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He gave me a big-eyed look. “Can you teach them to use the toilet?”
I laughed, my worries fading away a little. “No, they’re water birds, they’ll probably try to swim in it.”
He was bursting into giggles when my phone suddenly rang. I pulled it out with more eagerness than I wanted to. It was Viktor. “Hello?”
“Yes, hello.” His voice was smooth and calm as ever, and I cursed the surge of relief that went through me at the sound. “My apologies for taking so long to get back to you. I was in meetings of various kinds until late yesterday. Are you free?”
“I’ll be done with cleaning up from breakfast in about half an hour, can I call you back?” Michael and I always had meals together, and I wanted my attention on him.
“Ah, I see. My apologies for the timing. I’ll call you back in half an hour.”
My heart was already pounding, and my thighs were squeezed together under the table. I huffed in annoyance with myself, wondering if I was ever going to be able to manage my feelings for Viktor properly.
***
After breakfast, I got the kitchen cleaned up in record time and got Michael set up with a new coloring book and some music he liked. Then I sat at the kitchen table like a dumb, lovestruck teenager until my phone rang again. When it did, I realized what I was doing and blushed, almost refusing to pick up the phone. But that wasn’t a very grown-up response either.
This man is doing my head in and he’s not even trying,I thought to myself as I connected the call. “Hello?”
“Better?” Viktor sounded amused, and not one bit impatient. I wished that didn’t make me feel relieved, but it did.
“Yes. Sorry about that, but my first duty is to my son. So, what happened?” I leaned back in my seat a little to check on Michael, who was quietly coloring while his tunes were softly playing.
“My accountant was murdered. First someone ran him off the road, then they came back and poisoned him at the hospital.” His voice was calm, measured, with only a hint of tension.
My throat suddenly felt like it was closing up, as my mind immediately went to the Russian man who’d been all over the news. The one Luis’s school friend had killed.He was part of the Bratva?
For some reason, this information, this connection, made me feel a little sick. With worry? With fear? I couldn’t place it.
“I…I’m terribly sorry,” I managed to murmur, “that sounds horrible.” And yet despite the sudden swirl of thoughts and emotions flying through me, I couldn’t help but notice how obviously and easily the truth had come out. He could have told me anything at all, and I’d probably have had no reason not to believe him. But he chose to tell me what was actually happening.
“Yes, I had to spend some time at the coroner’s office,” he continued, his smooth voice sounding a little exhausted, “make sure the family knew. It took far longer than expected.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” I said too quickly. “I was just concerned.”
“Yes.” Just a beat of silence. “I admit I was a bit surprised. I don’t get asked that too often.”
Are you all right?Somehow, the thought that nobody checked in on him, not even his ‘brothers’, made me sad. And then there was his admission. He hadn’t been all right. But he had soldiered on regardless.
“You just lost someone close to you.” I left it at that, not feeling like I should have to explain my empathy.
“Indeed.” And he was quiet again, as I tried to digest what I had just learned.
“Is that bossa nova in the background?” He changed the subject so fast that I had to adjust for a moment.
“It is. It’s Michael’s current favorite. He likes music without words best.” I couldn’t help but gush a little about my baby.
“The boy is three years old, correct?”
Uh-oh. He was feeling things out about Michael. “Yes. As of a few months ago.”
“Sophisticated tastes for a child,” he noted, and I laughed nervously.
“Yes, he’s definitely doing his own thing.” Bring it up, I urged myself. Get it over with. Let Viktor know he’s a father, and that you’ve been debating this whole time whether to try to get in touch with him. “Um…” My throat was tight again. Why was this so hard?
“Yes?” His tone was gentle.
“About Michael.” I struggled with my feelings for a few seconds, but I had always been a bad liar. “You should know…I mean…” I sounded like an idiot. Blushing furiously, I took a moment to compose myself. “He has your eyes,” I said finally.
