“He said I should start the process of executing his will if he was not back by Christmas.”
Lacey grabbed on to that date as if her life depended on it. She could tell from the look on both Alexei’s and Eva’s faces they didn’t quite believe Suro would be able to pull it off, but they didn’t have to. She believed in Suro, more than she believed in herself. They would be together this Christmas. She just knew it.
CHAPTER 22
LACEY believed in Suro, she believed in him as fiercely as she’d ever believed in anyone. She had been through too much, had gone too many years without hope, to give up on Suro now.
But not everyone was so sure. Eva kept slipping concerned looks her way during their daily visits, and started talking about booking her an appointment with a local OB, even though Lacey told her she’d wait until they were all back in Chicago to get checked out. Her father had been so busy working to keep a roof over their heads the first time around that she’d had to go through everything, save the actual labor and delivery, alone. This time she wanted Suro there every step of the way.
Sparkle made it through the Russian greats disturbingly fast, but as it turned out, just in time. The day she finished the piano works of Alexander Abramsky, Alexei showed up with Kenji—apparently, Suro had also asked his Russian friend to pick Kenji up from school after the semester was over. And with little to no fanfare for their reunion, the two musical prodigies once again turned their attention back to their opera.
Alexei was so impressed by their dedication, he promised to finance a production of their opus if they finished it.
“When we finish it,” Sparkle corrected him, before giving him a rote thank you for his promised patronage.
Lacey wouldn’t have thought Kenji was thinking much about his father at all. Except the week before Christmas, she came downstairs to make herself a warm glass of milk because she couldn’t sleep and found Suro’s son staring out the living room’s large bay window at the small path that led from the front gate to the guest house.
Even though she knew he was a musical prodigy with Asperger’s who was skeptical about any unproven fantasy figures, at that moment he looked like nothing less than a little boy waiting for Santa Claus.
“Kenji, what are you doing down here?” she asked, coming to sit beside him in the window.
“My dad’s not coming back, is he?”
Her heart thumped in her chest to hear Kenji say aloud what she’d only allowed herself to wonder on the darkest nights. “What makes you think that?”
“He called me a few weeks ago,” Kenji said. His eyes stayed on the path. “He said he loved me and if anything happened to him, I should treat you like I would my mother. He said you two weren’t married but he considered us a family and I should always take care of you and Sparkle.”
She had to resist the urge to place her hands around his shoulders. Kenji, she had realized over the last couple of weeks, was even more sensitive to touch than her own daughter. Instead she settled for mentally envisioning she was hugging him when she said, “That’s a lot of responsibility to put on a little boy.”
Kenji rocked back and forth, but just once, as if he was putting considerable effort into controlling his physical tick. “The security guards at Rise Academy only make minimum wage. I asked them. My dad isn’t just a security guard, is he?”
Lacey’s first instinct was to lie, but over the past few weeks she had grown an aversion to keeping secrets. “No, he isn’t.”
“And whatever he does, it’s dangerous, isn’t it?” Kenji gave her a sad look. “You two didn’t become boyfriend and girlfriend because I told you to, you became boyfriend and girlfriend because you both do bad things.”
She sighed. “Kenji, I love your dad. And one thing I know for sure is we both have our reasons for any bad things we did. But trust me, I’ve lost my father, and in the end, the only thing that matters is the love. Your father will always love you and that’s the most important thing, okay?”
Kenji gave her a skeptical look but said, “Okay.”
“Do you want some warm milk?” she asked him.
“Is that something mothers do? Make warm milk?”
She gave him a wry smile. “Sometimes.”
“Then I think I’ll like having a mother for reasons other than facilitating my work with Sparkle.”
She knew he was perfectly serious, so she tried to keep the smile off her lips as she answered, “Well, I know I’m going to love having a son. We’re not the most normal family ever, but I think we’re going to be great.”
Another skeptical look from Kenji. “I’ll reserve judgment until we see how the opera turns out.”
That, she supposed, was the most she could ask for.
Over the next few days, it became her habit to bring Kenji a glass of warm milk during his nightly vigil by the window and she often joined him to watch the still empty path in companionable silence.
“You’re humoring me aren’t you? You don’t think he’s ever coming back,” Kenji said on one of these silent nights.
Again she told him the truth. “I’m not humoring you, and I truly believe he’s going to come back. Your father has kept every promise he’s ever made me.”
Lacey believed every word she said, but then it was Christmas Eve. Alexei, Eva, and their delightful son, Aaron, came over to unwrap one gift each from underneath the tree Eva had thoughtfully had set up in the guest house living room. And even Kenji and Sparkle took a break from their opera to join in the festivities.
It would have been a lot of fun if not for the missing presence of Suro hanging over the room.
Alexei came into the kitchen while Lacey was making a second batch of apple cider. He was wearing a Christmas sweater with a reindeer, a look so ludicrous on the large Russian, she didn’t even have to question whether it had been a gift from Eva. Only his wife would have been able to convince the otherwise stern businessman to don Yuletide apparel.
Over the past few weeks, she learned Alexei put up with very little foolishness where others were concerned, but he was a pushover when it came to his wife.
“Just in time. You want your apple cider refill now?” she asked, gesturing at the mug in his hand.
He looked down at it as if just realizing it was there and nodded. “Yes, thank you. It is very good.”
“The secret ingredient is maple syrup. My daddy believed in putting a touch of sweet in everything. He used to say even the spiciest dishes needed some light.”