Saving Katya

by Sandra Edwards

  Katya looked up at Kate and fingered her hair out of her face. “Are you okay, Mommy?”

  Kate embraced Katya. “I don’t want you to worry about me, okay? It was just a little tumble on the ice.”

  “I heard Alexei say...Kate Peterson doesn’t fall.”

  “Alexei?”

  “Mr. Petrova. He said I could call him Alexei.”

  It was sounding like Alexei and Katya had already had a heart-to-heart. The whole notion tightened around Kate’s heart, squeezing out all hope of this ending well.

  “So, what’d he mean when he said you don’t fall?” Katya wanted to know.

  “Nothing. He doesn’t know I don’t skate all the time anymore. Plus, he’s not taking into account that I’m just not as graceful as I used to be,” Kate added with a bit of a chuckle.

  “So, you really are okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Kate played it off with a casual response, but she could feel the walls closing in on her. She was very near the edge, on the verge of lying to her daughter. And she couldn’t have that. She had to change the subject. “What’d you and Debra have for lunch?”

  “Debra had a cheeseburger. I had spaghetti,” Katya said in a no-nonsense tone. “I like Mr. Petrova. You really used to skate together?”

  “Yes. Briefly.”

  “Why’d you stop?”

  The reason clogged in Kate’s throat. She couldn’t give too much away here. “He...he had to go back to Russia.”

  “I see…” Katya’s words trailed off. Kate could see the wheels turning inside her head, and she didn’t like it.

  “Katya, it was a long time ago.” Kate wanted to say it didn’t mean that much, but that was a bad idea since she’d promised Alexei she’d tell Katya about him. Well, there was no time like the present. Either she’d tell her now or she’d end up lying to her, and Kate didn’t want that. “When Alexei left, I thought he was gone for good. There was no reason to bring him up to you.”

  Katya sighed. “Is that why you never mention my father?” Her question sent Kate’s heartbeat into overdrive. “Because you thought he wasn’t coming back?”

  There was no beating around this bush anymore. “Something like that,” Kate said with a hint of remorse and bucket full of despair.

  “And now?”

  Damn it. Sometimes that child was too mature for her own good. Definitely too mature for Kate’s well-being.

  “If my daddy came around…” Katya locked eyes with Kate. “You’d tell me, right?”

  “Yes, I would. Just as soon as I’d figured out he wasn’t going to reject you.”

  “Have you figured that out yet?”

  “Just today.”

  A few seconds of silence between them lingered on like eons. Long enough for Kate to start to wonder if her daughter was going to end up crushed—just like Kate had been eight years ago.

  “So...does he want to be my daddy?”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  DEBRA AND ALEXEI made their way along the corridor in silence. At the next intersection he veered off to the right, away from the elevators that would take them to the cafeteria. There were two things ahead—the emergency waiting area and the exit. Debra knew they weren’t leaving. Why were they going to the waiting room?

  Alexei claimed a chair on the far side of the room and Debra took the empty seat beside him. “Lose your appetite?” she asked.

  He gave her a little laugh and then looked at her curiously. “I thought she could use some time alone with her daughter.”

  Debra scrutinized Alexei’s face, his eyes, looking for any tell-tell signs of what he was up to. Alexei Petrova couldn’t turn out to be the ass Kate thought he was. That would have a profound effect on Debra’s romantic delusions. “That’s very gentlemanly of you,” she said with a nod.

  Alexei shook his head. “Don’t paint me as the noble knight. I’m far from it.”

  “Just what are you then?”

  “A man who’d like to know his daughter.”

  Debra blew out a long breath. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time. “So you do know.” But how long had he known?

  Alexei nodded.

  He was awfully calm about it. That could mean only one thing. “You’ve known all this time?” Even as Debra asked it, she couldn’t believe it. Kate needed Alexei to be a hero, not a deadbeat dad.

  “No.” His tone took on an annoyed quality. “I’m just now figuring that out today.” Alexei’s gaze traveled slowly toward Debra and settled on her with a hard glare.

  Even so, he was too calm. This kind of calm bred revenge. Kate had far too much to worry about without adding Alexei’s anger to the mix.

  “So you didn’t receive her letters,” Debra said, to remind him that Kate had tried to tell him.

  “No.” Alexei shook his head.

  “How is it possible that they all went astray?” Debra asked.

  “Someone—my manager at the time—worked very hard to keep me from communicating with Katya.”

  “The same guy that dragged you back to Russia?”

  Alexei gave only a nodding confirmation.

  “So how are you feeling about all this?”

  “Cheated.”

  “Not by Kate though, right?”

  “No. Kate’s not the one who cheated me.” Alexei had spent years believing the worst about Kate, only to find out she was as innocent as he. They were victims of a vicious and cruel act perpetrated by the people he’d trusted most for the majority of his life. He’d missed the first seven years of his daughter’s life because of it. He’d missed sharing the pregnancy with Kate—had she shared that with another man? Had she really taken up with someone else in his absence? “Is she married?”

  “Kate?” There was a measure of silence before Debra snorted a laugh. “No.”

  “Divorced?”

  “Far as I know she’s never been married.” Debra’s words filled Alexei with hope—for about a milli-second. Then the reality of a US senator who was out to get him deported crept back into his thoughts.

  Alexei was about to get wrapped up in his misgivings, and he almost missed the worry panning across Debra’s eyes. It was so swift he could’ve easily failed to notice it if he hadn’t been looking. A sudden panic gripped him by the threat, and it had nothing to do with the Senator or her daughter.

  “I get the feeling there’s something Kate’s not telling me,” he said, leaving the door open. All Debra had to do was walk on through and tell him what that was.

  She looked at him, and for a second he thought she might be ready to confess. But just as quickly, she sucked in a deep breath and shook her head.

  Debra was hiding something. And she wasn’t ready to tell what. But when had that ever stopped Alexei? He’d figure out what, and he’d do it swiftly because Alexei prided himself on knowing what people were going to do before they did.

  “If there’s something Kate wants you to know.” Debra shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll tell you.”

  She was trying to play it off as nothing, but Alexei wasn’t buying it. Something was going on; he could feel it. To find out what, Alexei would have to be persuasive.

  “If there was some way I could help,” he said. “You’d tell me, right?” His words had a profound effect on Debra. Alexei could tell based on the way her resolve seemed to melt away as her face dissolved into a mixture of vulnerability and despair. He needed to keep going, say something, but Debra was in a fragile state and the wrong thing could ruin the progress he’d just made. “Whatever it is...I’ll do everything within my power to help.” He kept his voice low and even, not wanting to pull Debra away from her inner urge to tell him what she knew.

  What was she hiding?

  Alexei glanced around the room. Why were they still here? In the hospital? Kate fell. She didn’t lose consciousness. She hadn’t broken any bones. What was going on?

  Was she sick? Alexei looked back at Debra. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, a definite demand in his tone
. He wanted the truth and he wouldn’t settle for anything less.

  She avoided eye contact with him, and began shaking her head defiantly. “She’ll kill me if I tell you...” Debra’s words trailed off.

  “Not if she doesn’t know.”

  For the first time since Kate’s fall, Debra’s eyes glistened with hope.

  “She won’t find out from me,” Alexei said, encouraging Debra to tell Kate’s secret.

  “If it weren’t for the gravity of the situation...I would never entertain breaking a confidence.” She looked at him with eyes that appealed for understanding.

  “Desperation calls for desperate measures.” Alexei drew a breath. “Are you afraid she’ll fire you?” he asked, thinking he’d figured out part of the problem.

  Debra’s lips almost curled into a smile, as if she was about to laugh but caught it before it got away. The end result was sadness. “You have to promise that what I tell you from here on out will remain our secret,” Debra said conditionally.

  “Done.”

  “Kate is my employee, not the other way around.”

  What? Alexei hadn’t seen that coming. Curiosity pushed out the words, “Your employee?”

  “Yes. I own a diner in Prufrock, California. She’s a waitress there.”

  “Waitress?” How did an Olympic champion who’d landed a wealth of endorsement deals end up as a waitress in a small town cafe?

  She ended up pregnant, that’s how. Kate had thought she’d been abandoned so she wound up fading into middle America, trying to hide her child’s paternity from the press. Alexei understood that. He also understood that she’d given up a lot to protect their child. Was she broke? Did she need money? “Will money help? I have plenty of that, you know.”

  A futile laugh escaped before Debra tightened her lips, as if that’d imprison anything else trying to break out. Again, she began shaking her head and kept it up until her lips finally relaxed. “She needs money. I don’t know that it’ll help, but she needs it. And fast.”

  A distinctive tremor in Debra’s voice sent panic racing through Alexei. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “She has a rare form of Chorioretinitis. She’s losing her eyesight.” Debra drew a breath and held it for a long pause before releasing it. “There’s an experimental surgery that may or may not help. And the clock is ticking.” She looked at Alexei. “Insurance companies don’t like to fund experimental surgeries. Especially ones that only stand a fifty-fifty chance of working.”

  Alexei said, without hesitation, “I’ll pay for it.”

  “If it were that simple, I’d have said something the first time we met.” She tried to smile. “Kate’s a very stubborn woman. She’ll never agree. She’ll see it as charity, from you.”

  “How long does she have?”

  “A few weeks. Maybe a few months...if she’s lucky.”

  “Then why on Earth is she here?” he asked. “Why is she spending what could be her last weeks of sight at the Olympics?”

  “She was hoping to land an endorsement deal,” Debra said. “To fund the surgery.”

  “I said I’d pay for it.”

  “You know...” Debra’s amiable disposition faded as she stared at him. “She gave up endorsement deals, a promising career, and she never regretted it for a second because look what she got in return. That beautiful little girl.” Debra tightened her lips and went silent, as if biting her tongue. Finally she gave him a what-the-hell look and said, “Her pride is the only thing she came out of this with intact. So what...you want to take that away from her, too?”

  No. No, he didn’t. But he didn’t want to stand by and watch her lose her eyesight either. Especially when he could help. “So how do I give her money without her knowing?”

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE NEXT MORNING, Alexei pushed open the door to Kate’s hospital room and he and Debra stepped inside. Katya was lying on top of the covers beside Kate, and they were watching TV, Clash of the Gods. Alexei was familiar with the show and was impressed that a seven year old—his child—was lying there soaking up the docudrama.

  Kate glanced toward the doorway and the happy look that’d graced her face seconds before faded when her gaze met Alexei’s. At least Alexei knew why now, and it had nothing to do with him. It was all about the secrets she’d been trying so hard to hide. And she assumed she still had one hidden. Thank God Debra told him. He had to help Kate, whether she wanted his assistance or not.

  He looked at Katya lying there beside her mother. In a way, she reminded him of his sister Ana at that age. Of course, Ana was all grown up now and living in Paris. He’d tried to get her to come to the US, but she preferred Europe. If the Senator had her way, Alexei may well be paying his sister a visit very soon. The thought of leaving Kate again, and now Katya, left Alexei with a renewed ache in his heart that he’d only felt one other time—when he’d been dragged away from Kate eight years ago. But this time he wasn’t only being forced away from Kate, but his daughter, too.

  Katya was his. Alexei tightened his lips, hoping to hold back the overwhelming emotions threatening to escape in the form of tears. They both looked helpless and vulnerable lying there together.

  The urge to climb onto the bed and gather them both into his arms swept over Alexei. He may have had other thoughts about Kate Peterson yesterday, but today he wanted—needed—to protect her. And their daughter—he’d do anything to save that child from tears.

  Alexei stepped toward the bed and caressed Kate’s arm. “Can I do anything for you?”

  “Bribe someone to let me out of here?” she asked half-seriously and then laughed.

  “Mommy, I’m hungry,” Katya whispered to Kate, but loud enough that Alexei, and probably Debra too, heard her.

  Kate looked at Debra with pleading eyes.

  “But the doctors are supposed to be in soon,” Debra said, clearly not wanting to leave.

  “Katya…” Alexei addressed her personally, “I would be honored if you’d escort me to the hospital’s cafeteria.”

  Katya smiled brightly and looked at her mother. “Can I, Mommy?”

  After a brief bout with silence, Kate said, “Sure.” She tapped Katya on the nose and nudged her off the bed.

  Silence fell about the room as Alexei led Katya away. Once the door closed behind them, Debra pulled a chair up close to Kate’s bedside. “Has the staff said anything at all about when they’re going to release you?”

  Kate shook her head. “No.” She tried to stop the worry over still being in the hospital from consuming her, but she had little luck. “I know it needs to be fast. Time’s wasting while I’m in here. If the Olympics end before I land a deal, it’ll never happen.”

  “Ooh...” Debra’s mood and posture perked up. “No worries. We were contacted by Sports Today. The magazine would like to do a photo shoot here at the Olympics.”

  “With me? They want to do a photo shoot with me?”

  Debra nodded.

  “Payment?”

  “Enough to cover the surgery.”

  “Seriously?” For the first time, Kate dared to hope this could work out in her favor. “That could be the answer to all my prayers.” At least she’d gain a fifty percent chance. As it stood, she was currently looking at a zero chance. Any percentage, even a small one, was better than nothing.

  “Which is why we need to get you out of here.”

  “But how odd is it that I’d get that lucky?” she asked, as her curiosity grew. She didn’t know much about the magazine Sports Today, but this couldn’t have happened at a more convenient time.

  The hospital room’s door opened up and, at the sight of a group of three doctors, Kate’s mounting curiosity drifted away.

  She didn’t like the looks on their faces. Now would’ve been a good time for her vision to desert her, but the one time she preferred not to see her visitors’ faces, her sight stuck around. Go figure.

  “Good morning, Kate. How are you feeling?” The lead doctor stepped forward
and gave her a practiced smile.

  “I’ve been better.” Kate shrugged, trying to remain calm, but it was hard to do when all she really wanted was to be released.

  “First, I’d like to say that we’ve consulted with your specialists regarding your illness,” he said in a no-nonsense tone.

  Kate didn’t like his tone or his demeanor. She glanced at Debra as feelings of dread crept upon her.

  Debra stepped forward, closer to Kate, and squared her shoulders. “And what have you decided as a collective group?”

  “Kate has a concussion resulting from a bump on the head when she fell on the ice.”

  A bump on the head, huh? Well, that’s one way to put it. “Is that a problem?” Kate asked in a much shakier voice than she’d intended.

  “Normally, it wouldn’t be.”

  “Yeah, but this is no normal situation, is it?” Kate’s tone hardened. “So why don’t you just spell it out for me?”

  “We’re not sure if this will affect your vision. Your eyesight is fragile.”

  My eyesight is fragile. She didn’t need a new set of doctors to tell her that. Kate blew out a long, lingering, exasperated sigh. “And...”

  “Have you experienced any headaches just before your bouts with temporary vision loss?” The doctor’s tone was calm. So why’d she feel like his words were setting a trap?

  “No. Why?” Kate asked. “Is that bad?”

  “If you’re having headaches followed by any change at all in your eyesight, you’ll need to contact your specialist immediately.” He tried to smile, but it was tight-lipped. “You will need the surgery within seventy-two hours.”

  “What?” Kate knew her mouth was gaping open, and she had no luck closing it.

  “Pay close attention to your vision if you start experiencing headaches,” he warned. “The seventy-two hours is not a given. It’s generous, if anything.”

  Helpless, hopeless laughter bubbled up inside Kate. “You’re shitting me, right?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “It’s probably best if you have someone with you at all times until you can return home and visit your specialist.”