Danil’s Mate(29)

“When Danil was trying to decide if I was worth kissing or not. I remember.”

Maxim turned to his brother in horror. “You had to decide?” Then he turned to Dora. “My love. You are wasted on him. Wasted.”

AJ kissed Katya on the cheek. “I brought dessert, Mama.” She put a pie and a plate of cookies on the counter that she’d been balancing on her hip. “What can I do to help?”

“No. Your cooking is done,” Katya said, nodding toward the desserts. “Go play with my lazy boys.”

Dora grinned and went back to her chopping as AJ melted into the crowd of brothers.

“So. You are people watcher,” Katya said after a few minutes of companionable silence.

Dora cocked her head to one side and considered the question. “I guess you could say that. I’m a journalist. So I definitely have to pay attention to people to get a story straight. But my dad was a private investigator.”

Katya looked up in confusion.

“Like a detective,” Dora clarified.

“Ah. Sherlock. Cumberbatch,” Katya said.

Dora grinned. “I love that show. And yeah. He was kind of like that. But nicer.” The two women smiled at each other.

“He was good papa to you.”

“He was the best papa,” Dora said, blinking her tears away before Katya could see. But with 36 years of motherhood under her belt, Katya didn’t need to see a tear to know it was there. “And he was really good at reading people. I guess he taught me how.”

Katya considered her answer. “So what do you see here?” She nodded her head toward her family: The boys lazily sprawled out. AJ and Emin sitting on the floor, working on a puzzle that looked complicated enough to have been around for years. Ilya reclined in a La-Z-Boy, taking Anton by the chin, turning his son’s head one way and then the other to inspect his haircut. And then Danil, leaning on Maxim’s shoulder as the two men flipped through channels on the TV, arguing over where to stop.

Dora pursed her lips, considering. “Hmmm,” she said. “Where to start?” Judging that with the TV on and the food percolating on the stove, none of them would be able to hear her assessment of them, so Dora plunged in.

“Well, there’s Ilya. He’s easy. He loves his boys to distraction. And you. He touches all of you when he doesn’t have to. Just for the joy of it. He’s so proud. Of his boys. And of himself for making them.” Katya grinned. Dora kept on. “Your family as a whole seems very tight. It’s there because you’re good parents. But also because you’ve come through something together. Something hard. Maybe the immigration to America? But no. It’s something harder than that. Something that I think has to do with Anton.”

If Dora would have looked up, she’d have seen Katya studying her, an interesting look on her face. But she didn’t look up. She was caught in the game. So she explained her reasoning. “And I think Anton is the one because, well, maybe it’s easier to start with Maxim.”

Katya outright grinned at that. It was, in fact, always easiest to start with Maxim. She thanked God he’d been her first child.

“Maxim is the heart of your family,” Dora said. “You can see it in his big, puppy dog eyes. He’s all happy and loving and just wants everyone to be as kind as he is. I imagine it surprised him when girls started chasing him but I’m willing to bet he took to it pretty quickly.

“And then there’s Emin. The next oldest, right? He’s obviously the passionate artist. There’s something very primal about him. And those looks. Well, I’m sure he’s developed quite the… skill when it comes to women. But I think he sees more than his brothers. In other people. In the world. He makes it his duty to make sure his brothers see it, too.”

Katya had stopped chopping altogether at this point. She was simply staring at Dora’s face. Studying her as Dora was studying the people in front of her.

“So, Anton. He’s so quiet. So sad. There’s something… injured about him but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s less about how he acts and more about how the family acts around him. They all glance at him. Gravitate around him like they’re protecting him at every moment. And,” Dora cocked her head to one side, studied Anton’s irritated glance at Emin over some comment she hadn’t quite caught. “He hates that. He just wants to be quiet. Left alone. Not the center of attention.” Dora studied for another moment. Noted the way that Anton’s eyes flicked to AJ. To the mere two inches of distance between her and Emin’s bodies as they worked on the puzzle together. “Yeah. And I’m willing to bet that he probably loves her.” She pointed with her chin toward AJ.