“But now...?”
She smiled at him, and it was as if years melted off her shoulders and they were seventeen again. “Now, I’m ready. I’m ready to give us another try. I think I’d like that very much.”
“Me too.” Azamat smiled back. “Me too.”
Chapter 34
Bela
Mama was nervous, she could tell. And she didn’t blame her. Bela had broken the news about Daniel two days after Madina’s wedding. She’d been careful to do it when Papa was at work. It would be Mama’s decision how much she would tell Aslan. At least Bela didn’t have that burden weighing on her shoulders. This wasn’t her secret so much as she was just the messenger. The one who had brought it to light after all these years.
She’d broken it to her as gently as possible, talking her through the story of what had happened since Mama had told her it had been a baby boy and not a baby girl, crushing her dreams of Irina being her long-lost sister. Little had she known at the time that her long-lost brother had been there, under her nose, all the while.
Of course, it wasn’t totally unexpected. Mama admitted she’d had an inkling after meeting Daniel unexpectedly in the corridor of Lida’s apartment. “There was something about him,” she’d said. “Something familiar. But my mind just didn’t want to go there. The pain was too deep, the memories too old and buried. I didn’t allow myself to think about it. Just like I trained myself not to think about it when I gave him up.”
“Are you okay about how things turned out, Mama? That Lida kept him and didn’t tell you? You’re not angry with her, are you?”
Mama thought for a while, and then sighed. “No, I’m not angry. I’d already decided to give him up, hadn’t I? It wasn’t my choice which family adopted him. Perhaps she could have tried harder to contact me, but I don’t blame her. I deliberately avoided her calls all those years ago because I thought she would try to persuade me to take him back. I had no idea she was calling to tell me that she was the one who had adopted him. What a waste. All those years when I could have known about him, when I could have received news about how he was.”
“Did you ever think about him, Mama?”
“Yes, of course, lapochka.” Mama blinked back a tear. “A mother never forgets.”
And so, Mama had flown back to Moscow with Bela, Michael and Angelina. She’d wanted to get it over and done with. Strike while the iron was hot. But Bela could tell that she was anxious about the meeting.
And finally, here they were, waiting outside Lida’s apartment door, about to face the past. And the future.
Lida was the one who opened the door. “Radima. It’s good to see you again.” She gave Mama a big hug. “Come in, come in.”
Bela had come bearing gifts from the Caucasus, but she left the bag in the hallway for now. Mama had taken off her coat and boots already, but was hanging back, obviously wanting Bela to walk into the living room first, ahead of her. Bela squeezed her mother’s hand and walked in with her. Daniel was standing there, waiting.
For what seemed like several minutes but must have just been a few seconds, Daniel and Mama just stood there, looking at each other. Everyone else hung back, anxiously, nervously. Willing this to go well.
Eventually, the two hugged, and when they pulled back, they both had tears in their eyes. Mama ran her hand down Daniel’s face.
“You look so much like...”
“Like Azamat?” Daniel finished. “I know. I’m sorry I only met him very briefly last October. I can’t wait to meet him properly.”
The rest of the evening went so much better than Bela was expecting. Everyone loosened up, and soon the wine glasses were being refilled and everyone was joking and laughing. Daniel was his usual, charming, witty self, and Bela kept sneaking a glance at Mama, who seemed to be really taken with him.
“Lida did a good job, bringing him up,” said Mama later, when they’d returned home. “He’s turned into a charming young man. I don’t think he would have turned out like that if I’d kept him.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, yes I do. It was a shock at first, when you told me, but I can’t think of anyone better I would have liked to adopt him. I never thought I’d see him again.”
“Yes, that’s true.” Bela paused. “Do you regret giving him up?”
Mama shook her head. “No. I wasn’t ready to have a child and be a single parent. At times I’ve felt terrible guilt and wondered what had happened to him, but now I know he’s had a good life, a very good life, I have no regrets. And he’s made Lida so happy. I knew how badly she and Vladimir wanted a baby. I don’t know why I didn’t think of the arrangement myself. I was just so desperate to get it all over and done with and get back home. I was young and naïve. Lida’s been a much better mother.”
Bela gave her a hug. “I think you’ve been a great mother.”
Mama smiled. “I’m so happy I have you and Madina and Azamat. I don’t deserve you all.”
“Mama?”
“Yes?”
“I was just wondering. When you said that Daniel reminded you of someone, you didn’t mean Azamat, did you?”
Mama shook her head and looked down at her lap. “No. He reminded me so much of his real father. I hadn’t thought about him in years. It was so painful, the memory of what happened that night. I’ve no idea where he is now or what he’s doing. It was just a silly flirtation that went wrong. Your father was the one I was really in love with.”
“I know, Mama. I know.”
Chapter 35
Azamat
There was only one place that would do as the perfect location for where he was going to propose. He’d known that all along, even while thinking up lots of different possible scenarios in his head. It had to be. The last bench just before the top of the hill in the park, overlooking the lake. It had been the very place where Milana had told him she was pregnant all those years ago, and suddenly their wonderful, exciting, passionate love affair had come to an end and they’d been forced by circumstances to grow up and become adults. And then this was the same place where she’d arranged to meet again to break his heart and tell him to give up any hope of ever seeing either her or his child again. This place represented so much pain in Azamat’s life that he hadn’t gone back to it again since that day, even though he’d walked in the park many times since. Even now, as he walked towards it, knowing that Milana would be meeting him there soon, he felt the blood draining out of his face and his hands trembling. His heart pounded in his chest, and his body was telling him to turn around and scamper back as quickly as he could.
He pressed forward, sticking his hands in his pockets and clenching his jaw. He needed to do this. He needed to redeem this place. He needed to confront the demons. He had a chance now to turn this small corner of the park into a place that represented love and joy in his life rather than heartbreak and anguish. It might seem silly to others, but to Azamat it made perfect sense. It would be as if he were erasing all those years, all those mistakes, and he’d have a chance for a fresh start. Both him and Milana. She didn’t know it, but he had been going to ask her to marry him here all those years ago, when she told him she was keeping the baby. Now he would get to do it properly, and hopefully she would say yes.
His countenance lightened at the thought of Milana saying yes, and he relaxed his pace. Of course she was going to say yes, wasn’t she?
Azamat’s fingers touched something hard and metallic in his pocket. He turned it over and over, feeling the smooth edge of the gold ring and stroking the jagged edge of the single solitaire diamond on the top. It had been Bela’s idea to propose with a ring. It wasn’t really their custom here in the Caucasus, but things were changing now, becoming more Western. More American. Bela had convinced him that Milana would love it and she had even helped him pick it out. It had cost several months of his salary, but it would all be worth it if only she would say yes.
Was it too soon? It had only been two months since Madina and Oleg’
s wedding. Two months since Alikhan had given them his blessing and Milana had agreed to get back together. He’d been ready to marry her for years, but was she in the same place? Were they on the same page, or had he been reading her wrong? Oh well, he was about to find out. There was no turning back now.
There was the bench, just the same as it had been all those years ago, though perhaps with a fresh lick of paint. He walked on past it a short distance and stood at the crest of the hill, turning his eyes towards the café which overlooked the lake. Everything he’d planned seemed to be in place. His shoulders relaxed and he willed his heart to calm down and return to normal.
Footsteps. He turned his head, and there she was, coming towards him. She looked beautiful today. She always did, but today there was something even more special about her. Or was he just looking at her differently? His future bride? He walked back down towards the bench and met her there.
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve been back here since...” her face fell as memories flooded back. He took her hand and guided her to sit down, next to him. “Me neither.”
“Then what made you choose to meet here today?” The shadow had passed, and her eyes now glinted with happy curiosity.
“I wanted this bench to be a place not of painful memories but of happy ones instead.”
“Oh?”
This was it. Keeping hold of her hand, he slid off the bench and knelt on one knee in front of her.
“Oh!” she said again, her lips curving into a coy smile.
“Milana, you know I love you with everything I am. You know I’ve never loved anyone but you. You light up my life like no-one or nothing else has ever been able to. You bring joy to my heart and you make everything in the world beautiful. I feel like God has moved so many mountains in the past few years, that have been standing in our way. Many of those mountains were my fault, and it seemed totally impossible to do anything about them. But now? It’s like a miracle has happened. You, Alikhan. But especially you, Milana. The love of my life. And now that we’ve found each other again I never want to let you go.” Azamat pulled the ring out of his pocket and held it towards her. “Milana, my love. Will you marry me?”
Milana took the ring, admired it, and slipped it on her finger. She looked at him, her eyes glistening with happy tears. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”
Joy flooded into every fibre of Azamat’s being, and he rose up, taking Milana in his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and brought his lips towards hers in a tender kiss. She slipped her arms around his body and drew him close. She was his, at last. He meant what he’d said, he would never, ever, let her go again.
Chapter 36
Bela
“Are they coming yet?” Angelina asked, straining to look around the pillar of the café in the direction Bela had implied was the correct one.
Bela had been excitedly looking in the same direction herself for several minutes. “Not yet. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” She gave Michael a look that betrayed the nervousness she felt inside. What if...?
She’d helped Azamat plan this afternoon in great detail a few days ago and she so wanted everything to work out okay. “If not, we can always just carry on and have a lovely meal together anyway,” she had assured him at the time.
“And I’ll go home and slit my wrists,” Azamat had replied, only half joking.
Bela looked over the table at Alikhan on the other side. There were two empty spaces saved beside him. She hadn’t known the boy for long, but he seemed really sweet. In fact, she’d even caught Angelina sneaking shy glances at him, and she didn’t blame her. She’d have done the same at her age.
“They’re coming! They’re coming!” Angelina stood up, nearly knocking over her chair in the process. The others at the table glanced up, each one a little anxiously. Madina, Oleg, Alyona, Alikhan. They were all here for what they hoped would be a celebration. But would there be something to celebrate?
“They’re smiling, that’s a good sign isn’t it, Tyotya Bela?” whispered Angelina. Bela saw that, indeed, Azamat and Milana were radiating happiness as they walked hand in hand towards the café.
“Yes, that’s definitely a good sign, lapochka. A very good sign indeed.” Bela smiled and felt that her heart would burst. Everything was going to be okay. Things were finally turning out okay for everyone in her family. She glanced over at Madina and Oleg, who looked as if they were still on their honeymoon. They’d been married for two months now, and Bela couldn’t be happier at Madina’s choice of husband. He was a good man who’d finally treat her with the respect that she deserved.
Michael leaned over and whispered “Phew! I’m glad we didn’t fly all the way down from Moscow for nothing.” He grinned and she gave him a friendly jab in the stomach with her elbow. “What?” he objected playfully. “Twice in two months is a bit much, don’t you think? Especially considering...” His hand went to her belly and he stroked the bump that was just becoming visible there.
Bela clasped her hand over his and leaned her head on his shoulder. If only she’d trusted God more at the beginning. There had been so many things that had seemed impossible; so many mountains that stood in the way of what she thought would make her happy. But God was a Mountain Mover, wasn’t that what the song said? She believed that now. So many wonderful things had happened in the last year. Yes, some terribly sad things too, but there was Madina happily married, and there was Azamat engaged to the love of his life at long last and reunited with the son he thought he’d lost. Bela smiled. When they were discussing the plans for the proposal, Azamat had asked her lots of questions about God and forgiveness. He was ready to know more, and Michael had already told him all about Jesus and how His death on the cross made it possible for anyone to be forgiven by God, no matter what they’d done in their past. But as Bela and Azamat had talked more deeply the other day, she could see that her brother was truly beginning to grasp the idea that God actually wanted to forgive him, despite the choices he’d made, and that there was nothing Azamat himself needed to do to earn that forgiveness. It was all paid for already, every bit.
Bela sighed and placed her hands on her belly, a feeling of utter contentment and love and gratitude filling up her soul. She lifted her eyes to the peaks of the mountains that were clearly visible now above the trees beyond the lake. She couldn’t wait to tell this little one about the God who could move whole mountains, even ones as big as those she’d grown up with all her life, here in the Caucasus. Here in the place that would forever hold her heart.
Author's Note
I hope you enjoyed He Can Move The Mountains.
If you have a moment, I would be so grateful if you could leave a quick review on Amazon. Reviews help other readers to find the book and are especially important for independently published authors like myself. Thank you so much!
For book group discussion questions, local recipes, notifications of when new books are available, and so much more, sign up to join my Readers List at:
www.catherinebarbely.com/readerslist
Acknowledgements
Writing a sequel to a novel was a lot more challenging than I was anticipating, and this second book has been more of a labour of love than the first. I want to express my gratitude to all those who encouraged me to keep going and to continue the story of Bela and her family. Thanks especially to my wonderful husband, who not only gave me time off from family duties in order to spend many hours tapping away on my keyboard in the local café, but who also did an amazing job of editing the book and finding cultural and grammatical errors that all but the keenest eye would have overlooked. My thanks also to my four lovely children, who inspire me daily.
Thanks to Sarah Furze and Sue Ricketts for your helpful feedback on my early draft, to Dr Fiona Thornton for information about sepsis, and to friends in Russia for their valuable insight and scrutiny of the final manuscript.
Thanks also to Rebecca Priestley, for your inspirational painting that became the cover for both of the book
s in this series, and to Rob Richards for your fantastic work, as always, on the cover design.
I appreciate so much the wonderful online community of independent authors, whose support and advice have been invaluable.
About the Author
Catherine Barbey writes Christian inspirational fiction with an international flavour. A tea drinking, home educating mother of four, she also loves running and generally being outside in nature, preferably in warm, foreign climes! In a former life she worked alongside her husband in linguistics and translation, living with her family in Russia for eleven years. They are now settled back in their home country of England, on the sunny south coast.
Catherine can be found blogging about her writing journey at
www.catherinebarbey.com
You can also connect with Catherine here:
www.facebook.com/catherinebarbeywriter
He Can Move the Mountains Page 19