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“We have got to do some Russian serial killers for book club. You’d be able to pronounce all their names and the city names. It will be amazing. You can speak Russian, right?” Mandy leaned forward.
“Yes, I speak Russian still.” Tess smiled at her excitement. Very few people she had met actually thought it was interesting that she was born there.
“Dang it.” Mandy slapped her hand against the table. “I can’t tell anyone.”
“Sorry, you cannot.” Tess grinned at her friend.
“And I bet you are not going to either.” Mandy sighed.
“It is not something I bring up, and nobody else does either,” Tess said in way of reply.
“Let’s get this exam done then. How much are we doing today?” Mandy asked, a little disappointed that she would have to keep Tess’s secret.
“Can we just do the test today? Then you can tell me if I have to go see your doctor friend.”
“I don’t think you’ll need to see a specialist. Your sister’s history will align with yours better. I really don’t think this is a big deal.” Mandy held up the heavily marked paper.
After the tests confirmed what she already knew, Tess was glad she had gone to Mandy instead of anyone else. It had been a little awkward at first, but Mandy was good at putting people at ease. As Tess was leaving the office with her positive result, Mandy stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Are you going to tell Math?”
“I do not know. We do not always get along. I know you are his sister, but he and I sometimes do not mix,” Tess said.
“You seem to have mixed once. Maybe you could again.” Mandy chuckled.
“You saw him at Easter, Mandy,” she reminded her.
“Yes, I did, more than you did. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you. And Mom said he asked about you after we left,” Mandy replied.
“I have applied for another job in another town,” Tess admitted and then added, “If I take it, I will not be telling Mathias. The job will let me be closer to my family.”
Mandy’s smile fell. “I see.”
“I have to think about the baby. I want her to know my family, my heritage,” Tess explained, hoping that Mandy would understand.
“What about him?”
“I do not even know if he wants to be a part of this.”
“I know him, Tess. There’s no way he would not be a part of his child’s life.”
“I just do not know yet.”
Saying goodbye, Tess headed to work with at least one answer she needed before making her decision about the new job. She was definitely pregnant, and Mandy had assured her she would stay that way. But the Mathias thing was still in the air. She would do what was right for her baby, whatever that was.
CHAPTER20
Mathias’s textsthroughout the afternoon distracted Tess in a good way. Finally, she had been able to concentrate on work, mostly. She was still worried about her dad but far less worried about her baby.
She had received the first text from Math just after she got back from the clinic, and she happily texted him back. The texts had been about nothing, just little comments about his day or asking about hers. But she enjoyed them. They lifted her spirits when the feeling of impending doom was hanging over her.
She didn’t text him about her concerns over her family. Those two worlds had always been easy to keep separate, but with Mathias in the picture, they were starting to butt up against one another. The baby made them overlap, and she wasn’t prepared for that just yet.
By mid-afternoon, she had received a call from the other bank—the job was hers if she wanted it, and they would give her a week to decide whether she would take it. Now she knew she had to make a decision. By then, she would have to get the nerve up to tell Mathias about the baby. After yesterday, she saw that they could maybe make something work, and it could be amazing. She could easily fall for him, stay with him.
But the dream had reminded her that if she chose to stay, she chose this life and would have to leave her past behind. Was she ready to walk away from the family she loved? To not go back again? For years, she had known that she could stop going home, and the connection she had with them would easily be severed. After all, no one ever came to visit her.
There would still be calls and texts, and she would remain close to Tasha and Ilya, but once her parents were gone, she would have little reason to stay connected with anyone else. Her brothers didn’t really call, only Mike every once in a while, but that was about their parents.
Tossing her phone on her desk after sending another text to Math, she looked out her window at the alley behind the bank. After yesterday’s date, she realized that her original choice between Mathias being a dad to her baby or not had evolved. Now she knew that if she stayed, she would have to shut the door on her past, on her heritage. If she chose Mathias, she chose a new life, an American life.
