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CHAPTER29
Mathias had convincedher to stay until Monday morning, giving her one more day with her family. Tess had been ready to leave Sunday afternoon, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He insisted that she needed to spend time with her family and not think about the bank for a day. As far as Tess could tell, everyone spoke to him in English at all times—except when they were trying to teach him new words.
After spending the morning in church with her entire family, Tess was sure that Mathias was never coming back. Though he had fallen asleep twice, he swore it was interesting. But there had been no translation for him for the three hours it had lasted, except when Tess would lean over and tell him this or that. Looking around, Tess was starting to think that most of her family didn’t pay much attention to the service.
While Math had spent the afternoon with her brothers looking at fields and equipment, she had spent the day with Tasha and Ilya. Not that she was paying attention to what was going on around her, she was trying to decide whether Mathias had been completely scared off.
“What do you think, Tessy?” Tasha asked.
“I was not paying attention,” Tess admitted to the group. It was best to be honest, after all.
“She is thinking about her man. He should be okay,” Ilya said, tapping Tess’s hand.
“I know he will be okay, Ilya. I am not thinking about him,” she argued.
“What then?” Tasha turned her attention to her aunt.
“Nothing you should be concerned about.” Tess shrugged off their concern.
“Is this about you not being Russian, Terezilya? Because you cannot stop being that. I think that your man likes you when you are Russian.” Ilya winked at her.
Staring at her older sister, she wondered what that wink meant. What could she think Mathias likes about her being Russian? The older sister tapped her hand again and laughed.
“When the baby comes, I cannot come as often. It is a long drive for a child.” Tess put the blame on the baby; no way could they yell at the baby.
“The baby will get used to it. You can bring his kids, too. They will like it here. Everyone likes it here,” Tasha stated as if they had visitors constantly. Or ever.
“Mathias probably will not come back again,” Tess said. No matter what he claimed, she knew the truth.
“The Mathias you brought with you or the Mathias that lives in your head? Because I think the one that you brought is coming back every time you do, especially when you have his baby,” Ilya replied, pointing at the door the men had left through almost an hour before.
“You do not understand, Ilya. Mathias and I do not always get along. He just found out about the baby before we left, and he was not happy. He had to marry his first wife because she was pregnant, so he is not happy about the baby.” Tess looked at the group. She hadn’t wanted to tell them, but they had to stop thinking of her and Mathias as a couple. She, herself, had to stop thinking of them as a couple.
“Maybe if you hadn’t been hiding her from him, he wouldn’t have been upset,” Tasha pointed out.
“I was not hiding her from him. I had told Mama, and then I was going to tell him. And it’s your fault I had a bad day before that.” She argued.
“You were the one questioning it, Tessy. You were the one thinking everyone was against you.You.” Tasha insisted.
“You said I did not belong here.” Tess reminded her.
“You don’t. You have always been different, Terezilya, always. You have made a place for yourself out there. You could never be happy back here because you weren’t happy here before,” Ilya replied as she pushed a plate of cookies toward her.
“I had a very happy childhood, Ilya,” Tess said flatly. She wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
“Of course, you did. But once you realized there was something else out there, you were gone. Private school and college. You worked your tail off to get away from here and you succeeded,” Tasha pointed out.
“So?” Tess demanded.
“So, nothing. You have dreams the rest of us do not have. We are happy to be here; you want to leave. Even now, you are ready to go back. Mathias told you that you had to stay until tomorrow. You would have been gone already,” Tasha said.
“I have a job, Tasha. I need to be at my job,” Tess reminded her niece, frowning.
“And I know you get days off from your job. And on those days off, you have to come here with your baby and your family.”
“I don’t have a family,” Tess corrected. Did she have to remind them again that she and Mathias were not a couple?
“You will. He has kids already. They will come next time,” Ilya said, nodding.
