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“Does she eat yet, Mathias? She is so picky,” Ilya asked him.
“I don’t notice that she is picky, but she doesn’t eat much,” he said. He was still concerned about it, even after his talk with Mandy. After all, she was eating for two now.
“Eat, Terezilya,” Ilya said to her sister and put a plate in front of her.
Tess looked at the plate and pushed it away. “I will not eat that. I know exactly what it is.”
“Picky, Picky.” Ilya took the plate back with a cackle, putting it back in the fridge.
Math had no idea what was on the plate, but he was glad he hadn’t been offered whatever it was. No way would he have eaten it either.
“Come on, Mathias, let the ladies talk. They will be here for hours.” Alex showed him to the living room.
Alex sat in an old armchair, and Math sat on the couch that didn’t match at all but was well worn. From his spot, he could see the women and hear them, but they had slipped back into a hybrid of Russian and English.
“She is happy. She isn’t always,” Alex stated, pulling Math’s attention to the man.
“You’ve known her all her life?” Math asked.
“Since she was eight, and I was ten. I knew then that she didn’t belong. She was different.” His eyes were trained on the kitchen also.
Math was still looking at him. “That’s how Mike says it also, different.”
“She is. You will see tomorrow.”
“She thinks your family is keeping things about her parents from her.”
“I don’t know. I think everyone is having trouble with them getting old. I mean, they have always been old, but they will die soon. Ilya’s first husband is the only person to have died in the family since leaving Russia. There are no aunts and uncles or grandparents, so they don’t know what to do with death. They are all scared about it,” Alex said.
“I understand, but it’s hurting her feelings.” Math watched her talking with her family with a smile he rarely saw back in Landstad.
Alex’s eyes followed Math’s to the women. “They will talk all night, especially after Tessy hasn’t been texting as much as normal.”
“Why not?” His eyes went back to her nephew.
“Tessy’s having a hard time with the baby.” Alex ran a hand over his hair.
“She hasn’t said that.” Math looked at her, who was now pointing at her sister and laughing.
He wished for the moments back when she’d told him about the baby. This time he would be excited and tell her that they should raise it together. He wanted to be with her forever.
Alex shook his head. “She won’t. She is stubborn like grandma.”
Math chuckled. “You mean like your grandpa?”
“No, grandma is the more stubborn one. She could have learned to speak English over the years, but she didn’t want her family to forget where they came from, so she didn’t. Tess would do that in a heartbeat.”
“Is that a warning?” Math asked, grinning.
“Nope, just something for you to know. But I have to get up early, so I am going to bed.” Alex got up and ventured into the kitchen, only to get teased for kissing his wife goodnight and for going to bed so early.
Following Alex’s lead, Math walked into the kitchen and kissed Tess on the head, telling her that he was going to bed as well. The drive had been too much, and he was exhausted. Tess said she would come up when she got tired, and the other women said nothing in English. In Russian, they exchanged comments as he walked out of the room with a smile, knowing that Tess was going to be teased more than he was.
CHAPTER28
It wasclose to 3:00 am when she crawled into bed with him. Math had thought that she would sleep in one of the many other small beds in the room, but she snuggled in with him, pressing her body into his.
But by 5:00 am, she was already gone. Math checked his phone one more time—yes, it was really 5:00 am.
