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“That every time you say ten minutes, it’s really going to be twenty.”
I roll my eyes at him, and once I’m beside him, I loop my arm through his. “Care to walk? It’s gorgeous outside.”
Nazyr grunts, but I know he’s going to give in to me. We exit the house with our bodyguards in tow behind us and walk a couple of blocks until we’re at Lom and Emily’s house. Nazyr presses the doorbell, and within a few moments, Emily’s opening the door for us.
“Ah, yay! Now we’re just waiting for Ruslan, Amelia, and Karim.”
Wow, for once, I’m not the reason we’re late.
I haven’t spent much time in Lom and Emily’s new house, but now I’m taking a good hard look at the space. It’s really beautiful, and I can tell it’s been renovated sometime in the last few years. It’s not covered with old, hundred-year-old wood like our townhome is, but it has its own character.
The floors are some sort of hardwood, but when it reaches the kitchen area, it turns into a tan tile. I head into the kitchen with Emily, and she goes back to the stove while I continue looking around. The cabinets are a cedar color, and they look very Eastern European in style to me. I’ll put some money on the fact the people who lived here prior weren’t from Grozny, and they were trying to transform their home into what they left behind. I do love the size of the kitchen. Emily seems to be the type who likes to cook and bake, so I’m sure she appreciates the size as well.
“Did they say when they were going to be here?” I ask Emily, and her daughter Sierra comes into the kitchen and goes straight up to her mother.
Sierra wraps her arms around Emily and holds onto her, causing Emily to focus on her daughter for a few moments. “Are you okay?” she asks her little girl.
“Yeah, I just wanted a hug,” Sierra tells her mother before she walks off.
“Make sure you’re back downstairs in twenty minutes! Dinner will be ready by then.”
“Okay, Mom!” Sierra calls back, and Emily laughs lightly.
“I never know what to expect with that one. One minute she wants to be all affectionate and stuff, and the next minute, I’m her worst enemy. She hasn’t even hit the teenage years yet, and we all know those are going to be horrible.” Emily grabs the wooden spoon from its holder and stirs the sauce she has cooking in her saucepan. “Oh, and they’ll be here any minute. I’m sure something happened with Karim, and that’s why they’re late. The last time Amelia and I had plans, he had a blowout diaper which made her forty-five minutes late.” Emily rolls her eyes, and the two of us cackle.
“Like it takes forty-five minutes to change a diaper, right?”
“Exactly!” Emily throws her head back in laughter when my brother comes into the kitchen.
“I should’ve known Eset was here with the way you’re laughing. She walks in through any door, and people do the same thing,” Lom thinks he’s funny, and I ball my hand into a fist and punch him.
“Don’t be a dick. It’s too early in the night for that,” I warn him.
“What are you going to do to me, huh?” Lom’s eyes sparkle with mischievousness, and he knows better. He’s seen firsthand what I’m capable of, but still, he insists on playing around with me. Then again, that’s my brother for you.
“Stop pushing your sister’s buttons, will you? I could honestly need some help getting everything ready, and since you’re acting like a child, I think you’re the one for the job,” Emily cuts in, and I can’t hold back my smile. His woman has a complete hold on him. It reminds me of when he was being naughty when we were younger. Our mother would come up and grab him by the ear. Only Emily’s doing it with her words.
Our mother.
Ugh, what a sad situation it is with her. She decided to stay loyal to my father, despite every atrocious thing he’d done to my brothers and their father. Personally, I think in the back of her mind, she knew everything that happened, but I think she was holding onto a small sliver of hope that he wasn’t as awful as we’d discovered. She’d spent years of her life with him after she lost the one man she loved more than anything, and the man she moved on with was the one responsible for his death. It’s a truly fucked-up story. Months have passed by, and our mother is still being as horrid as ever, so none of us communicate with her. If she’s going to continue to be like this, then good riddance.
The doorbell rings again, and Ludvik walks across the entryway and heads for the door. Within a few moments, Ruslan comes into view with baby Karim in his arms, and Amelia is in tow behind them, followed by Danill.
Ruslan turns back to his wife, and they speak about something before he hands the baby off to my sister-in-law. He comes into the kitchen and greets everyone before walking over to me. “We need to talk. Privately.”
I turn my head to look at my brother, and he has on his typical poker face. “What? Now? It’s a family dinner.”
“And dinner isn’t ready, so we have a few more minutes. So come,” Ruslan says, and we head out through the back door into their decently sized backyard.
There’s an eight-foot brick wall that goes around the length of the yard, and trees line the wall, giving them a better sense of privacy. “What’s so important that we have to discuss it right now?” It’s obvious Ruslan needs something. If he didn’t, he would’ve waited until tomorrow or maybe even after dinner.
“Julio called me earlier today. He wants to know where you stand on the marriage proposal.”
I’m unable to hold back my cackle. “I told him I never agreed to a marriage proposal in the first place, and yet he asks you about it. A lot must be riding on this for him.” I make sure to look right into my brother’s eyes. Julio is showing his desperation more and more by the day.
“I agree, though I’m curious where your mind is with the whole thing. I want to know what your plan is, Eset.” Ah, he’s not asking. He’s subtlytellingme I need to confess what my intentions are.
“I’m not sure as of yet. I haven’t met Santos at all, so how can I accept a proposal when I don’t know anything about the man I’ll be tied to for the rest of my life?” I’m bringing up a good point, and the way Ruslan clenches his jaw tells me I am.
