by Olivia Gates
“Pozhaluista, moy lyubov... Please, my love, say yes.”
How could he say anything else? “Yes, moy dusha, yes.... I’m all yours to do with as you please.”
He rose beneath her and swept her around until he was pressing down on her between her eagerly spreading legs.
Tears of happiness glittered as she arched, opening herself for his domination. “As soon as possible?”
“How about tomorrow?” He delivered the words into her lips as he thrust inside her, going home.
The shock of his combined proposition and invasion tore a cry from her depths.
With ecstasy shuddering across her face, she wrapped herself around him, taking him deeper, and moaned, “Yes.”
* * *
Caliope still couldn’t believe it.
She’d gone to Maksim’s room last night without thinking.
She’d just been unable to stay away anymore. None of what had happened—their intimacies, her confessions, her proposal—had been in the least premeditated. Not only hadn’t she thought of impassioned arguments to convince him to marry her beforehand, she hadn’t even first convinced herself. She’d just gone to him, and had taken this life-altering step.
But then her fate had changed forever the moment she’d met his eyes across that reception hall three years ago. There’d always been no going back. The only difference now was that she was finally at peace with it, wouldn’t settle for anything less.
If she couldn’t be with him, she wanted nothing at all.
She passed by one of the ornate mirrors studding the walls of the mansion and met her own eyes. And winced.
Could it be more obvious that she’d barely survived a night of wild possession with that incomparable Russian wolf?
Everything about her was sore and swollen; even her hips swayed in a way that said she’d been plundered. As she’d begged him to when he’d attempted gentleness. She’d wanted him to dominate and devastate her. And how he had.
They hadn’t slept at all, but who needed sleep? The rush of his lovemaking would keep her awake and going for a week straight. She felt as energized and as alert as she’d ever been. But it had only been after making love to her for the fifth time that they’d finally taken a breath not laden with delirium, and she’d started having qualms about saying yes to his proposition of an immediate wedding.
Fearing their anniversary would be supplanted by Leo’s birthday, she’d proposed they keep their guests here for a few days and then have their wedding at the end of the week.
But he’d insisted that they didn’t need a specific date every year to celebrate their marriage, since he’d be celebrating with her every single day. And she’d believed him.
So they were having their wedding today.
At 6:00 a.m. sharp, he’d gone to prepare everything and she’d given him carte blanche to do whatever he saw fit. She had no demands, only wanted to have the freedom of showing him that he was her everything. And to announce their bond to the world.
She’d seen tears fill his eyes before. But last night, they’d flowed. Hers had flooded in response, then deluged when he’d asked her to tell the world, starting with his mother.
He wanted her to be the one to give his mother what he knew would be the best gift anyone could give her, after that of Leo. A wife for her son. A daughter-in-law. A daughter, period.
And she had a six-thirty meeting with Tatjana at the chamber where they’d planned on holding Leo’s birthday party, and where they’d now also have their wedding. Leo had practically been the one to pick the setting in the dance hall or “hall of mirrors”. His delight in its painted ceilings and ornate, mirror-covered walls had been so explicit, he’d had them stay there at least an hour a day, as he pranced on top of tables in front of the mirrors, turned upside down to see himself from all different angles and rolled on the ground to stare at the ceiling. It was also the setting for a most important milestone. He’d taken his first steps there a couple of days after they’d arrived in Arkhangel’sk.
He’d chosen well, since it was the mansion’s largest and most decorated room. But with the list of people Tatjana had invited, seemingly all the citizens of Arkhangel’sk, they’d need more than that space. Maybe even all of the mansion.
Her feet almost leaving the ground, she rushed through said mansion, feeling again as if she’d stepped back in time, all the time half expecting she’d meet figures from the era of the tsars.
It almost seemed an anachronism that the people she did meet, those who worked on the estate and on Tatjana’s myriad community projects—all part of her continuous efforts to act as the community’s uncrowned queen—were all jarringly modern.
She smiled left and right to everyone she met, almost running the last steps as she entered the dance hall.
The sight that greeted her had her heart doing its usual jig. Tatjana and Leo were perfect together. She was grateful every minute she’d agreed to come here, to give them all this rich and unique relationship. Rosa, an integral part of the family now, was also having the time of her life here, and apparently finding the love of her life, too, in Sasha, Maksim’s chauffeur/bodyguard.
Could things get more perfect?
As soon as she thought that, her heart quivered with trepidation.
Could anything be this perfect...for long?
“Caliope, moya dorogoya!”
Tatjana’s cheerfulness jerked her out of those dark thoughts, and she ran to her and to Leo.
For the next fifteen minutes, Tatjana didn’t give her the chance to say much of anything as she supplied her with every minute detail of the birthday-party preparations, then solicited her opinion on changes in the color schemes, menu and seating plans.
Leo soon got bored, and Rosa took him away to what Maksim had transformed into every child’s wonderland.
Then Tatjana was sweeping her along to her favorite sitting place, the grand living room. It was studded with paintings and decorations that felt like a documentary of the long history and glory of the Volkov family. Something Maksim had never mentioned.
As much as he was copious with his information about the country and the region, he’d been stingy with family details.
From what he’d told her of his father and grandfather, she understood his reluctance. She’d at first thought it wasn’t a good idea to know more than she already knew. But now she felt she needed to glean as much information as possible in order to know him from every facet. She’d tried to broach the subject many times, but he’d always ingeniously escaped giving any details.
But here she was, with the one other person who could supply her with the knowledge she needed. Not that she had one single idea how to introduce the topic. If she asked outright, it would appear as if she was prying into matters Maksim hadn’t seen fit to share with her. Which, of course, she was.
But what was she thinking? She should be telling Tatjana of the wedding, not trying to get her to spill the Volkov family secrets!
Tatjana offered her a plate of pirozhki, mouthwatering pastries filled with potato and cheese, with a side bowl of smetana, delicious sour cream that Russians used copiously.
Cali reciprocated by handing her tea, then began, “Tatjana...”
Clearly not realizing that she was cutting her off, Tatjana said, “Maksim didn’t tell you much about his father, did he? Or about my marriage to him? Beside it being an abusive relationship that ended horrifically?”
Whoa. Had she been thinking of it so intensely she’d telepathically conveyed her burning curiosity to Tatjana?
She could only shake her head.
Tatjana sighed. “It pains me that he can’t forgive or forget.”
Cali put down the pirozhki, suddenly finding eating impossible. “Is it conceivable to do either when such wrongs have been dealt? I wondered h
ow you survived when he first told me. But now that I’ve seen you, I know you’re the strongest person I’ve ever known, and you can weather anything. And from the way you talk about your late husband, I can sense that you, at least, have forgiven him. And I wonder how you did it.”
“I want to tell you how so you can understand Maksim better. But I have to tell you my life story to explain.”
Cali nodded, even the slight movement difficult.
Tatjana sighed again. “I first saw Grigori when I was twenty and he was twenty-nine. I was working in one of the timber factories here when he came with his father, the city’s governor, to learn the ropes of the position he would occupy, which would place him on his father’s and grandfather’s paths, as high-ranking Soviet officials. I was struck by him, and he was as struck by me.”
She paused for a brief moment before continuing. “But all talk of equality in communism aside, a poor factory worker and a young man from what was considered the new royalty in Soviet Russia was an impossible proposition. But he moved heaven and earth, and fought his father and family long and hard to have me. Though I was at times disturbed by his intensity, I was hopelessly attracted to him. And he did seem like a fairy tale come true to the girl I was then.”
She took a sip of tea, encouraged Cali to do the same. Cali gulped down a scalding mouthful, on the edge of her seat, the feeling that she’d plunged into a past life and another era intensifying.
Tatjana went on. “Then we were married. But for years, I couldn’t conceive. Everyone kept pushing him to leave me, as not only was I inappropriate but barren. I think he thought it was him who was barren, and he grew progressively more morose, especially as his positions kept getting bigger and his responsibilities with them. It was five years after we got married that I became pregnant. I think he always had unreasonable doubts that Maksim wasn’t his.”
Was that what had driven him to abuse his wife and son? He’d believed she’d betrayed him to conceive, then saddled him with the fruit of her infidelity to raise as his own?
“Not that his abuse started only then. It just started to become a pattern.” So much for that theory. The bastard had already been an unstable monster. “But it was a terrible time all around. We were passing through the worst phases of the Cold War, and the situation of almost everyone in Russia was dismal. Having a husband who slapped me around, but otherwise gave me, and my family, everything, seemed like such a tiny quibble in comparison to those who had no homes or jobs or food. And I was inexperienced for my age, having been totally sheltered living here, so I didn’t know any better.”
Just like Cali’s mother. It made her again realize just how much women today took for granted in all the rights and powers they’d gained in the past fifty years.
“After the birth of Maksim, Grigori was promoted to become the vice governor, a position he soon realized he was totally unsuited for. But he couldn’t admit that or risk dishonoring his father—and himself—forever. He knew what happened to those they considered inadequate in the hierarchy. He struggled, and it only got worse as time went by. Reports of his mistakes and investigations into his failures began to accumulate, and he began to disintegrate.”
Cali had to bite her tongue. If the older woman thought she’d make her sympathize with the weak bastard who’d scarred Maksim, and almost had made him destroy what they’d had and had now regained by a sheer miracle, she had another think coming!
Unaware of her venom, Tatjana went on. “He started to take it out on me more often, but as Maksim grew bigger and began to stand up for me and antagonize him for what he did to me, he turned his wrath on him. I believe he was more convinced every day that Maksim couldn’t hate him like that if he was his. Then, in spite of all my measures, I got pregnant again. I thought of terminating the pregnancy, but ultimately didn’t have the heart to and was forced to tell Grigori. His paranoia increased, but he didn’t fully break down until he was fired from his position, just five months after Ana was born. We were given a month’s notice to vacate this residence for his replacement. On the day we were set to leave, he went berserk, accusing me of being the reason for all his ill fortune, that I blighted him with my two bastards and...the rest you know.”
Oh, she knew. And now hated Maksim’s father all the more. Try as she might, she just couldn’t understand how Tatjana managed to remain this adjusted, considering everything she’d endured.
Tatjana sighed. “Now comes the part about me and Maksim. We came out of the hospital to find no home and no family, as my parents had died and I had no siblings, and Grigori’s family wanted nothing to do with us. He’d made a lot of enemies here and so much of his failures were snowballing.” She sighed again, remembered sadness tingeing her face. “The whole place seemed to be going to hell. I worked any job I could find, and my darling Maksim was with me every step of the way, studying, working, doing everything for me that grown men couldn’t. I don’t think I would have survived without him.
“Then the Soviet Union collapsed and it was mayhem for a long while. I was almost afraid Maksim had turned to crime when he kept coming home covered in cuts and bruises. But he was actually defending the helpless here against the criminals who were exploiting them. And instead of working in a job in the industries here, he wanted to introduce something new to the region, so he could rule it. He chose steel. But he needed to learn the process from the ground up, so we went to Magnitogorsk, the center of steel industries in Russia. He made a living for us right away, then kept soaring higher every day. By the time he was in his mid-twenties, he’d already become a millionaire. He took us back here to set up Volkov Iron and Steel Industries and bought me this place.”
Caliope had given up trying to hold back the tears. Imagining Maksim as a young boy, then teenager, then young man, as he struggled through the most unforgiving of social, political and financial circumstances, fending for his mother and all who needed his superior courage and strength and intellect, surmounting any difficulties and coming out not only on top but as such a phenomenal success, was beyond awe inspiring.
To think he was hers was still unbelievable.
But another thing was incomprehensible. “Why did you want to reclaim the place where you’d both suffered so much?”
Tatjana’s eyes, which were so much like Maksim’s, melted with tenderness. “Because my main memories here consisted of being with my beloved son. And my parents until they died. And after the loss and the pain began to fade away, I needed those precious memories back.”
“But what about Maksim?” Cali said. “Doesn’t your staying here make it hard for him to spend time with you?”
“I do know that the good memories with me don’t make up for the horrible ones for him. But it’s not only family nostalgia that made me wish to be back here. I have a responsibility to the people here, who stood by me at my worst times, and whom Grigori’s mismanagement had harmed. I wanted to provide as many jobs and do my part in developing the community on a cultural and social level as Maksim was doing on an economic one.”
This explained so much. Everything, really. She now finally and fully understood how he’d become the man she loved and respected with all her soul.
And now it was time to give Tatjana the wonderful news.
But Tatjana wasn’t finished. She put her cup down and reached for both of Cali’s hands, her eyes solemn. “I know Maksim always carried within him the fear that he might manifest his father’s instability, but I assure you, Caliope, Maksim is nothing like his father or his menfolk. He’d been tested in the crucible of unendurable tests and had remained in control and never exhibited his father’s volatility, not for a moment. In fact, he becomes more stable under pressure.” Fierce maternal faith crossed Tatjana’s face and her voice filled with urgency. “So you have absolutely nothing to fear. Maksim would rather die than raise a hand against anyone weaker, let alone those whom he loves and who
depend on him.”
Cali was the one who squeezed Tatjana’s hands now, soothing her agitation. “I know that, Tatjana. I’m certain of it as much I’m certain that I’m alive.”
“Then why won’t you marry him?” Tatjana cried.
So that was what this was all about? Her future mother-in-law selling her on the idea of marrying her son?
Joy fizzed in her blood as her lips split in a grin that must have blinded Tatjana.
“Who said I won’t? I’m marrying him...today!”
Nine
After announcing to Tatjana the wedding would be that very same day, and after the older woman had gotten over her very vocal shock, she hadn’t even attempted to talk her into a postponement to give them time to prepare. According to Maksim’s mother, this was three years overdue and they weren’t putting it off one second longer. And then they still had twelve hours. Plenty of time in the hands of someone versed in preparing celebrations.
Of that Cali was sure. Between Maksim and his mother, who’d each separately promised her a wedding to rival those of the tsars, she knew they could make anything come true.
Not that she cared about what the wedding would be like. She only wanted her family and friends here to see her exchange vows with Maksim, even in her current jeans and ponytail if need be. All that truly mattered was becoming Caliope Volkov...
Caliope Volkov. She liked that. No. She loved that. And she loved that Leo would become Leonidas Maksim Volkov. His doting father had said he’d grow into a fearsome man, both lion and wolf.
Though she was considering changing Leo’s name to Leonid, as Maksim called him. To give tribute to Leonidas yet at the same time pay proper homage to Leo’s heritage. Maksim had refused that categorically, saying that he’d stop calling him Leonid if she thought he preferred it, that he just found it more natural to say. He wanted her to honor her brother and best friend, and was honored that she’d named his son after him.
