Chapter Thirty-One

Aksana

The house was quiet as I quickly snuck back upstairs with my loot. Vladmir was ravenous. The man didn’t have an off button, so while he ducked into the shower, I ran downstairs, starving for food.

After making a quick snack for the both of us, I headed back upstairs to find him lying on the bed, wearing only a towel. He smiled at me.

“What did you get?”

“Nothing fancy.” I grinned, walking over to the bed, laying the tray in the middle, before removing my robe and climbing back onto the bed. Sitting there, crossed-legged, I noticed that he just stared at the tray with an odd expression on his face.

“Do you not like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?”

Vladmir looked up at me and I swore with one smile, he could get my body humming instantly.

“They are my favorite.”

Blinking, I held up my hand. “Hold up. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are your favorite food?”

When he didn’t respond, I pointed at the tray.

“Those sandwiches. The ones I make for Katiya because they are all she will eat?”

His smile widened while he nodded.

Throwing my arms in the air, I flung myself back against my pillows and sighed loudly. “I don’t believe it.”

Picking one up, I watched when he took a big bite, closing his eyes and sighing as he chewed and swallowed the sandwich. “When I first came to this country, I didn’t know what to think. I was already homesick for Mother Russia. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to find my brother, but I didn’t know where to look. All of us were in various states of shock and fear. Anger quickly took hold of us. In those early days, we didn’t have much money. We all worked odd jobs, pooling what money we made just to put a roof over our heads. Aleksandr couldn’t do much. He was still healing from his leg wound. Dmitry was so angry. We were all worried he would do something stupid. Rurik and Nikandr took care of Aleksandr while Maxim and I became a buffer for Dmitry’s anger. Living in New York City can be rather expensive. In those early months, we barely scraped by. I was walking home from work one night through Central Park and stopped near a street vendor. I was so hungry but didn’t have money to buy anything. So, I thought if I just sat there and smelled the food, my hunger would go away. It didn’t. The longer I sat there, the hungrier I got when a woman sat next to me. I didn’t see her at first, my mind was in other places. But then she handed me a sandwich. I didn’t know what to say. Taking it, I devoured it and damn nearly cried, because I’d never tasted anything so good. I wanted that sandwich to last forever and when it didn’t, my stomach grumbled. The woman handed me another and told me to come back tomorrow. I don’t know why I did, but the very next night, I found the woman sitting in the exact same spot, waiting for me. She handed me a brown bag and told me to come back the next day, before she walked away. Looking into the bag, I saw three loaves of bread, a large tub of peanut butter and two jars of jelly. That night, my brothers ate for the first time in days. There was nothing left.”

“And the woman?”

Vladmir smirked, reaching for another sandwich. “When I showed up the next night, she had several bags waiting for me. I learned her name was Alice. She was the housekeeper for Stone House. She’d seen me for a few days sitting next to the vendor, but never buying anything to eat. She knew I was hungry and fed me. She fed all of us in those early days.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman.”

“She was,” Vladmir whispered. “She died in a house fire that destroyed Stone House. The same house Montana and Tessa lived in.”

“She was Montana’s housekeeper.”

“Alice was an institution at Stone House. That place will never be the same without her. I miss her smiling face. Because of her, we survived those first few months. She fed us when no one else did.”

“You loved her.”

Vladmir nodded. “Yeah. I did. We all did.”

Reaching for a sandwich, I took a bite and said, “When I was pregnant with Katiya, I craved these sandwiches. I couldn’t eat anything else. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I never wanted to see another peanut butter and jelly sandwich again.”

“Then why did you make them?”

I just looked at him.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” I scoffed. “Were you ever going to tell me or wait until I was hurling into the toilet?”

“In my defense, I’ve been rather busy.”

“I’m gonna let that one slide ‘cause you’re finally talking to me, but next time you tell me right away.”

Vladmir asked, “Maybe next time we can find out together?”

Gulping, I stared at the man.

“Just how many kids do you think I’m going to have?”

He shrugged before taking a bite of his sandwich. “A dozen.”

Coughing, Vladimir reached over and patted my back as I gaped at him. I couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious, but when the corners of his mouth turned up, I pushed him away.

Laughing loudly, he fell back onto the bed, wiping his eyes.

“You should have seen your face.”

“I am not having a litter!”

Sitting back up, he said, “How about four?”

Narrowing my eyes, I replied, “That sounds reasonable.”

“Aksana?”

“Hmm...”

“Thank you.”

Looking at him, I asked, “For what?”

“For having Valhalla call me two years ago.”

Staring at him, I waited for him to explain.

“I was in a dark place back then. I can see that now. When I saw you that day, something inside me shifted. I didn’t know what it was, so I ignored it. But when I saw you again in Oklahoma, I had that same feeling again, and when you ran out of the house and hugged me, I knew.”

“Knew what?”

Looking up at me, he whispered, “That you were mine.”

“But you wanted nothing to do with me. You barely talked to me.”

“I was scared. For the first time since I left Russia, I was scared, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. But when I saw you in that alley after what those Satan’s Angels did to you, I knew I couldn’t fight it anymore. I stupidly thought I could protect you and keep my distance. I was wrong. And for that, I’m sorry.”

“Love is funny that way, Vladmir. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it. I’m just grateful you got your head out of your ass before I left. ‘Cause I was not raising these kids alone.”

“I wouldn’t have let you leave.”

“You wouldn’t be able to stop me,” I shot back.

Slowly moving closer to me, he grinned. “Oh, I could have stopped you. Would you like to see how?”

Sandwich forgotten, I nodded.

And boy did he.

All night long.