Chapter Fourteen

 

 

 

 

 

Nadia was sitting in a different lobby of the same hospital where Deidre had given birth. Now she waited to hear how Dominic was faring. She felt an edge of anxiety, realizing how close she was to losing him.

 

Jelena, Irina, and her father walked in. Her father embraced her, looking puzzled. “I left Deidre home with the baby. Tell me, why are we here?”

 

“Papa,” she said, feeling her throat catch, “Dominic’s been hurt.”

 

“What does it matter?” Jelena said, although Nadia noticed that her eyes widened at hurt. “You were his prisoner. He deserves everything he gets, and then some.”

 

“Whatever you need to tell yourself, Jelena,” Nadia said coolly, “we both know the truth.”

 

Jelena flushed. Her father cleared his throat.

 

“You feel something for this man, then.”

 

“Papa, I love him.”

 

He looked a little bewildered. “How? A man like…” At her stern stare, he let the statement peter off. “And he feels…?”

 

“He loves me, too, Papa.”

 

He sighed heavily. “Well, at least some good has come from this,” he said, after a long pause. “When he feels better, we’ll negotiate with him.”

 

“No.” That, from Jelena.

 

Nadia shook her head, as well. “I am going to be with him, but it’s not an arrangement. It has nothing to do with the family.”

 

Her father turned scarlet, right up to the roots of his hair. “Wait a minute. You’re choosing this man, this stranger, over your own family?” He sounded incensed. “You’ll take bread out of your baby brother’s mouth, just for your own selfish pleasure?”

 

“I’m choosing to have my own life,” Nadia countered. “I love him, and I want to be with him. It has nothing to do with my baby brother, or my sisters. Or you, Papa.”

 

“You’re my daughter,” her father said with menace.

 

“You don’t own us, father!” Jelena snapped. “You never did!”

 

He glanced around nervously. “This is not the place to have this conversation. We’ll go home.” He turned to leave.

 

“Papa, I’m not going home.”

 

He turned back to Nadia. “Come home right now.”

 

“That isn’t going to work,” Nadia said sadly. “I love you, and I will always do what I can to help you. But I’m not going to just be a bargaining chip for you anymore, Papa. I’m finished. I’m not a meal ticket. I’m your daughter, and you need to love me and respect me for what I am.”

 

“Of course I love you,” he said, looking bewildered. “What does that have to do with anything?”

 

She looked at Jelena. He didn’t understand. He really, genuinely didn’t understand.

 

Jelena sighed. “Perhaps you should go home, Papa.”

 

Now he looked at them, aghast at the mutiny taking place. “You lead her to this,” he accused. “You’re divorcing your husband, and you’re talking about not remarrying. You’ve made money with a settlement with him somehow, and you’re keeping me cut out of it! What is this?”

 

“I’m taking control of my own finances,” Jelena said, and there it was again—that intimidating quality. She sounded like a general.

 

“You’re a woman,” her father said caustically. “How could you…”

 

“Papa,” Jelena said, her voice sharp enough to cut steel. “You don’t want to cross me on this. I promise you.”

 

Her father gasped. Jelena didn’t blink.

 

“I thought I was protecting you,” Jelena said to Nadia. “I did everything I could to stop you from making these mistakes. I’m not sorry.”

 

“You will be if you try it again.” Nadia stood up to her sister, infusing every word with menace. “I mean it. Leave Dominic and me alone.”

 

Jelena shrugged. “If you’re going to be stupid enough to stay, I can’t stop you. I can only save myself.”

 

“What the hell is going on here?” her father asked plaintively. “You’re crazy! You’ve both gone crazy! Turning against your family, turning against each other, for what? What the hell is wrong with you?”

 

“I’m not going to be your whore any more, Father,” Jelena said, her voice ringing with finality.

 

“And I’m just going to be your daughter from now on,” Nadia said more gently. “I’m staying with Dominic, because I love him.”

 

Jelena shook her head, but at least she seemed to realize there was nothing she could say that would dissuade Nadia. It was the way it was.

 

Her father was finally deflated, at a loss. “It’s all falling apart,” he muttered. “You’re all abandoning me.”

 

“It’s not about you,” Jelena snapped.

 

Nadia gripped his hand.

 

“Many marriages are unhappy. I was unhappy. Arrangements aren’t for love, they are for survival. I thought you girls understood that.” He stared at her pleading. “We had to make sacrifices to survive.”

 

“Yes, we did,” Nadia said. “But I don’t have to. Not anymore. And neither does Jelena.”

 

He set his jaw. Then he nodded.

 

“We’ll just have to make do, then,” he said, sounding disappointed. “With the new baby, and your sister Irina…what will we do?”

 

“You’ll do what you have to,” she said, as sympathetically as possible. “No new cars. Take care of that baby.”

 

“I dreamed of so much more than this,” he mused.

 

“So did I,” she answered.

 

He didn’t, couldn’t, understand. Nadia felt an ache in her heart. She kissed his cheek goodbye. “I’ll call soon.”

 

She did dream of more than this. Now she had a chance at it, and she wasn’t going to lose that.

 

The doctor came out, and she stood. “You can see Mr. Luder now.”

 

“How is he?”

 

“Much better. A tough, er, guy.” She got the feeling he was about to say something else, like bastard, but had thought the better of it. “He has a tremendous will to live, and that helps matters immensely. He’ll be weak for a while, he’ll need to recover. But I don’t see why he shouldn’t be much healthier in a few months.”

 

“Thank you,” she breathed, then followed him impatiently into the room.

 

Dominic lay there, his scarred face pale, tubes attached to him, IVs. The doctor left them alone.

 

“I was so worried I’d lose you,” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it hard.

 

He smiled, her favorite lopsided smile. His eyes were serious. “So now what are we going to do?”

 

She smiled. “You’re going to be in here for a little while. I’ll stay for as long as they let me. Then, they’ll let you go home. I’ll take care of you.”

 

“And when I’m well…?” His eyes bore into her like bullets.

 

She smiled. “When you’re well,” she whispered, “I’m going to make love to you until you lose your mind.”

 

His smile was one of pure, animal desire—tempered by his recent accident, of course. “God, I hope so,” he breathed. “But then, Nadia?”

 

“I’ll stay with you,” she murmured. “Forever.”

 

“I don’t want you to stay out of pity.”

 

“That’s good,” she countered. “Because I’m not.”

 

He cleared his throat. She was about to ring the nurse for some water or apple juice for him, when he surprised her by reaching out, holding her hand.

 

“The contract…” he said. “Alexis is dead. That means I’m free. We’re free.”

 

She felt the word and its meaning sink in. Free.

 

“Will you marry me?”

 

She blinked. She hadn’t expected that. His eyes looked hopeful—even as she could feel the tension in his hand, hear it in his voice.

 

“Yes,” she said, and he let out a deep breath. “I expect to have a job of some sort,” she quickly added. “I want to be more independent. I’ll have my own life.”

 

He frowned at this, opening his mouth as if to protest.

 

She cut him off with a quelling look. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

 

He nodded, grinning slowly. “I may get a little crazy at times, because it’s hard for me. I’ve been this way for a long time. But I promise to try.”

 

She smiled. “Then you’ll start to get more of a life, too. You’ll find something you like doing. And we’ll both make love and have a life together.”

 

He nodded. “I can live with that.”