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“Your father would have loved to see this,” Mom says, leaning toward me conspiratorially as she gives my hand a soft pat. “He might have been hard on you boys growing up, but all he ever wanted was for you to live good, happy lives. And I think you’ve each managed that beautifully.”
I give my mom’s hand a gentle squeeze, and a moment later, I catch Heidi’s soft grin as she watches our exchange.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the story of how you met your husband, Mrs. Federov,” Heidi says.
I love that no matter how many times my mother has told my wife to call her by her first name, Heidi’s Southern upbringing won’t permit it. And as my mom gives Heidi a scolding look now, I can’t help but chuckle.
“You haven’t?” Alexei asks, surprise dawning on his face.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know that I’ve heard the stories behind how any of you met,” she adds, glancing at Nadia and Alexei and then Camille and Dimitri.
Camille snorts a laugh, drawing everyone’s attention, and a hint of color stains her cheeks. “You don’t want to know how Dimitri and I met,” she says, quirking an eyebrow at her husband, daring him to defend himself.
“Okay, now I have to know,” Heidi insists, sitting forward in her chair.
“He walked into my restaurant one night, bold as brass, and told me that I owed him half a million dollars or my restaurant.”
“What?” Heidi nearly shrieks, her eyes bugging out of her head. “And you said?”
“Perhaps we can discuss this over a meal,” Dimitri offers, a twinkle in his eye.
“That isnotwhat I said,” Camille counters. “I’m pretty sure it was closer to ‘you can just go straight to hell.’”
“No, that was after I suggested you could pay me back in sexual favors,” Dimitri states, his eyebrows doing a suggestive dance.
“Wow, and still you married him?” Heidi jokes.
“Let’s not pretend like that’s the worst meet cute we have at this table,” Nadia says, laughter in her voice as she casts Alexei a fiery look.
“What?” he asks around a mouthful of burger. “Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you mean us. I was nothing but charming when we met.”
“Aside from the fact that you came barging into my dressing room to demand I go on a date with you?” she says, one eyebrow creeping up her forehead.
“That’s not how I recall it going at all,” he says.
“Well, it was,” Nadia explains, her Russian accent thickening as she leans closer to Heidi. “Which is why I turned him down flat.”
“What’s with the Federov men and their commands, am I right?” Camille jokes.
Heidi shares a smile with me, and we don’t need to speak for me to know that she’s thinking of all the times she’s asked me the same question when she thinks I’ve bossed her around enough for one day.
“So... then what happened?” Heidi asks, turning her attention back to Nadia.
“He bought the ballet company I dance for.”
Heidi gapes openly at my youngest brother, seemingly at a loss for words.
“Alexei,” Mom scolds. “You told me you bought it because you thought it would be a valuable investment.”
“Was I wrong? In my eyes, I would consider that the best investment of my life.” He flashes Nadia a devilish smile, and despite herself, she melts visibly beneath his powerful charm.
“Well,” Mom says, cutting in with a mischievous grin, “I assure you they didn’t learn any of that from me.”
The chorus of snorts that issue from me and my two brothers sends our wives into a fit of giggles.
“Okay, why do I get the sense there’s a story behind that?” Heidi says, propping her elbows on the table and planting her chin in her palm as she waits for my mom’s story.
“Because our father was far worse than any of our antics,” Alexei explains.
