gazed at him.
«What am I talking about?» He thought trying to take himself under control. «Who am I to her? Just a policeman.»
«I remember you.» Vera smiled. «You took away the cat that we found.»
Chuckling, Nina gently poked Vera and whispered something into her ear.
«Stop it, Nina.» Vera did not let on, but he understood.
«They noticed my feelings!» Jeff thought, averting his eyes. «I look stupid.»
«I read somewhere,» Vera was addressing Jeff. «A man put a bouquet of the flowers on the porch of his neighbor. The owner of the house reported it to the police, and the man was arrested.»
«Crazy lady,» Nina giggled. «I wish someone put flowers on my porch.»
«I think you’re right, Nina.» Vera fixed her glare on Jeff, and the embarrassed policeman wanted to change the subject. He looked at her car.
«Your car is much cheaper than your husband’s,» he said with surprise.
«We have separate accounts and budgets,» Vera calmly answered, reviving hope in his heart. «We spend money how we want. I need to pay for my study, and the paints are very expensive. Oleg has his own business in Russia. But my account is all the money that I have. I have to be practical.»
«I don’t understand,» Nina cut in. «Why Vera doesn’t kick her light-headed hubby out and find some good, serious man instead.»
«Oleg loves me,» explained Vera, moving her braid in front of her. Enchanted by the view, Jeff watched her long thin fingers mechanically playing with her chestnut hair. «Immigration is a very difficult process. It would be a dishonest act and a betrayal to divorce him.»
«And this is why…» Jeff felt irritation, and lost his careful manner. «you’re ready to sacrifice your life, and maybe the happiness of some other man?»
«Yes, because I appreciate and value such feelings.»
«Don’t you think another man can have the same or maybe even stronger feelings for you?» He saw Nina walk aside leaving him alone with Vera, and he fell silent.
«You don’t know me.» Squeezing her braid, Vera stared at Jeff. The small, refined features of her dizzyingly white face made her look like a mouse.
«I feel as if I’ve known you all my life,» Jeff replied very quietly, and Vera lowered her eyes thinking about her husband.
Vera had been dating Oleg about two months when she received the invitation from the University.
She was afraid that she had misunderstood. She went to her trusted professor, then to the Embassy of the United States.
Everybody confirmed these papers, and an excited Vera barely believed her luck.
She was sorting her belongings when Oleg entered her apartment, and she felt confused. He was a nice man, he helped her, but Vera had no strong feeling for him. She was happy to have a reason to break up with him in a friendly way, without, she hoped, a scandal.
«Oleg.» She tried to talk calmly. «I’m sorry, but we have to stop seeing each other.»
He gazed at her, and Vera finished quickly. «I’ve got a fellowship to study in the U.S.A. I’m moving there.»
Without a word, Oleg circled the room twice.
It seemed as if he could not decide what to do. Suddenly, he approached Vera, fell on his knees, grabbed her hands, and started erotically kissing them.
«How could you think I’d leave you because of that?» He was talking, with a catch in his voice. «I can’t live without you. You are my sunshine and air. Let’s get married! I’ll go with you to the ends of the world!»
Dazed, Vera could not reply; she just did not know what to say. Oleg caressed her and his skillful touching enchanted her, as usual mixing up her thoughts.
Panting and trembling, they helped each other undress, and, drunk with excitement, they hastily got into bed.
«I’m not a whore, am I?» Vera could barely think. «I probably do love Oleg, as I can feel such pleasure. Oh God.» She lost herself for a moment, but thoughts about moving came back. «It’s so difficult to live alone in a foreign country. Well, the Lapins will be in the same city, but they have their own family. Oleg loves me. God, how he loves me! He can always find an out to any situation. It’s great to have someone beside you. Someone whom you can trust.»
The deep vortex of enjoyment sucked her in, and she melted into it.
When she finally opened her eyes and saw Oleg’s face close to her, Vera had difficulty recalling what they had been talking about.
«Would you marry me?» She heard his tender voice, and she nodded. Worry lodged in her heart for a second, but he gasped with such sincere gladness that all her concern was gone at once.
«Everything will be fine,» she thought.
* * * * *
«My name is Jeff.»
The sentence dragged Vera back to the present, and she stared with amazement at the black police officer, discerning true and powerful passion glowing in his dark brown eyes.
«Jeff,» she repeated, dreamily. «Jeff.»
Chapter 3: The Last Day of October
«Honey, it’s too cold outside.» Nina hesitated, then looked through the window at the first snowflakes whirling in the air like white bees.
«But I can’t go without a costume!» cried Larisa. «You’re a bad mom. Why didn’t you buy me a costume?»
«You chose this yourself.» Nina pointed at the ballerina’s dress. «At the school party you were the cutest one. It’s not my fault that the weather became so cold.»
«But I need a costume to go out.» Larisa still wept while an upset Nina looked at her with compassion and pain in her heart.
«Sweetie, we have no money to buy another one.» The woman stopped short as an idea came to her. She ran to the closet and took out her white lacy blouse with long sleeves and a brown mini-skirt.
«Put on your clothes,» she told Larisa, and when the girl did, Nina pulled the blouse straight over Larisa’s orange coat. She tied the collar and the sleeves with ribbons, and admired the job that she had done. It seemed now as if the girl was wearing only this blouse.
Then Nina put the skirt on her daughter, and tied the belt so it fit the girl’s waist. Since Nina was very short for an adult woman, the skirt reached Larisa’s calves.
Next Nina took her straw hat and tied it onto Larisa’s head with a pink scarf. Nina decorated her daughter’s shoes with bows, and Larisa looked like a peasant girl. She ran to a mirror checking herself out, and laughed with delight.
«I am a shepherdess!»
«Yep, honey.» Nina gave her a big toy lamb. «And you won’t be cold now.»
«We’re
