Danil’s Mate(28)

“Maxim,” Danil said a little stiffly. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. I thought it would just be Mama and Papa.”

“Nonsense,” Maxim said, his huge, jovial presence immediately chasing his butterflies away. “We heard you were bringing this beautiful woman here and we all decided to join you.”

“All?” Danil echoed and groaned as Emin and Anton appeared over Maxim’s shoulders.

Maxim’s eyes dropped to Dora’s hand, clasped so tightly in Danil’s.

“You,” Maxim said, pointing his apple at Dora. “You’ve broken my heart. I’ll never be the same.”

“Ah, well,” Dora said, leaning forward to kiss him on the cheek. “Nothing’s final until I’m dead.”

Emin hooted and Anton grinned at the look on Danil’s face.

“I like her,” Anton said, drawing Dora’s eyes to him. He was the quietest brother, dark and sad. But right now his smile was making him brighter than any of them. She was a little stunned by his unexpected beauty, actually.

And Emin. Jeez, don’t even get her started on Emin. The guy had movie star written all over him.

“What are you looking at?” Danil asked, tugging her hand back into his as Maxim tried valiantly to kiss it.

“At how good-looking all the Malashoviks are,” she replied, to the general puffing of chests and slapping of shoulders. She pointed at Emin. “You ever quit painting, you could have a real career in movies.”

“I am terrible actor,” he replied, his crooked grin firmly in place.

“Porn, then?” Dora said and the brothers exploded into laughter again. But she went quite pink when she realized that Ilya was standing behind his sons. Luckily he was laughing as well.

“So,” Ilya said, taking her free hand and pulling her through the roadblock of all his sons. “You know of Emin. He’s very talented.”

Ilya leaned forward to kiss her cheeks, one and then the other. And after a brief pause, landed one right on her mouth.

“Papa!” Danil hissed, but Dora merely laughed.

“I know of Emin’s work very well. I own one, actually.”

Emin’s eyes flashed up to hers, a pleased but humble look crossing his face. “Which?”

“It’s a blue sky with just a slash of red in the corner. From a distance you can tell it’s a cardinal. Close up, it’s just a blur, maybe a momentary flash of passion from the artist.”

Now, Emin’s eyes showed true pleasure. “Da. An early painting. We were in America not two years yet.”

“How did you come by it?” Ilya asked, his hands still gripping hers.

Something flashed in her eyes that neither Danil nor Ilya missed. “My father gave it to me. He said it reminded him of me.”

“He was right,” Emin said. “You are ptuška, just like the cardinal.”

Emin reached up and quickly rearranged her hair over her forehead in the familiar, artful way of someone quite comfortable with touch.

“Alright,” Danil growled, coming back to stand by Dora’s side. She was staring up at him, a question on her lips.

“Give air!” a woman’s voice came through the group. “Give air to girl.”

And then Katya Malashovik materialized out of the living room. Looking more beautiful than a woman over sixty had any right to be. Her salt and pepper hair was swept back into a bun and she dried her hands on her apron as she handily shoved her sons aside.

“Come, girl,” she said holding her hand out to Dora.

Dora couldn’t help but meet Katya’s smile and place her hand in the woman’s smooth palm. Dora immediately discovered that Katya didn’t have a particularly gentle touch as she yanked her through the crowd of men and down the hall to the kitchen.

Before she could blink, Dora had an apron secured around her and two oven mitts jammed on her hand.

“Put babka out of oven,” Katya said, gesturing for Dora to do it. “It is Danishka’s favorite food.”

Dora immediately did as she was asked and soon found herself stirring something called machanka. Next came the chopping. Carrots and onions and enough potatoes to feed an army. Danil caught Dora’s eye from where he sat with his brothers in the living room. They each had a beer, their feet up on the coffee table. The kitchen overlooked both the living and the dining room. Dora stuck her tongue out at Danil and went back to chopping.

“Sorry I’m late everyone!” the blonde woman from the other night bounded into the living room. Dora remembered that her name was AJ.

“Hi,” she said coming up to Dora and holding out her hand and going slightly rosy with a blush. “We met the other night, um, in the driveway.”