Lissa and Christian got very excited about this getaway week, as they really needed it after the whole Victor incident. And don't we all? This is the best thing that could have happened to us. To get away and to have a good time together and to forget about all the bad that happened to us. Of course, they got even happier when they found out that we are going to Russia and in addition, with Dimitri's private jet. Ever since I told them about my previous trip with Dimitri, they got very eager to try that too one day. Especially Christian. His eyes kept on glowing like a little kid's at an amusement park for the whole time. I can say that he is very proud of my rich as fuck boyfriend.
Day 1
After we land, we get into a car that Dimitri rented and we head to Baia, his hometown. We are going to get there in two hours, which is enough for me to take in the beautiful late summer landscapes of Russia's roads. As Dimitri is driving, I lower the window on my side and let the warm breeze blow my hair. I have always liked days like these. It's summer, but the sun is not roasting you as you walk on the street, it doesn't make the asphalt melt under its heatness, but lightly warms your skin, and the wind is gently blowing, allowing you to take in deep clear breaths of air. Too bad that the summer is coming to an end pretty soon. I would surely miss the early mornings spent with Dimitri at the beachside, watching the sunrise cuddled. That became one of our favorite places in this entire town and often find ourselves going there.
And speaking of him, I feel his fingers brushing lightly on the skin on my knee and upward over my dress, probably blindly looking for my hand. I love it when he does that, how he thinks about me even when he's doing little things like driving. I entangle our fingers and squeeze on his hand and he smiles lightly, his eyes still pinned on the road. Gosh, I just can't wait to spend this time this week with him.
With my attention distracted from the road, I take a look into the central mirror and see Lissa sleeping on Christian's lap, him passing his hand through her golden strands as he is conscientiously reading a parenting book. Who would have thought that someone as Christian would get so serious in such a short period of time? All he can talk about these days is their little baby and he is so proud of Lissa's little bump. Would Dimitri be like that too if I would get pregnant one day? It would be so nice to see him like this. I bet he would do the baby talk in Russian so that no one would ever know. He always tries to seem so tough.
And I guess that the flight tired Lissa. She doesn't have any other pregnancy symptoms, except that she gets tired really fast. I guess that she is one of the lucky ones. It could be worse from what I have heard. Oh, and of course. She eats for two. I swear she can eat much more than me now, which is not that little, trust me. And I must say I am a little jealous now. No one used to overtake me into that area.
And as I analyze her angelic sleeping face, my eyes suddenly land on her cast. It is full of colorful silly drawings, made by the little kids that she is taking care of at the hospital. I can't help myself not to feel guilty for that thing. She shouldn't be wearing that. She doesn't deserve to be in that position. It should have been me that day, my brain keeps on reminding me. And if it would have been me, things would have been much worse than they are now. Maybe we wouldn't have been here now if I were the one driving Dimitri's car that day.
Lissa wakes up along the way and we start talking again about all kind of things, from what names they should pick for their baby to what Russian dishes we should definitely try while we are here and what we should do along these free days we have, but at some point my mouth shuts and I zone out, not participating at the conversation anymore, and I think about what would happen if Victor would manage to do something that he said he'd do that day when we visited him. What if he finds a way? Is there really a way for him to do something? Or what if Tasha won't calm down? She hasn't done anything yet, but she might. She is not the kind of person to give up easily. But I hope she will. With all my heart. I want this shit to be done. I want to simply be with Dimitri, no other obstacles. We have made some of them ourselves and I believe we deserve to be happy and left alone.
"Hey, Rose." Christian says patting my shoulder, interrupting my train of thoughts.
"Yeah?" I turn and look at him confused. Did I miss something important?
Lissa giggles. "Ooooh, someone is neeeeervous." she says almost excited.
"What are you talking about, Liss?"
"Well, you usually never stop talking. You always have something to say about anything, Rose." well, yeah. That's true. "And now you have been quiet for the last whole ten minutes. Are you nervous about meeting Dimitri's family, right?" all of them laugh, even Dimitri. I shot him a glance and he smiles warmly and I instantly forgive him. How can I resist him?
Next, I squint my eyes at Lissa. "No, I am not."
She elbows Christian and they laugh some more. "Come on, Rose. I know you."
"Oh, says the girl who has puked two times before her boyfriend picked her up to go and meet his parents, right?"
Her jaw drops. "Hey! That was our secret." well, it was, but it slipped out my mouth, what can I do? I always speak without thinking and she is aware of that. But I don't get to answer and defend myself.
"You really did, sweetie?" Christian asks instead. She nods smiling lightly and he embraces her. And in a second, they both go into their little world, speaking in low voices and I get away without any punishment from Lissa for my little slip.
Dimitri takes my hand into his again and kisses it. As I look at him, he mouths an ''I love you'' and I squeeze his hand in response and bring it up to my cheek, brushing his fingers on my skin. But I guess that Lissa is right. If I let this thought sink in, I am kind of nervous about meeting Dimitri's family. What if they simply don't like me? What if they don't consider me good enough to be Dimitri's girlfriend? I don't want to mess anything into his family. My mother is more than enough to be against this relationship. Dimitri walks his thumb up and down on my hand into what seems to be a reassuring gesture. I look at him again, and he nods lightly, transmitting to me that everything will be alright. I love this thing about us. We don't really need many words to understand each other.
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Dimitri finally pulls up the car in front of a tall porch. As the anxiety of what Lissa said earlier kept on creeping into me, the road seemed to keep on unfolding forever, but well, here we are. We arrived. After he gets out the car and opens the porch, we continue our way on foot on a wide alley that goes somehow down and at the end of it, it is a superb country house.
The two lovers go in front of us, leading the way into a slow pace, and Dimitri and I follow them, holding hands along the way, leaving enough space in between us so that we would not hear their private conversation, as they seem to have one of their moments.
It is so nice out here. It's slowly getting darker outside, but it is still pretty warm and everything is green around us. There are flowers and trees everywhere along the domain. And the house is wonderful. It is the kind of house you see in movies, where you find warm and loving families that wait for you to come back on your Christmas holiday. It is not that big, even though it has two stories, and it is just enough to shelter a big and happy family. It is painted into a light almost white blue, with wooden windows and some colorful flowers on the porch. It really looks like a dream house.
As we get closer, into the enormous yard close to the house, I can see a bunch of kids playing catch, their laughter and squeals filling the air. When they spot us the majority of them just wave in our direction, acknowledging our presence and then go back to their game, but two of them fetch away from the game and come running our way, yelling something in Russian that contains a 'Dimkaaaa!' at the end. They must be Karolina's kids, Dimitri's oldest sister. It is a little boy and a girl, that share the same mahogany hair with Dimitri, this wonderful feature running deep into the family it seems. And they are so adorable I wanna eat them up. The boy has longer hair than the other boys around here, reaching just over his shoulders, and I can only guess that he took this thing from Dimitri, as I know that his father died some time ago. The little girl is dressed into a jeans overall and a pink T-shirt and she keeps on pulling up the straps back on her petite shoulders as she is making her way here, running as fast as her short legs allow her to. It is so cute that the boy doesn't leave behind his little sister, and he even waits for her to catch up with him and then takes her hand and runs at her pace, just to reach us at the same time. This little thing warms my heart.