Brandi moved to the counter with Nikolai trailing after her. He seemed lost in another of his deep dark moods. “We want to look at wedding rings,” she told the clerk.
Nikolai moved behind her and put his hand on her waist. Heat moved out in radiant spikes from his touch. For the thousand time, she wished he was a heterosexual male, and he was touching her because he desired her. It’s an act, an act, an act, she recited in her head. She had to somehow start thinking of him like a best girl friend.
“Will you be needing an engagement ring, too?” asked the clerk as she pulled a tray of rings out from a glass display case.
“No. Where are the prices?”
The clerk showed where the little white tags were discretely tucked under the rings.
Nikolai’s hand shifted against her back. “Would want engagement ring?”
“What’s the point? We’ll be married on Tuesday. We only need some simple bands.”
“Excuse us, moment,” said Nikolai.
The clerk looked back and forth between them.
“She can’t leave the case out,” pointed out Brandi.
“We be back,” said Nikolai, pulling her out of the store into the walkway of the mall. He turned her to face him. “Want engagement ring?”
Brandi felt heat rise on her face. “No, I don’t need one.” She’d like to save some of the rituals for when she really got married some day. “Besides we can’t really afford one. We should just get the cheapest wedding band set that we can find.”
“You no worry. Get what want.”
No, she wouldn’t get what she wanted. She wanted a real marriage. No, she didn’t. She wanted Nikolai to want her. The marriage thing just confused everything. The concerned way his blue eyes searched her face confused her more. No, no, she wanted to compete in the Olympics and hear the Star Spangled Banner played. That was why she was here, buying wedding rings with a taciturn man who was nearly a stranger but would be by her side day and night for the next three to four years.
“Must do what...expected. What parents say? Three year notice cheap ring.”
“Okay we’ll get fourteen karat gold bands, but just simple ones.”
“Is what would do?”
“We can always tell people we plan to replace them when we turn pro after winning a medal.”
“Or I promise you diamond when get world Bronze.”
“Bronze? I want gold.”
His smile made her feel like melting in a puddle at his feet. “I not dream too big.”
“What’s wrong with dreaming big?”
He touched her cheek. “Not get cheap. I pay for nice ring. Others notice.”
She nodded. They walked back to the counter and looked at the bands. Nikolai stopped her when she kept looking at the price tags. He removed a ring with embedded diamond chips and pulled her right hand over to him and started to slide it on her ring finger.
“That’s the wrong hand.”
He blinked, shook his head slightly. “Is right hand, da?”
“No it isn’t.”
He held up both her hands in his and lifted her right hand a little. “I say wrong? Is right?”
“Well, yes it’s the right hand, but it’s the wrong hand.”
He scowled at her.
“Wedding rings go on the left.”
“Niet.”
She pulled the ring off her finger. “This one is too expensive. What do you like? The white gold one here is nice.”
“What white gold? Is silver?”
“It’s gold, just not yellow.”
“I know not yellow.”
The clerk plucked out a man’s ring and handed it to Nikolai, “Here try this one.”
Brandi grabbed his hands as he slid the ring onto his right ring finger. “Nikolai, wedding rings go on the left hand.”
He met her eyes and something passed between them. A current of heat that struck Brandi down to her toes.
“At home is right hand.”
She dropped her gaze and concentrated on the rings. His simple sentence said it all. This was not his home. Russia was. This was not his lifestyle. She was not his woman, although he could scorch her with a single look.
The clerk tried to make small talk, asking him where he was from and how he liked the states, while Brandi scanned the rings and asked if all the matching sets included engagement rings.
Nikolai leaned close to her ear and whispered. “Want match, get engagement ring.”
The clerk blithely replied that the engagement ring didn’t have to be included. Brandi nodded and picked up a simple band with an engraved border.
“Oh these are on sale. Forty percent off,” said the clerk.
Nikolai reached around her as she slid the smaller ring on her finger. “Is like?”
Brandi nodded, unable to speak around the lump that was forming in her throat. Nikolai tried the larger ring and put it on his left hand this time. He put her smaller hand over the back of his where they could look at both bands together. The heat from his body fed into hers. She wanted to lean back against him and bask in his warmth.
“Well, they both fit.”
“Is strange. Would put ring on you right hand some day.”
She froze unable to look at him or the clerk.
Nikolai’s voice was a little lower as he told the clerk that they’d take them. He wrapped his arm around her, trapping her in his embrace as he removed his ring and handed it to the clerk.
Not that she wasn’t used to being in his arms, but this wasn’t in the middle of a rink.
The clerk replaced the tray and locked the display case taking the rings to a cash register.
“Is okay?” said Nikolai.
Brandi nodded. What had he meant? Or were the words an act for the salesclerk? She thought of the day he proposed and had suggested that she might have his baby. She assumed then and now that he just meant he might want a child and would need a woman to give birth. That he might be able to get over his distaste for the act long enough to impregnate her.
He turned her in his arms, his hands on her shoulders. “I would be what want.”
He was probably talking about the rings, but the words seeped into her and gave her hope. Course it didn’t take much to make her start thinking things could be better. Eternal optimism could be a curse sometimes, especially when she thought about the obvious pitfalls of attempting the conversion of a sullen gay man, who barely spoke English into the kind of husband she dreamed about.
*~*~*
Nikolai enjoyed the view as Brandi bounced up the stairs ahead of him. She just didn’t seem to be able the resist the lure of speed on stairs. He smiled, not that he minded the sight of her athletic legs bounding up the steps. And climbing behind her, he could look to his heart’s content, and she would never notice.
She turned around and caught him. He raised his eyes to hers. She tilted her head sideways and her brown eyes were puzzled. He wanted to shout that yes, he was a normal male, but if she really meant what she said about not being willing to go through with this if the circumstances were different, waiting until after the marriage was legal seemed more sensible.
“Did you hear something?”
Besides the echo of his blood pounding in his ears? No, someone probably could have fired a cannon behind him and he wouldn’t have registered more than the thought that he wanted to have her tan legs wrapped around his waist, his hands on that cute behind of hers, his body joined with hers. “Niet,” he answered.
Brandi’s eyes widened, and Nikolai wondered if she realized the state he was in, that the mere thought of slipping the wedding ring on her finger and the normal accompanying husbandly rights left him hard as a rock, and his condition was getting more difficult to conceal.
“Kevin,” she squealed, and her feet hit the stairs briskly churning back down the steps.
His heart skipped a beat as she neared him near the mid-flight of the stairs. He wanted to reach out and grab her to him, to believe that she was flying into his arms. Only his name wasn’t and never had been Kevin.
Nikolai turned as she hurtled herself at her former skate partner, throwing her arms around his neck. Kevin grabbed her around the waist, lifting her from her feet and spinning her around in the tight space of the bottom landing.
“What are you doing here?” asked Brandi with far too much happiness for Nikolai’s liking.
Yes, what was he doing here?
“Is time for to hear good news,” said Nikolai. He regretted the words as he saw some of Brandi’s joy flit away.
Kevin looked back and forth between them and said, “I came up for the weekend to see the campus at Purdue, but after I saw the hall where I’ll stay, there wasn’t that much to see. Besides it’s only a little over a four hour drive, so I thought I’d come up and see how you’re doing. Your mom gave me the address, and she wants you to call her.”
“I need to,” said Brandi with a touch of grimness around her lips.
“I tried calling, but I didn’t get an answer. Man, I’m beat. So you’re still staying here with Nick? How you doing, Nikolai?”
“Am good,” said Nikolai, wondering how long Kevin would stand there with his arm around Brandi. Of course Brandi didn’t look like she wanted to move and her arm was around Kevin’s waist. “Would come in?”
“Yeah, come on up, but don’t expect much. Your dorm is probably more exciting. Gosh, I can’t believe you’re here.”
“It’s good to see you again, Brandi.”
Nikolai could see the extra squeeze that accompanied that statement. He wanted to tell Kevin to take his hands off of her, but the reaction would startle both of them. Brandi certainly wouldn’t expect jealousy from a man who had no reason to stake his own claim.
Kevin didn’t know that they would be married in three days.
“Can I crash here with you, or are you going to make me drive back to Indianapolis tonight?
Brandi’s eyes grew wide, and she chewed her lip.
The words were alarming to Nikolai too, but he suspected he didn’t understand. “What mean crash?”
“Sleep over. The floor’s okay with me,” said Kevin.
“Can sleep couch,” said Nikolai.
“Yeah, sure, of course you can,” said Brandi in a patently bright false tone. She gave Nikolai a what-are-you-thinking kind of look.
He shrugged. She would have to share the bedroom with him, like any normal about-to-be-married couple would. It wasn’t as if they weren’t all adults here. Although Kevin was barely one.
Surely, she didn’t intend for Kevin to share the bedroom with her, or him for that matter. Nikolai wondered, not for first time, about the level of intimacy between Brandi and her former partner.
“So how’s the skating going?” asked Kevin, as they moved toward the apartment.
“Is good.” Nikolai unlocked the door, the plastic bag containing their rings in his hand.
Brandi finally dropped her arm from around Kevin’s waist.
“Where put these?” Nikolai held out the bag.
“I’ll put it in the dresser,” she snatched the bag from his hand and trounced into the bedroom.
“Excuse me,” Nikolai said, following Brandi.
He shut the bedroom door. “Will tell him?”
“How are we going to work this with him staying the night?” She opened the top drawer of the dresser and stuffed the bag inside, closing it with a hip.
“I sleep here with you tonight. Must look real to all. I not tell Alexei that marriage is for citizenship. You no tell Kevin.”
“Great. I haven’t even told my parents yet.”
“Is phone,” said Nikolai crossing his arms and nodding to the phone sticking out of her purse.
She cast a half-hearted glance at it, gave a tiny shake of her head, and moved to the door. “We’re being rude.”
She opened the door.
“Wow, guys. This place only has one bedroom. I don’t have to stay. I just figured that—”
“Is okay, Brandi marry me.”
“Really?” Kevin looked back and forth between them, his expression flitting from stunned to curious. “That’s fast.”
Brandi looked down, and Nikolai slid his arm around her waist. “Is just decided.”
“I guess that means you won’t be my date for homecoming, huh?”
“We’ll be competing,” said Brandi in a small voice.
“When go California?” Nikolai didn’t understand what they were talking about.
“No, not home to our home. It’s a fall football game and a dance,” said Brandi, moving to sit down in the chair beside where Kevin sat on the couch.
Nikolai felt foreign and out of place as both she and Kevin understood the reference. Brandi hadn’t looked directly at either one of them since he’d announced their wedding.
“Would like drink? Is tea or—”
“A glass of tea would be great,” said Kevin.
“Me too,” said Brandi.
Nikolai shook his head and walked to the kitchen. When he got there he put his head in his hands and leaned against the counter. He wanted to storm back in the living room, pick Kevin up by the scruff of his neck, and toss him out of the apartment. On the other hand, his presence meant Nikolai would share the bedroom, if not the bed with Brandi. And that was reason enough to let the kid stay.
*~*~*
Her stomach churning, Brandi watched Nikolai move down the small hallway until he turned into the small kitchen. Was his determination to tell Kevin about the pending marriage revenge for the way she had blurted the news to Alexei? She still couldn’t forget the way the two men hugged, and that kiss. Admittedly the kiss was on the cheek, but still.
“Are you okay?” whispered Kevin. “He didn’t like...force you or anything.”
“No it’s not like that,” said Brandi. She made herself smile even though her lips seemed weighted at the corners. “It’s just that I know it must seem ridiculously fast. I mean he asked, and I said yes.”
“Are you sure it’s not just...well, you know...just lust? I know you, Brandi. I know that you don’t like sleep around and maybe you’re thinking it’s more than what it is.”
“Trust me, it’s not that.” Well, maybe there was a little of that in why she said yes, but lust on his side was definitely absent. And there wasn’t going to be any of that in their marriage anyway.
“Well, you are in love, aren’t you?” Kevin looked at her with a seriousness that belied his age. Of course he wasn’t thirteen anymore. And he no longer took her blanket assurances at face value.
Brandi’s face heated. “Well yeah, of course I am.” In love with the idea of skating in the Olympics as an American. When she looked at it that way she felt like she’d prostituted herself for her dream. Of course she wouldn’t be called upon to play the role any further, but that thought was more repellent than comforting. The least that should happen when you sold yourself for a goal was that the buyer wanted to sample the wares.
She shook her head. She absolutely had to get her mind out of the gutter. She had to start thinking of Nikolai as no more interested in sleeping with her than a donkey would want to make it with a sheep. Nikolai and she were entirely different breeds, when it came to that.
Nikolai entered the room with glasses. He handed one to her and one to Kevin. Nikolai’s movements were jerky unlike his usual smooth glide. So he felt awkward too. Of course she had a suspicion based on the short time they were together that he expected her to play hostess, although he hadn’t commented when she told him it was his turn to do dishes. But since she’d been dividing the kitchen chores in the middle, he probably was willing to accept her decrees for division of labor. It only occurred to her now, that there had been a flair of surprise in his blue eyes when she put in her drink order a minute ago.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” She nearly choked on the endearment. Why she had chosen sweetheart for a man that was more often dour than sweet she couldn’t have said.
She needed to convince Kevin that all was well. If not, his curiosity was liable to cause her problems. She stood up and slid her arm around Nikolai’s waist. He responded by pulling her against his side so tightly she put her other arm around his waist. “Did you know that in Russia people wear their wedding rings on the right hand?”
Brandi could see Kevin shake his head out of the corner of her eyes. “That bag was holding wedding rings?”
Nikolai turned to face her. She continued to hold on, hoping he would play along. He did, better than she could have hoped.
He raised one hand and cupped her jaw, sliding his other hand up her back and pulling her against his tall frame. Brandi sucked in a deep breath as her breasts encountered the hard wall of his chest. His blue eyes held hers as a soft flow of Russian words slid over her as he bent his head down and kissed the side of her neck. Her heart pounded in a mad cadence, and the language of his words didn’t matter. She could pretend they were the words she wanted to hear, as his dark hair brushed her cheek. She breathed deeply of the scent of him and wanted to stay locked in his solid, tender embrace forever.
“Uh guys, if you want me to leave just say so.”
Nikolai backed away a step. A soft sigh of disappointment escaped her lips, embarrassing her with the neediness of the sound.
“Niet. I go, so you talk before Brandi work.” Nikolai’s blue eyes were bright. “Would need food, da?” He was probably making fun of her escape yesterday.
“Hey, let me take you guys out to eat to celebrate.”
Brandi floundered. She knew the ground was there somewhere. If she kept stretching out her toes she would find it. The problem was she wasn’t sure if the ground was below her, or she had already pitched ten thousand feet down to a place that was well underneath it all. Either way she felt ridiculously giddy.
*~*~*
Later after Brandi returned from work, Nikolai went to the bedroom to allow her a chance to talk with Kevin. He lay back on the bed on top of the covers anticipating the coming night with dread and a hungry eagerness that had no place and would have no reward.
He wondered if he should get up and take a cold shower. He was forestalled by Brandi swinging through the doorway.
“Kevin wants to watch us practice in the morning. When I told him we practice at four, he said he wanted to turn in. So I’m going to take a shower now instead of in the morning when we’re all trying to get ready.”
So much for cooling down in a cold spray of water. Nikolai looked at the clock beside the bed and saw that it was nearly nine-thirty. They would all need to be up in six hours. He had already given the blanket and pillow he normally used on the couch to Kevin.
Pulling the remaining pillow down over his lap, he leaned up on his elbows as Brandi pulled an oversized tee shirt from the dresser. “Would want I sleep floor?”
She turned her big brown eyes in his direction. “No,” she said slowly. We don’t have another blanket, and I’m sure the floor would be too uncomfortable.”
Given his condition and her impending nearness, the bed might be worse. “Da.”
“You’ll just stay on your side, and I’ll stay on mine. It’s not like anything would happen anyway. Just like a slumber party with any other friend.” She gathered her clothing and left the room, closing the door on her way out.
Nikolai pulled the pillow off his lap and gingerly removed his jeans. He groaned as the shift of material against his engorged flesh almost hurt. He wanted her more than he knew how to handle. He removed his shirt and slid under the covers in his underwear.
Using the willpower and determination that had made him a world-class athlete, he forced his brain to other matters. Even if Brandi was open to an intimate relationship, he couldn’t bury his flesh in hers the minute she crawled into bed. Like any woman she would need to be seduced, kissed, caressed, explored, treasured, fondled, reassured... “Niet,” he told himself sternly.
He made himself think of Alexei’s problem. Vera’s pregnancy ought to temper his own desire. If he and Brandi were to make love and he made her pregnant, the whole purpose behind their marriage might be in jeopardy.
The thought gave him pause, even if it didn’t particularly cull the desire. Poor Alexei had always been plagued by bad luck. When he and Vera took third in the Russian nationals they were unable to compete at Worlds because Alexei broke his foot. The next year Tatiana and Nikolai bumped Alexei and Vera down in the rankings, although with Tatiana’s falls in major competitions, the other couple would have had a better shot at ranking. The falls had another consequence in putting at risk how many slots were available to the Russian team at the international competitions.
Nikolai and Tatiana had made it to Worlds twice, but had proved an embarrassment for the Russian contingent. Just before he’d broken the partnership with Tatiana giving Vera and Alexei another shot at the last Russian slot, they had renounced their Olympic eligible status to turn pro. Another streak of bad luck in Alexei’s case, and now as they were on the verge of a professional season that could mean the difference between steady work for the next few years or scrambling for fill-in spots.
The door opened and Nikolai stared as Brandi darted in. She dropped a handful of clothing on the floor. He crossed his feet at the ankles to make sure the bedspread didn’t reveal his arousal, which was again aching as he watched his future wife rub her head across the dimly lit room.
She shed the short robe and underneath was a towel wrapped around her and tucked in between her breasts. He sucked in a stiff breath and closed his eyes willing down the painful need. He opened them again to see she had turned her back to him. She sat down on the far edge of the bed. He started to ask her what was wrong, when he could see her hand’s reflection in the mirror over the dresser. His ability to speak was temporary halted as he watched her tug at the twisted edge of the towel.
The towel slipped slightly, and she held it up with one hand pressed flat against her chest. He willed the towel to fall with every fiber of his being. He wanted to see the soft curves he had caught in his hand on more than one occasion. She twisted to look at him, and he shut his eyes rather than allow his curiosity and hopeful interest to be blatantly obvious.
Not that he would keep his eyes shut more than a second. He peeked. She was sliding her tee shirt over her head, her arms upstretched. The towel pooled around her hips. His eyes sought out the part of her he wanted to see.
He watched the material slip down over her perfect breasts, catching slightly for a half-second on the nipples and then skimming down over the under-curve. He wanted her, her wanted to pull the nightshirt up and look, touch and taste to his heart’s content. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman. This woman who was soon to be his convenient, but untouchable and inconvenient wife, he wanted more than he wanted anything else.
He must have made some small sound because she twisted to look at him. He blinked. He needed to think with his brain. He wanted his skating to succeed. Ice first, fire melting the ice would be a major problem. He had to think of more than his own desires in this partnership. He had to make sure that Brandi’s needs were met too. A successful skating partnership had to be strong on mutual respect and understanding.
“I thought you were asleep.”
“Niet.”
“I couldn’t change in that dinky bathroom. I bumped my head on the wall again.”
“Is okay?”
She stood up and gathered the towel off the bed. “It’s not like I should treat you any different than a girl friend, right?”
Niet, but then again, he didn’t mind being given the opportunity to look. “Is no problem.”
“Right just a sheep, goat thing.”
He had no idea what she was talking about.
She pulled back the covers on her side and slid in with a wary trepidation that didn’t bode well for him making his sexual preference known to her with any hope of success.
He groaned under his breath. Sleep was a long time in coming. But of course his eyes popped open the minute he heard her move. He watched her tiptoe across the bedroom, slide open a drawer and pull out clothes. She sat gingerly on the edge of the bed and pulled off her tee shirt with a jerky haste. She struggled into her bra, quickly, too quickly as she got a strap twisted and struggled to fasten it.
He sat up and reached for the strap. “I help.”
“You probably need to get ready.”
His fingers brushed the skin of her back and with a strength of purpose he wasn’t sure he could exercise, he kept himself from leaning over and pressing his lips against her shoulder. He fastened the bra and patted her shoulder. “Is good.”
“Thank you,” she said brightly. “You better get up and moving.”
He couldn’t get up, or he was already up but his condition would be far too obvious. The alarm beside the bed started to buzz.
She shut it off. She grabbed socks off the pile of clothes on the bed and pulled her foot up to pull one on. He groaned.
“You should have gone to sleep earlier,” she said. “Come on Nikolai, get up. You need to wake up Kevin.”
“You do.”
“No, I can’t. I’m not dressed yet. After all he is a normal male and I can’t be parading around in my underwear in front of him.”
No, just in front of him.
She padded across the room in her socks, and he followed her movements with his eyes, hunger burning in him.
She put her hands on her hips and turned to face him. “Nikolai!”
“Da, I up.” He couldn’t take much more of this, and he couldn’t get out of bed until she turned around. Which she finally did to open the door and call out to Kevin. He scrambled out from under the covers grabbed his jeans and yanked them on with his back to her.
Two more days of this torture and he was done with it. He would stand by his promise to let her dictate the terms of their marriage, but he’d be damned if he sat by and let her treat him like he was an androgynous drone. He raked his hands through his hair as he tried to make his brain work.
*~*~*
“Oh hell!”
Not exactly the first words he hoped to hear from his new bride. Oh well nothing was conventional about his marriage. He could hope it meant his swift kiss at least affected her a little. She was walking away from him, her skirt molding her cute—well he wanted to be cupping his hands around there while he leaned down for his kiss, but a warning flashed in her eyes and kept him from indulging in a vulgar display. But he had slipped the simple band on her finger, a minute before, and followed the bare bones vows in English.
“Mom, Dad, what are you doing here?”
Nikolai’s curse was in Russian, fortunately. He shook his head and followed his wife to where she had crossed the floor to the waiting area. He took in the sour look of the woman in a pale lemon linen suit and the salt and pepper hair of the man in a suit. They both watched him cross the room. The woman alternated between looking at him and Brandi, and the man looked more directly at him. Neither one of them gave him the slightest sign of welcome. He resisted the temptation to shove his hands in his jeans pockets. Fortunately the clerk stayed his execution by handing him the license and shaking his hand.
“Did we miss the whole thing?” asked the woman.
“Oh the whole thing only took five minutes,” said Brandi with too much brightness.
Their voices echoed across the empty space.
He maneuvered up beside her, sliding his left hand with the certificate around her waist. He prayed his English wouldn’t fail him. On the other hand maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea if it did. Perhaps he should have been better prepared to meet his new in-laws after hearing Brandi repeatedly telling them last night on the phone there was no reason for them to come for the wedding. He supposed somewhere in that long drawn out conversation she must have given the particulars, when and where.
“Relax,” he whispered in her ear, dropping an affectionate kiss on her hair, as if their hurried wedding had been a pure love match.
She had to have inherited her determination from someone. Nikolai looked between her two parents and wondered which one. The silence had gone on so long he could have translated most of an encyclopedia. He thrust out his right hand, pulling Brandi tight against his side. “Hello, I am Nikolai. I am pleased to meet you.” Basic English. Almost the first words he learned to speak.
Her father grabbed his hand just before he was about to lower it.
“Welcome to the family, Nick.” He covered his hand with his other, shaking warmly. “I’m Brandi’s father. Is it Petronof?”
“Da.” Brandi’s nudge prompted him to say, “Yes.”
Her mother took his hand. She patted it, holding it instead of shaking it. “Oh yes, this is just such a surprise.”
And another delay in telling Brandi that he wasn’t gay.
“I am happy you come,” he said.
Brandi frowned. He nudged her. She pasted on a big smile that was obviously fake.
“Well,” said her mother.
“We have dinner, da?” He knew his nervousness was making his accent worse than normal. His have sounded like heb. He was frowning now too.
“Why that would be lovely,” answered Brandi’s mother. “But did you two have plans? A honeymoon? I didn’t know if you didn’t want us to be here, if you had some place you needed to leave for.” Her voice trailed off.
“No, Mom. I told you, we have to train tomorrow morning.”
Nikolai turned to Brandi. He wasn’t sure what a honeymoon was, but he was pretty sure he knew what the word meant. Russian custom dictated time alone for a bride and groom too. But that was usually after the families were invited to the wedding feast and allowed to participate. “We take parents to dinner, da?”
“Da means yes. The first time I saw Nikolai in Budapest he kept saying niet, niet, niet. It was driving me crazy. Niet means no. He had a different partner then.”
“I not marry her. Brandi better,” Nikolai said to interrupt his bride’s nervous chatter.
“No, Tatiana’s a much better skater than I am.”
“I not love Tatiana,” he said sharply.
She stared up at him, her brown eyes widening. She slowly blinked. Nikolai was torn between offering a demonstration of affection in front of her parents and not offering a demonstration of affection in front of her parents out of respect for them and concern about propriety.
His head started to spin with the ramifications of any action. And her lips parted as she stared up at him, her pupils dilated. From fear? Nervousness? Anticipation of another kiss? He doubted he could keep a kiss impersonal. But she had to relax or her parents would never believe this marriage was real, and if they didn’t, the whole thing could be lost. He settled for brushing her hair back from her face.
“Well, we won’t keep you two long, but dinner would be nice. So you two didn’t just meet at Lake Placid. You’ve actually known each other longer? Bucharest was over a year ago, wasn’t it, Brandi?” said her mother.
Brandi was blushing. Nikolai stepped up. “Da, we meet in Bucharest. She watch skate. I watch her.”
“Skate,” added Brandi hastily. “He watched me skate.”
Nikolai smiled. She was giving her parents the wrong impression. Actually maybe it hadn’t been so wrong. He had gone out to watch her, and been surprised at her ability and toughness under pressure.
He been totally impressed with the way she saved a fall. Her partner’s grip had failed, and she had caught his leg, instead of reaching down for the ice. She’d even had the presence of mind to avoid placing her hand on Kevin’s boot garnering a deduction. Really, if it wasn’t for Kevin’s expression of horror, the move might have worked. But he hadn’t expected to see a great skater when he watched her. He had simply been intrigued by her. But the way they had noticed each other then offered a decent explanation for their haste.
“Perhaps you could show us your apartment, and we can decide on a restaurant to eat,” suggested her mother.
He felt her tightness under his arm. If she wound any tighter she was going to start shaking or spinning out of control like a top.
“Did you take a taxi?” asked Brandi. “How long are you staying? Our apartment is really small.”
“We rented a car at the airport,” answered her mother.
“We won’t intrude on your privacy. We planned on staying at a motel. Is there one close to your place?” said her father with a shake of his head at Nikolai.
Nikolai felt like protesting. It wasn’t like privacy was likely to be any advantage to him, even if Brandi was attempting to give that impression.
“Why don’t we follow you two back to your place. We can spend a little time getting acquainted and then go out to dinner,” said her mother.
“Da, this is good. Brandi?”
She dragged on his arm, holding him back as her parents went out into the hallway towards the main elevator. “No, we can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t let them see how we live.” She called out louder to her parents. “Maybe we should just check you into a motel, first, Mom, Dad.”
He caught her around the waist and pulled her back against him. He smiled at her father as he turned around to see them. “Apartment is temporary, da?” he whispered in her ear. “Not ashamed. Mother, Father think ashamed of me.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“You follow us to home. Brandi worry is small,” Nikolai said as he led Brandi to join her parents waiting for the elevator.
“Ugly,” she added, earning a frown from him.
“We skate much time. Not there much. Is temporary,” he added a shrug.
“It’s economical,” added Brandi.
“Reminds me Moscow,” he said. He released his bride. She was ashamed of his apartment. “Brandi teach me appreciate America.” He sure as hell hoped he’d managed to say that word correctly.
“And will you teach her to appreciate Russia?” asked her mother.
I doubt it. He shrugged. “Niet. I become US citizen.”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind visiting someday,” Brandi said, wrapping her arm around his and leaning into him.
Nikolai found her hand and laced their fingers together. He stared down at his new wife for the entire ride down. He looked up as the elevator doors opened and caught a knowing smile being exchanged between her parents. Whew! They’d passed the test. Brandi had the anxious eager newlywed act down well enough to fool her parents. Wasn’t much of an act for him. He was anxious and eager.
And it seemed eternally damned to live in a perpetual state of frustration. How could he spring the truth on her with her obvious nervousness around her parents?
“Well, this isn’t so bad,” said her mother as he led them into the apartment.
Her sniff wasn’t quite so generous, but she was trying. Brandi on the other hand was standing out in the hall as if she couldn’t face showing her parents their little place. He remembered her reaction the first time she had seen it. He had felt like apologizing then too.
“I’m sure that first flat we had on Elm was smaller, wasn’t it, honey?” said her father.
Brandi’s mother said, “Oh much. It was a studio.”
That didn’t mean anything to him, but he’d ask Brandi later if she ever decided to come in the apartment.
“Would like cognac?” asked Nikolai, wondering what was appropriate. “Or is tea.” He hoped there was tea. Brandi usually had a pitcher in the refrigerator. But things had been rushed the last few days with the marriage arrangements and no breaks in their training or classes or her work.
“If you point us, Nick. I’m sure we can take care of drinks for ourselves. I think your bride is waiting,” said her father.
“I’ll just powder my nose,” said her mother.
Nikolai flushed as Brandi’s parents left them alone. Only Brandi was still standing out in the hall. “You can come in, Brandi,” he said, passing the doorway. “They have get drink.” Or at least her father had, Nikolai wasn’t sure exactly what her mother was doing to her nose.
Brandi had her face in her hands. Was she that embarrassed? His stomach started to burn and his fingers curled into fists. Her parents had to wait on themselves because she wouldn’t come in their apartment, and he was expected to coax her in or something.
“You don’t know, do you?”
“That you embarrassed, and my English bad.”
“Oh, Nikolai, that’s not—”
“You hide face. Not come in. Shut door. You let hot inside.” Please let her come in. He didn’t know how he would make conversation with her parents when she insisted on standing out in the hallway.
She looked up and her eyes were filled with amusement. “Come here. You need to learn an American custom.”
“What?” he asked flustered. She wasn’t embarrassed?
“You are supposed to carry me across the threshold.”
“What is threshold?”
She crooked her finger at him.
He’d had it. He crossed the living room in determined strides, picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder and closed the door. He didn’t set her down in the living room, but carried her into the bedroom and dumped her onto the bed. “I show you Russian marriage custom.”
He heard the bedroom door that he hadn’t shut click softly behind him.