was connected to the people from his past and that complication he did not need.
Daniil, having seen his wife leave, wrapped up the speeches and soon the dancing would start.
‘I have to go,’ Anya said to Nikolai. ‘You can walk me out.’
He did, and gladly so, because now that the speeches were over he knew that soon Sev would be looking to speak with him and he was considering making his own getaway.
They came out to the sight of Rachel holding Libby up and Daniil on the phone. ‘Daniil’s calling the hospital,’ Rachel explained, uninvited. ‘And his driver’s on his way.’
‘I’m just calling for mine,’ Anya said, and took out her own phone.
They were so reserved, Rachel thought. Most people she knew would be panicking and as flustered as she was.
Daniil looked a bit grey but that was as far as it went. Nikolai and Anya were chatting in Russian, as if a heavily pregnant woman wasn’t moaning close by them.
‘So,’ Anya asked, ‘do you think back to those days?’
‘I do all I can not to think of those days,’ Nikolai said. ‘Why did Sev think I had died?’
‘A body was dragged from the river a couple of weeks after you disappeared. Your bag had been found further upstream, with that wooden ship you built and the sexy book...’
Nikolai swallowed.
‘Sev was devastated,’ Anya admitted. ‘He blamed himself.’
‘Why would he blame himself?’
‘That is what tends to happen when your closest friend throws themselves into a cold river rather than tell you there is something wrong.’
It was a difficult conversation but it did not look like it to an outsider. Rachel couldn’t believe how easily Anya and Nikolai appeared to be chatting as Libby started to groan again. ‘You have the oddest friends,’ Rachel said as she rubbed Libby’s back.
‘I know they are.’ Libby came out of the contraction and they both shared a smile as Anya waved over to them as her car arrived. ‘I hope it goes well, Libby,’ Anya said, as her chauffeur got out and opened the car door.
Libby nodded but once Anya was in the car her face moved into a snarl, which was most unlike Libby, especially what she said next. ‘Tough bitch.’
‘Oh, God!’ Rachel exclaimed. ‘You’re going to have it now, aren’t you? On one of the shows I watch they start swearing...’ Her voice trailed off and she saw that Daniil was waving to his driver, who was stuck at traffic lights, to hurry, and that Nikolai was walking back inside.
‘Nikolai,’ Rachel called out to him. ‘Get here.’
He came over.
‘How could you leave?’ she asked.
‘I am sure Libby would prefer—’
‘It’s not about what she might prefer,’ Rachel interrupted. ‘I might need some help.’
‘Do you want to push?’ he calmly asked Libby.
‘No.’
‘Then she has plenty of time till the baby arrives,’ Nikolai said.
He just stood there calmly, as if slightly bored, until Daniil’s driver pulled up and then asked, ‘How far away is the hospital?’
‘It’s just five minutes away,’ Libby said. ‘Without traffic!’
The streets were packed.
‘You’ll be fine,’ Nikolai said.
Daniil seemed to think so too and he shook his head when Rachel offered to climb in the back with them. ‘There’s no need.’
‘But what if she has it on the way?’ Rachel asked as she protested her dismissal.
‘How many babies have you delivered, Rachel?’ Daniil asked.
‘Er, that would be none.’
‘How about you, Nikolai?’
‘Two,’ Nikolai answered, and smothered a smile at Rachel’s pout. ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ he offered.
‘God, no!’ Libby said.
‘You’ll let me know when she has it,’ Rachel checked. ‘I don’t care what time it is!’
‘Of course.’ Daniil gave her a nod and then got in the back with his wife and as they drove off she turned to Nikolai.
‘You took all the drama out of that, didn’t you?’ Rachel accused.
And then, then she got his smile.
His full one.
It was like a wave rushing in unexpectedly—with no buffer. He was absolutely beautiful and his smile welcomed her, for the very first time, into his space.
She stood there, late in the afternoon on a busy street, as if finally alone with him, and smiled back.
‘How come you’ve delivered two babies?’ Rachel asked, moving one step closer. ‘Are you a doctor?’
‘No.’
‘A nurse, then?’
‘Please, no.’
‘Then how—?’
‘I worked on ships,’ Nikolai said. ‘The first baby I delivered, the mother was a stowaway and they don’t tend to declare they are pregnant and neither do they come with health insurance.’
‘Oh, my God!’ He was utterly fascinating, Rachel decided. She simply had to know more. ‘Tell me!’
‘The mother and baby were fine.’
‘What about the other one? Was she a stowaway as well?’
‘No, she was a colleague and didn’t know she was pregnant. That baby was very small.’
‘Did it live?’
‘Yes.’
Rachel wanted to snap her fingers for more information but he told her no more.
Nikolai could feel her curiosity and impatience and he cast another slow smile in her direction.
Oh, his mouth was like a magnet because with just a small shift of his lips Rachel took a step towards him.
‘I’m going to find out,’ she warned him.
‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re not.’
‘I’m very
