Reunited After 25 Years 31: Disagreement

In jeans and a t-shirt, with a smudge of dirt on his cheek, Anton suddenly looked more irresistible than ever to Andrea.

"What is it?" he laughed.

"Nothing, except that I'm suddenly overcome with this overwhelming desire to tear all your clothes off, throw you on the ground, and make passionate love to you," Andrea told him.

"I need a shower first," said Anton. "No good if I am dirty and smelly."

"Oh, I don't care how dirty and smelly you are," Andrea replied.

It was getting late, so they went inside and had dinner and took showers and cuddled on the sofa watching TV for a couple of hours before moving to the bedroom, where they began to make love. Anton automatically reached for a condom, and Andrea gently put her hand over his.

"Please, let's leave it off this time," she said.

Anton just stared in surprise. "You mean you want a baby?"

"I want very badly to have your baby."

"Well, this is a surprise." Anton didn't look very happy. "Why did you not say something before?"

"Because I just now realized it," said Andrea. "When we were in the greenhouse and I was telling you about when Denny was born and you were telling me about when Dasha was born. That's when it hit me."

"Ah." Anton chuckled. "A new baby would be nice, but it would also be a big responsibility, and I am an old man now. By the time baby would be grown, I would be...how do you say it?...one foot in the grave."

"We're only in our forties, Anton. Lots of people our age and even older are having babies."

"I do not think I still have enough energy to keep up with a little one."

"You told me that you and Nadya wanted more children after Dasha but just couldn't have them. I would have wanted more children after Denny, too, if Dennis had lived."

"But I was much younger then. I had more energy and time. It is much different now."

"It's not so very different."

"I have already raised Dasha to be a young woman. I do not want to start over again with a new baby." Anton's voice was kind but firm. Andrea realized that as far as he was concerned, the matter was settled.

Spring became summer. The plants in the greenhouse grew and blossomed. Andrea watched fondly as Anton gently cared for them, speaking to them in Russian the entire time.

"You really do have magic fingers," she told him.

"Plants are just like people," he told her. "They respond to loving touches, loving words. Just like you, when I hold you and touch you and say loving things to you, you respond right away. Same thing with plants. I show them love and they reward me by giving me beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables."

"I never thought of it that way before," Andrea admitted.

"Close your eyes and open your mouth," Anton said to Andrea one day. She did so, and he put something squishy in her mouth. She bit down on it and tasted its delicious juices.

"Strawberries!" she exclaimed.

"Kashubian strawberry," Anton said proudly. "The grow in Poland."

"It's the most delicious strawberry I've ever tasted! So what other agricultural secrets have you Eastern Europeans been keeping from us?"

Anton just laughed.

As Andrea could have predicted, Phuong became a permanent fixture at Denny and Darya's. She applied for permanent residence and changed her first name to Fawn so that it would be easier for Americans to pronounce and her last name to the hyphenated Nguyen-Phillips. Denny was overjoyed that she'd decided to add 'Phillips' to her last name. Andrea was just the opposite.

Her relationship with her son became markedly more distant. She called him only rarely, as she always feared that Fawn might be the one to answer the telephone. Whenever Denny and Darya came by to visit accompanied by Fawn, as was usually the case, Andrea could always find a quick excuse to go out. Anton mentioned it to her once.

"I just can't stand to look at her," Andrea explained. "I feel like a terrible person because I know it's not her fault at all, but every time I look at her, I see Dennis."

"Is it because you love him and miss him, or because you are hurt that he made a baby with another woman?"

"Well...a little bit of both, I guess." Andrea sighed.

"She is the real reason why you want another baby, right?"

"No! I want to have your baby because I love you, and having a baby together would be a beautiful way to express that love. Just imagine, Anton. A baby that's part me and part you, that we created together...wouldn't that be special?"

"But what we have together is very special already, Andrea. A baby would not make it any more or less so."

"You don't think so?"

"Of course not! Why should it? Andrea, I do not mean to...how do you say?...lecture you, but I think perhaps it would be better to work on your relationship with the son you already have."

"Things were fine between Denny and me until she had to come along."

"Dearest little Andrea." He cupped her chin in his hand and looked tenderly into her eyes. "How about I take you out to dinner this weekend? Would it make you feel better?"

Andrea smiled and hugged him, and he embraced her back.