Zoya полностью

He smiled as he saw the nightgown and the braid. “It's time to get up, lazy face. You can get dressed afterward. Just put on a coat and some shoes.” She slipped into the mink Axelle had given her several years before, and laughed as she put on high heels, and followed him onto the deck in her outlandish outfit.

“If any of my clients see me, they'll never trust my judgment again.”

“Good. Then maybe Axelle will fire you, and I can save you from a terrible fate.” But they both fell silent as they saw the skyline of New York and the Statue of Liberty as they sailed slowly in. “It's beautiful, isn't it?”

“It is.” She nodded happily. She had paid homage to the past, and now she was looking at the future again. Everything here seemed new and alive, and just looking at it made her feel good again. He turned then and took her in his arms, and held her close as they docked, and then she hurried downstairs to dress and close her trunks. And she didn't see him again until they were ready to leave the ship. He offered them a ride, but they had to decline as Axelle had a car waiting for them. But he followed them down the gangplank, carrying their small bags, and suddenly Zoya gave a small shout and surged ahead. Nicholas was waiting for her on the pier, scanning the crowd, looking so handsome and young. She ran to him, calling his name, and he flew into her arms and held her close. He had come alone, after taking Sasha to school, and it was obvious how much she loved the boy. Simon watched them enviously as he assisted Axelle, and then he went to where Zoya stood with her son, and solemnly shook her hand and smiled at the boy. He would have liked to have a son just like him, particularly when he saw how like Zoya he was.

“Hello, I'm Simon Hirsch.” He introduced himself as the boy looked up at him. “You must be Nicholas.” Nicky smiled shyly at the man, and then laughed.

“How did you know?”

“Your mother talks about you all the time.”

“I talk about her too,” he smiled, slipping an arm around her, as Zoya told him he had grown. He was almost fifteen years old, and he was already as tall as Clayton had been. “Did you have fiin?” He asked as they waited for her trunks, so the customs officer could inspect them.

“I did. But I missed you too much.” She said something to him in Russian then, and he laughed, and Simon laughed too, as Zoya realized he had understood her. “That's not fair!” She had told him that his hair was too long, and he looked like a large lovably shaggy dog. But Nicholas was suddenly interested in Simon as they stood on the dock together.

“So you speak Russian, sir?”

“A little bit. My parents are from Vladivostok. My mother used to say things like that to me in Russian too, sometimes she still does.” They all laughed, and a moment later the bags were checked, and Axelle and Zoya were free to go, and as they drove away, Simon stood watching them, waving for a long time, as in the car Nicholas asked his mother, in Russian again.

“Who was that?”

“A friend of Axelle's. He happened to be on the ship with us.”

“He seems like a nice man.” Nicholas looked unimpressed.

“He is,” Zoya said noncommittaily, and asked him how Sasha was.

“As impossible as she always is. Now she wants a dog. A wolfhound, if you please. She says they're ‘all the rage,’ and she's going to drive you crazy till she gets one. I think they're horrible. If we get anything, let's get a pug, or a boxer.”

“Who said we were going to get a dog?”

“Sasha did, and what Sasha wants, she gets.” Axelle smiled. They had switched from Russian to French, when Zoya told him not to be rude to Axelle.

“Is that so?”

“Isn't it?” Nicholas accused with a grin.

“Not all the time,” she blushed, but he was right, she was a very persistent child, and sometimes it was easier to give in to her, just to keep the peace. “Other than that, has she behaved?” He had stopped in to see her every day, Zoya knew, although he had been staying with a friend, and she was at home with a baby-sitter.

Nicholas groaned in answer. “Yesterday she had a fit when I said she couldn't go to the movies with a friend. But she hadn't done her homework yet, and it was too late anyway. I'm sure she'll tell you about that the minute you walk in.”

“Welcome home,” Axelle smiled, and Zoya laughed. She had missed them a great deal, but she knew she was going to miss Simon now too, and he had been so sweet to Nicholas when they met.

“Your friend seemed nice,” he said politely to Axelle on the way home.

“I think so too.” She looked pointedly at Zoya as the boy chattered on, and she silently hoped that Zoya would see Simon again once they were home.

Soon after she arrived home a huge bouquet of roses was delivered. The card said only, “Don't forget, Love, S.” and she blushed as she tucked the card into her desk, and turned her attention to her daughter, who, as predicted, was complaining furiously about her brother.

“I've just gotten home, give me a minute to adjust!” Zoya laughed.