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“Thirteen years. She left three years ago.”
“So, you were not married long before you had Mila?” She was leaning her head against the back of the headrest, looking at him.
“Nope, we got married because of Mila.”
“Oh,” she said, but he saw she had tensed up.
“Yup. So much for college and all that.”
“Sorry. Did you want to go?” she asked, relaxing a little.
“I think I wanted to go to say I went. I don’t know if I wanted to go to learn anything,” he admitted. Looking back, he knew he would have been a bad student. He was a hands-on kind of guy.
“Did your ex like the farm? Does she miss it?”
“I doubt it; she hated it. She grew up in town.”
“Landstad?”
“Yes, we went to school together.”
“High school sweethearts?”
He nodded. “We got married before we wanted to, but we got Mila.”
“Cora is a pretty name. Is it a nickname?” she asked.
“No, just her name.”
“Math is an odd nickname. And so is Kit.”
“Do you have any odd nicknames in your family?” he asked. She was relaxed, but she would talk about her family.
“Not to me, but everyone has the same names. Sometimes a nickname is different, but after a few Alexes, you get used to having one as Al and one as Lex.” She was concentrating on her hand. That’s when she typically didn’t censor her words.
“Your nephew, Alex? Is he Alex?” he asked.
“Yes, only Alex. My brother is Alexei, and papa is just Alex also. But you do not notice they have the same name because nobody calls my father Alex, not even my mother. Always Papa. Grandpa.”
“How about Teresa? Are there more Teresas in your family than you and your hated aunt?” he asked, just trying to keep the conversation going, to keep her talking.
“I was named for my mother, so it is everywhere in next generation. My sister has a daughter named Teresa, but we call her Terri. Natasha has one all well, who we call Tessa. She was named after me. And countless others.”
“Your best friend named her daughter after you?” He asked, hoping he didn’t look as shocked as he felt trying to keep up with the number of Teresas in the family.
“Yes, her second. But it is also after my mother since we share a name.” She seemed not to realize she had just said twice that she was named after her mom, but Math wasn’t going to point that out.
“Are you named after someone, Mathias?”
“No, Mom just found it in a book, liked it, and here I am,” he said. After a moment, he looked over and saw that she had fallen asleep on him.
She was still holding his hand, but she was holding it with both hands. While sleeping, she looked relaxed, better than when she was on the medication for the hives.
In her sleep, she mumbled things that he couldn’t understand, just like before. He wondered if she always talked in her sleep, and he hoped he would find out.
CHAPTER17
It was a dream,and Tess knew it. Her daughter was calling her name, her English name. But Tess needed her baby to know that that is not her name, that she had once been Terezilya. She was begging the baby to speak Russian, but the baby just wouldn’t do it.Please just speak Russian, baby. Mama cannot talk to you if you cannot speak Russian.
