Page 82 of Twilight Tears
“None of this is bearable for me.” I lay a hand over my stomach, stroking my bump. As I do, I feel a nudge against my stomach… from inside.
I gasp and yank my hand away.
Mariya sits up instantly, on alert. “What is it?”
She’s taking her duty to look out for me very seriously, it would seem.
“My bump. I felt—I think I just felt the babies—” Another kick from inside my stomach cuts me off. I look up at Mariya with wide eyes. “I felt a kick.”
Mariya tosses her empty plate to the side as she scrambles across the couch towards me. She flattens her hands against my stomach, leaning in close like she might be able to hear them chatting away in there.
“Come on, babies!” she coos. “Your favorite auntie is here. Kick for Auntie MarMar.”
I snort. “Auntie MarMar?”
She glares up at me. “I have years before they start talking. That’s plenty of time to figure out what they should call me. I’m just workshopping.”
We sit in silence, Mariya’s hands around my bump, waiting. Until finally, there’s a kick.
Mariya’s hand jumps and she shrieks, “Holy shit! There are babies in there!”
“Pretty sure we determined that with all the ultrasounds.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t know. Doesn’t this feel more real?” she asks. “Feeling them actually move in there is so much different than seeing it on a screen.”
I smile. “You’re right. It is.”
But as I stare down at my bump and feel my babies wiggle around, my smile starts to fade. Because these aren’t just my babies. They are Yakov’s, too. And he isn’t here to feel their first kicks.
The happy moment fizzles away and I’m suddenly blinking back tears.
“Luna?” Mariya bends down to look into my eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m so happy. My babies are kicking and healthy and that’s amazing, but—” I swipe at my cheeks.
“Yakov should be here with you instead of me.”
I squeeze Mariya’s hand. “I want you here. I don’t regret that. But Yakov should be here with us. It should be all of us sharing this moment in our house, not buried underground in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’ll all be together again soon. Yakov is going to handle everything and we’ll be back in the mansion before you know it.”
“That’s what Yakov told me on the phone,” I mumble. “I’m not so sure.”
Mariya frowns. “You talked to him? I thought we were saving the phone calls for emergencies only.”
“We are. Does your mom coming into town qualify as an emergency?”
Her jaw drops. “My mother? The one who lives in Moscow? The one who swore she’d never touch American soil again?”
“Unless you have more than one mother, I’m pretty sure that’s the one he was talking about, yeah.”
“Well, fucking hell,” Mariya spits. “I guess no one thought it was important to fill me in. Cool. I’m always the last to know everything.”
What Yakov told me about Nikandr is on the tip of my tongue. Mariya deserves to know her brother is doing worse. She deserves to know he might not make it, the same as anyone else.
But… if Yakov wanted her to know, he would tell her. Plus, Mariya is miraculously content being down here in this well-furnished dungeon. I don’t want to tell her about Nik and ruin this rare peace she’s managed to find.
“The only reason I know about your mother being in town is because Yakov has so much going on. I think he just needed someone to talk to.”