Our First Date

"Whoa! Addison!" Alexei laughed as he grabbed both my arms and steadied me. "Are you all right?"

"Declan...just tried...to rape...me..." I panted.

"He did? I'll kill him!" Alexei exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"Downstairs...in the morgue..."

"Calm down, Addison. Calm down. You're safe now." As he embraced me and rubbed my back, I slowly felt myself begin to relax. After a few minutes, he led me to a small office and told me to sit down and rest. "Can I bring you a glass of water?" he asked.

"Please don't leave me!" I exclaimed. After what had just happened, I was terrified of being alone. What if Declan somehow found me again?

"It's all right, Addison," Alexei said soothingly, gently holding both my arms. "I'm not going to leave you, but we have to find out if Declan is still inside the building so that he can be apprehended."

He called for a couple of his co-workers on his walky-talky thingy, and when they arrived, he sent them to the basement to find and apprehend Declan, if he was still there. Then he had me fill out a form giving all my personal information and describing in detail what had happened.

In the meantime, my supervisor had found out about the incident and asked me if I wanted to take the rest of the day off. I was definitely too badly shaken to continue working my shift, so I took her up on the offer.

Somehow I made it home to my children. "Did you get in trouble, Mommy?" Montana asked me when he saw me.

"No," I told him.

"Then why did you come home early?"

"I...um...something really scary happened, and it made me so upset that I had to leave, but it's all over with now, and I'm fine. How was your day at kindergarten?"

"It was fun, Mommy! We learned about the letter 'U', and about how caterpillars turn into butterflies."

"That's nice."

I watched TV with the kids for a little while and then fixed dinner. I'd just put the last clean dish away when I heard the doorbell ring.

I knew it was going to be Alexei before I checked the peephole. I opened the door and told him to come in.

"Alexei! You came back!" Montana cried happily as he ran up to him.

"I had to," Alexei told him. "I missed you guys."

"'Lexei! 'Lexei!" said Nevada.

"Hey there, princess!" Alexei picked her up and kissed her cheek, then set her back down.

"Hey." He gently touched my cheek. "Are you OK?"

"As well as can be expected, I guess. Did they ever find Declan?"

Alexei shook his head. "We ended up having to call the police. If they find him, you may have to go down to the police department and give them a statement, like the one you gave me at the hospital." He shook his head. "I'm just so glad he didn't really hurt you, Addison. If he had..."

"Who tried to hurt my Mommy?" Montana demanded.

"A bad man at the hospital," Alexei told him."But he's gone now. Your Mommy's safe."

Montana seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Would you like something to drink?" I asked Alexei.

"No, thank you," he told me. "I'm fine." He sat on the sofa holding Nevada, with Montana sitting beside him. I sat on his other side. Suddenly it felt just like it had the day it had rained and he'd caught the tree frogs for Montana.

"You know, we never did take that trip to the zoo like we planned," Alexei remarked.

"No, we didn't," I said, feeling a tiny stab of pain at the thought of why we hadn't.

"The next day we both have off," Alexei said to me with a smile. "And this time, it had better not get messed up. If you still want to go, that is," he added.

"Sounds like fun!" I agreed. I still felt a bit apprehensive about leaving the house, but I knew that if I didn't fight back against that feeling, I could be left permanently crippled emotionally.

The police caught up with Declan a couple of days later. He'd fled to a neighboring state. As Alexei had predicted, I did have to go down to the police station to make a statement. They asked me if I wanted to press charges, and I told them that I didn't. He hadn't really hurt me, and I couldn't bear the thought of having to face him in court.

I told Alexei of my decision when he called me that evening. Ever since Declan had attacked me, he'd called me every day. Although I assured him over and over again that I was all right, he was still very protective of me. I didn't mind, as to me, it seemed a way of making up for what had happened with Sydney.

"Are you sure you don't want to press charges against him, Addison?" he asked me now. "It might would prevent him from being able to do it to another woman."

"I know." I sighed. "I suppose I'm being selfish," I told him. "But I just can't stand the thought of having to face him in court."

"Oh, I don't blame you," Alexei said quickly. "If you don't want to face him in court, then you shouldn't have to. No reason to feel guilty about that."

"I just want to put the whole thing behind me," I sighed.

"You're a brave girl, Addison," he told me.

"I don't always feel that brave," I admitted. "Sometimes I feel really scared."

"Well, you know I'm always here for you," he assured me.

Later, after we'd said good-bye, I felt kind of disgusted at myself. Where had the tough-girl exterior I'd intended to present to Alexei from now on gone? I couldn't believe that I'd just admitted to him that I felt scared. What would he think of me now? Would he consider me to be a weak, helpless female who needed a big, strong man to take care of me? I felt angrier than ever at Declan for what he'd done to me, for the side of myself I was showing to Alexei now.

I was eating lunch in the cafeteria when Alexei stopped by my table. It was the first time he'd done that since the business with Sydney. I'd seen him glance over at me longingly a few times over the past few weeks, as if he wanted to ask if he could sit beside me but was afraid I'd turn him down, but now he seemed to have finally gotten up the nerve.

"Is it OK if I sit here?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Sure," I said, making room for him.

"I've got tomorrow off," he told me. "How about you?"

"I'm off tomorrow too," I told him.

"Great! It's supposed to be nice and sunny, so I can finally take you and the kids to the zoo like we planned."

"They'll like that," I replied.

"And you?" He smiled hopefully.

I giggled. "I'll like it too."

Our luck held out, as the sun was shining brightly when I awakened the following morning. I woke the kids up early. "We need to get ready fast," I told them. "Alexei's taking us to the zoo today."

"Yippee!" Montana shouted, jumping up and down excitedly. "Hear that, Nevada? We're going to see the lions and tigers and bears!"

"Bears!" Nevada giggled.

I fed the three of us cereal and got the kids dressed, then got dressed myself and put on makeup. I was applying eyeliner when I heard the doorbell ring, and went to let a smiling Alexei in.

"Alexei!" Montana cried, running up to him.

"Hey there, little buddy!' Alexei exclaimed, scooping my son up and holding him.

"Have a seat," I told Alexei. "I'll only be a minute."

I went back into the bathroom to finish putting on my makeup, appraised myself in the mirror and decided that I looked acceptable, and went back to the living room to find Alexei holding both children and singing to them in Russian.

"Wow, Addison, you're gorgeous!" he said when he saw me.

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

"Shall we be off, then?" asked Alexei. I moved Nevada's car seat from my car to Alexei's, and we were on our way.

"What was that song you were singing to the kids?" I wanted to know.

"It's called 'The Little Grey Wolf'," Alexei told me. "My Babushka, my grandmother, used to sing it to me when I was little."

"Is your grandmother still alive?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "She lives with my parents in Moscow. Is yours?"

"No. One died when I was eighteen, and the other died when Montana was a baby."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I was really close to my grandmother on my Mom's side," I told him. "She lived right around the corner from us the whole time I was growing up. I used to see her just about every day."

"It was the same way with my grandmother," Alexei told me.

Soon we were at the zoo. We looked at the big cats in their cages, then went through the reptile exhibit, and then rode the train that went all the way around the zoo.

By then we were hungry, so we went to the food court. Alexei bought hamburgers and French fries for himself, me, and Montana, and I took Nevada's food out of the diaper bag for her. We were about halfway finished eating when Montana jumped out of his chair.

"Aunt Patty!" he shouted. I turned my head in the direction he was pointing to see Jeff's sister Patty, her husband Matt, and their children Rachel and Daniel sitting at a table on the other side of the little cafe. I groaned inwardly.

"It's Jeff's sister," I told Alexei in response to his questioning look.

By now Matt and Patty had seen us, so there was nothing else to do but to go over and say hello to them. "This is Alexei," I told my former sister-in-law and her husband.

"How do you do," Alexei said pleasantly.

Patty frowned. "What country are you from?"

"I'm originally from Russia, but I've been here in the United States for the past four years," Alexei told her.

"So you're a Communist?" Patty's voice showed her disapproval.

"I used to be."

"So what are you now?"

Alexei obviously didn't know what to say. I felt sorry for him.

"We don't get into politics," I said firmly. Alexei looked grateful.

In the meantime, Montana was having fun chatting with his cousins. Rachel was about five, and Daniel was about three.

"Mommy, can Montana and Nevada come over for a play date this evening? Please please please?" Rachel begged.

"Well, I don't see why not," Patty agreed.

"Hurray!" Rachel and Montana shouted together.

Alexei and I looked at one another and smiled. We both knew what this meant, that we'd have several hours on our own, without the kids. For all her faults, I knew Patty would take good care of Montana and Nevada, and I looked forward to my first real date with Alexei.

For some unaccountable reason, I felt very nervous as I prepared for my first evening date with Alexei. I spent much longer than I usually did on my make-up and hair, wanting everything to be just right for him. Even so, I finished getting ready well before he arrived.

When I opened the door to him, I couldn't believe my eyes! I'd never seen him looking so gorgeous before. He wore dark blue slacks and a light blue shirt with a tie. He had on black patent leather shoes, and his hair was slicked back perfectly in place. He was wearing expensive cologne and carried a bouquet of flowers. I also noticed that his hands were shaking slightly.

"Addison!" he exclaimed. "You're beautiful!"

"Thanks," I replied. "You look very nice as well."

"These are for you," he told me as he held out the flowers.

"Thank you," I said. "I'll get a vase for them."

Quickly I found the vase, and then we were off. He took me to this incredibly classy restaurant. The interior was dark, and there were candles on each table. A violinist played romantic music, and at several tables, nicely dressed couples chatted quietly over their food. Wow, this place looks really expensive, I said to myself.

Alexei led me to a cozy little table in the corner, and a waiter with a French accent came to take our order. Alexei ordered for both of us, as I had no idea how to pronounce most of the items on the menu.

After the waiter had gone, Alexei reached across the table and took my hand. "You can't begin to imagine how long I've wanted to take you out like this," he said. "After the stupid thing I did with Sydney, I was so afraid I'd blown my chances for good."

"I knew I couldn't let you languish in the friend zone forever," I told him. We both laughed.

"The waiter won't be back for awhile," Alexei told me. "Would you like to dance?"

Several other couples were already on the floor. "Sure," I said.

He took my hand and led me onto the floor. Standing so close to him, with his arms around me, I felt a warm glow of desire begin to stir inside me. I wondered whether Alexei could feel it too. I rested my head on his shoulder as we moved in time to the music. One of his hands came up to gently massage my back. I felt weak in the knees because it felt so nice.

"My sweet Addison," he murmured.

We'd been dancing for maybe half an hour or so when the waiter brought our food and we sat down to eat. Whatever I was eating, it was delicious. When we were finished, Alexei asked me if I wanted dessert, and I said yes.

Dessert was sweet little biscuits topped with berries and whipped cream. It tasted better than strawberry shortcake, which I absolutely love. Alexei held my hand as we walked back outside into the cool air after we'd finished eating. It was a clear night, and you could see the moon and all the stars in perfect detail.

"Did you enjoy that?" Alexei asked me as we made our way back to the car.

"Very much," I told him. "Thank you for taking me out."

Alexei grinned. "Hey, thanks for going out with me!"

I should have known that I was having too good a time for it to last, and sure enough, when I arrived home, I found an urgent message from Patty. "We had to rush Montana to the hospital. He started running a high fever and complaining with an earache. We need you to come to the hospital as quickly as possible. They won't treat Montana without your permission."

"Oh, my baby!" I cried.

"I'll take you to the hospital," Alexei offered. "As upset as you are, you're in no condition to drive right now."

I nodded gratefully and followed him back out to his car. We practically flew to the hospital, and Alexei dropped me off at the emergency room entrance before going to search for a parking spot.

I dashed inside to find Matt and Patty standing beside the triage station. Patty was holding Montana, whose eyes were closed.

"My baby!" I cried, reaching for him.

"Mommy," he mumbled as he held his hands out to me.

"He's burning up!" I gasped, shocked by how hot he felt to the touch.

"Where's Nevada?" I demanded.

"With Mom," Patty told me.

Within moments an emergency room physician was there, pushing papers in front of me for me to sign, and then they took Montana back into an examination room. Alexei and I followed.

"Mommy, it hurts!" Montana wailed, tugging at his ear.

"I know it does, baby," I said. "But it's gonna be all right."

A few minutes later, a nurse appeared and took Montana's temperature. "A hundred and two," she announced.

"Poor baby!" I exclaimed. "No wonder you feel so bad!"

The nurse finished checking Montana's vitals. "The doctor will be with you shortly," she told us.

It was a very long time before the physician finally arrived. Montana drifted into a fitful sleep, the pain awakening him every so often. As desperately as I tried to stay awake, I found myself nodding off after awhile. Alexei put his arms around me and let me rest my head on his shoulder.

At last the physician arrived and examined my son. "He has a raging ear infection," he announced. "He must be started on antibiotics right away, and I'm also going to give you a prescription for pain relief."

It was in the early morning hours when we finally left the hospital. Alexei drove us home.

"Thank you so much for driving me to the hospital, and for staying with us," I told him.

"It was no problem at all," he replied. "I was happy to help."

"I'm sorry our first date had to end this way," I said.

"That's all right. There will be other dates. Are you going to be all right?"

"We'll be fine," I assured him. I watched as he walked back out to his car, feeling a bit sad to see him go. Then I got Montana settled and, exhausted, went to bed myself.

The following morning, I called the hospital and told them I wouldn't be coming in that day, then called Jeff's mother and told her about Montana. She offered to keep Nevada for as long as I needed her to. I thanked her, checked on Montana, and then went back to bed.

After several days on the antibiotic, Montana was feeling much better, and I returned to work. At lunchtime, Alexei hesitated only a moment before sitting across from me. "How's Montana?" he asked.

"He's fine. They both are."

"I've got a great idea for our next date," he told me.

"Really? What?'

"Not gonna tell." He grinned and winked at me. "It's a surprise, but it's nothing you'd have to get all dressed up for."

Our next mutual day off was not too long after that. Having no idea how long we'd be out, I arranged for an overnight babysitter.

Alexei was wearing jeans, a polo shirt, and sneakers when he came to pick me up. I was so glad I'd decided to wear flats instead of heels.

For dinner he took me out for chili cheese fries and milkshakes, but he told me that wasn't the surprise. After dinner, he drove me to the goofy golf course.

"So this is the surprise?" I asked.

"I hope you're not disappointed," he said. "I just wanted to do something different for a change."

"I think it's neat!" I exclaimed. "I haven't played goofy golf since I was a teenager!"

"Great!" He grinned. "It's about time, then."

I had a blast over the next couple of hours. Alexei won, but only by a couple of points.

"Congratulations," I told him as we left. "You played really well."

"So did you," he told me. "I'm so glad we came. You know, I never could do this type of thing with Sydney. All she ever wanted to do was hang out at bars."

When he took me home, I invited him in for a few minutes. He saw my CD player with my Tchaikovsky CD sitting on top of it. "Hey!" he exclaimed happily as he picked it up. "I didn't know you liked Tchaikovsky!"

"Swan Lake's pretty cool," I told him. "We went on a field trip to see a performance of it in fifth grade."

"My great grandmother saw the Tsar's former mistress perform in it a few years before the Revolution," he told me.

I slipped the CD in and then went into the kitchen and got a couple of bottles of wine for us. As we sat together on the sofa drinking our wine and listening to the music, he kissed me.

At first it was gentle, tentative, almost as if he wasn't sure whether or not he should proceed. When I responded enthusiastically, it became more fervent, and I felt his tongue slip into my mouth. My heart began to pound madly as, encouraged, my hand began to slip from his knee slowly up his thigh. Right before it reached his crotch, I felt him gently take it into his own.

"No, Addison," he said softly. "It's...it's just too soon. I'd like to get to know you a bit better first."

"But why?" I could feel tears of disappointment stinging my eyes.

"I made a mistake once. I don't want to make it again."

Suddenly I realized why he was afraid and felt slightly guilty. "I'm not Sydney, Alexei."

"I know you're not." He smiled. "You're such a special woman, Addison, and I want everything between us to happen at just the right time, not before."

"I feel the same way," I said. "I'm sorry if I was too forward."

"Not at all!" he said with a smile. "Take care, Addison, and I'll see you again real soon." He kissed me again, a soft, tender kiss this time, and then he was gone.

Even though I understood the logic behind his words, I couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed as I went to bed that night. Did he really find me attractive? Was I really capable of turning him on? Although I told myself that I was being silly, I couldn't help but feel just a tad insecure.

The next day I was eating lunch when Alexei slid into the seat across from me, this time with no hesitation at all. "Hey, Addison!" He was all smiles.

"Hi," I said.

"Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed our date last night." He took my hand and gazed into my eyes.

"Well, at least it ended a lot better than the previous one did," I noted wryly.

"Yeah. I'm so glad Montana is all right now," he replied. "And I'd love to go out with you again soon. Not necessarily for goofy golf, but...well, you know what I mean."

"I'd like that too," I told him.

I'd told my parents that I was back in touch with Alexei, but so far they hadn't really said too much about it. I suppose too many other things had just come up too quickly, but one day my Mom called me out of the blue about it.

"Do you think Alexei would like to have dinner with us?" she asked. "I don't know if I can get a hold of any caviar, but I can make stroganoff, and your Dad has some Smirnoff. I'm not sure if that's really the authentic stuff or not but maybe it'll do. Aidan would love to see him again after all these years."

"I'm sure Alexei would love to see him again as well," I replied. "I'll ask him next chance I get."

Alexei was on duty the next time I went to work. "My Mom wants to know if you'd like to come over for dinner," I told him. "She said Aidan would love to see you again."

"Sure, that would be great!"

On the appointed evening, he arrived at my home dressed very nicely. I noticed that his hands were shaking slightly with nervousness.

"We're going to see my Grandma and Grandpa," Montana told him.

"I know," Alexei replied. "It'll be nice to see them again."

"You mean you've seen them before?" Montana's eyes grew round with surprise.

"It was a long time ago, before you and your sister were born," Alexei told him. "I came to your country by accident. I was lost, and your Grandma and Grandpa made friends with me and helped me to get back home. Many years later, I was able to come back, and here I am!"

"Where did you used to live?" asked Montana.

"My country is called Russia, and it's a long, long way from here," Alexei told him. "All the way across the ocean. It's very different from your country. It gets a lot colder there. It snows a lot, and there are forests with bears. The men wear tall fur hats, and the women wear colorful dresses and scarves. There's balalaika music, and fish and cabbage soup and borsch."

"What's borch?" asked Montana, mispronouncing the word slightly.

"It's soup made out of beets. Have you ever had them?"

Montana shook his head.

"They're vegetables kind of like radishes, except that they're very dark red, almost purple. But I think your Mom's about ready to leave now. We'll talk some more when we get to your Grandma's, OK?"

"OK!" Montana said happily.

We got to my parents' house a few minutes later. Right away we were greeted with the delicious aroma of my Mom's cooking. Dad and Aidan were sitting on the sofa talking. Aidan's face brightened as soon as he saw Alexei.

"Alexei!" he exclaimed.

"Aidan! Is it really you?" Alexei sounded amazed. "You've really grown up!"

I was really touched to see how warmly they embraced. I hadn't realized until then how big an impression Alexei had really left on my brother.

"Alexei's from Russia. They eat beets there," Montana informed my family. Everyone laughed.

"I know it isn't like your mother's stroganoff, but it's the best I could do," my Mom said apologetically to Alexei as she brought the food to the table.

"I'm sure it will be delicious," Alexei said politely.

To my Mom's relief, Alexei did really seem to enjoy her stroganoff, finishing off two servings and most of a third. My Mom had made her specialty, red velvet cake, for dessert, but we were all too full to eat very much of it.

Alexei spent most of the visit in animated discussion with Aidan, catching up on all that had happened in the ten years that had passed since they'd last seen one another. We ended up staying quite late. Nevada fell asleep in my Mom's lap, and Montana was nodding off in my Dad's, by the time we finally left.

As soon as I got home, I put the kids to bed, then said good-bye to Alexei. "I would invite you to stay for a drink or two, but it's so late..." I yawned.

"That's all right," he replied. "Thank you for this evening, Addison. I really enjoyed seeing your parents and Aidan again and having the chance to spend time with them."

He gave me a big hug, and I rested my head on his shoulder, wishing I could go to sleep there. He rubbed my back gently and kissed first my forehead, then my lips.

"Good-night, Addison," he said softly. "Sweet dreams." Obviously reluctant to leave, he kissed my lips once again and squeezed my hand before walking away.