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“I will be speaking to her in Russian. She understands English, but she does not speak it. I do not want her to have to translate today.”
“You can speak Russian?” He turned and looked at her. He couldn’t imagine her speaking a foreign language.
“Yes.”
“How well? I mean, I can speak a little Spanish.” Though he had taken a class in high school, there was no way he could have any type of conversation in it now.
“My mother does not speak English. Do you speak the language your mother speaks?” she questioned him with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, I do, smarty pants. Make your call.” He reached over and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Turning back to the road, he let her see that he would not eavesdrop on her call. But it only took a word or two for him to realize he would have no idea what she was saying anyway. Not only was she speaking another language, but she was speaking with a speed he had never heard before.
As she continued to talk to her mom, the realization hit him hard: she spoke Russian in her sleep. It was not mumbling at all. It was her speaking in another language. And it was the language she spoke when they’d had sex.
Math looked at her, but she turned away from him, continuing her conversation. She was blushing, and he wondered if they were both thinking about when they made love. Her reaction said yes.
Abruptly, she switched to English, said another word in Russian, and the next in English. “Doctor Jones, this is Tess Thorn. Alex Aleksandrov is my father.”
Math couldn’t hear what the doctor said, but her response was, “I speak English, so you can tell me what is happening.”
Then she listened and asked questions with ease. Reaching into her briefcase, she pulled out a pen and paper and started to write down notes. Then she would refer back to the notes with questions. From her side of the conversation, Math had gathered that her father had a heart attack and would be having surgery in the morning.
The phone on the other end must have been given back to her family because she was suddenly back to speaking Russian, and based on her tapping and underlining words, she was explaining what the doctor had told her. It seemed like they relied on her knowledge of the language to tell them what was going on. But why wouldn’t her siblings know enough English? Her nieces and nephews? Why was it up to her?
Was this the two worlds she was talking about? One where she was a bank president and one where her parents didn’t even speak English? But hadn’t she been living between the two worlds for years? Why would a baby change that?
Math had no idea what the answer was, and he wasn’t going to ask Tess until they were sure her father was going to be all right. He was here for her, not to be another burden she had to manage.
CHAPTER26
Trying notto look at Mathias, Tess tried to explain what the doctor had told her to her family. She could tell that the man was happy to speak to someone who spoke English. Though his attitude grated on her nerves, she had controlled her anger. It wouldn’t help anyone to blow up at the man. Her mom was far more relaxed after her daughter had told her what was actually happening. If her father did well during the surgery, he would be better for a while. He would live.
“How far away are you?” her mom asked anxiously.
“I am almost there,” Tess said, trying to hold back her tears.
“Then we will talk,” her mama replied ominously. She must have been told.
“No, Mama, this is not the time to talk. We can talk another time,” Tess said quietly. She would have to tell her mother that she was staying in Landstad with the baby, that she would never be any closer than that for the rest of her mom’s life.
“Ilya is here.” She knew with the words that her mom was handing off the phone.
“Terezilya, where are you?” her sister asked.
Tess repeated what she had said to her mom. And added that they weren’t planning any more stops between here and there.
“Are you driving?” Ilya demanded.
“No, Mathias is driving,” she assured her sister as she looked over at the man. His eyes were on the road, but she knew he had figured out that she spoke Russian in bed. It hadn’t taken him very long to figure it out.
“Good, you can’t drive when you are emotional. Are you staying with me?”
“No, you have your kids home. We will get a hotel,” Tess said the dreaded H word to her sister.
“You cannot stay at a hotel! They cost money, Terezilya. I will make room. No, Natasha, do you have room for Terezilya and her man?” Tess listened to her sister asking her niece. She didn’t think that Tasha would make room for two. It had always been manageable to squeeze one more in their full house, but two was going to be impossible.
“I will get a hotel. It is fine. I will make him pay,” she lied and didn’t say Mathias’s name—he might notice if she said his name.
