and you’re still bowing down to him,” Nikolai replies grinning as Viktor pushes him.

  “And you’re still jealous of him,” Viktor says and now Nikolai looks pissed as he shoves Viktor.

  “ОСТАНОВКА!” Dad shouts as he steps to them and pushes Viktor away.

  “Your father would be rolling in his gr
ave if he heard you call Aleksei that,” Nikolai says, straightening his clothes. “If he could see how you are acting over HIM he…” Nikolai spits out.

  My dad turns to him and backhands him before he has a chance to finish his thought. He hits him so hard that Nikolai stumbles. When he stands back up, Dad reaches into Nikolai’s jacket and pulls out his gun while Nikolai’s body stiffens. I start breathing hard. What’s he going to do? Is he going to kill him? My heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest.

  “Am I not the head of this family?” Dad asks calmly, bringing the tip of the gun to Nikolai’s temple.

  I can feel tears in my eyes but I can’t look away. When Nikolai doesn’t answer him, dad starts tapping the tip of the gun against Nikolai’s temple and then cocks the gun. Nikolai closes his eyes and finally nods. I have never seen Nikolai scared of anything, but he looks scared right now. I am scared too as I feel tears on my cheeks.

  “I decide EVERYTHING, do I not?” Dad questions as he brings the gun underneath Nikolai’s chin.

  Nikolai again nods and it looks like he wants to cry as dad brings his head up. All the other men are silent. Like they know what’s about to happen but won’t do anything to stop it.

  “You do not speak of him. If you say one more disparaging thing about HIM I will kill you. Nothing, Nikolai. Not one damn thing, do you hear me?” Dad asks him.

  When Nikolai nods, dad hits him with the gun, knocking him on the ground where he hits him several more times with it before standing up. He turns to his other men, seeing if any of them want to question him as well, but they are all silent. Stephan then reaches out his hand for the gun, which now has blood on it.