Modern Romance June 2016 Books 5-8. Tara Pammi

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СКАЧАТЬ beautiful costume as Roman dealt with it. He removed her shoes, ballet tights, bandages and make-up, and not once did he tell her off.

      The senior doctor came in and they ran some tests and Roman translated.

      ‘What is he saying?’ Anya asked.

      ‘They are concerned about the wild chanterelles that you ate last night.’

      ‘You poisoned me,’ Anya accused.

      ‘As I pointed out to the doctor, I ate ten times the amount you did and I am fine.’

      ‘Well, you couldn’t even catch flu if you tried,’ Anya said as the doctor left, ‘whereas I have a delicate constitution.’

      And Roman smiled.

      For that was them.

      They knew their dance.

      Roman’s phone rang and it was Daniil. He said they were all on their way to the hospital and asked how Anya was.

      ‘She will be okay,’ Roman said. ‘Hold on for a moment...’ He went out and asked the doctor if Anya could have hot chocolate and the doctor agreed.

      He told his twin of the best café in Paris for hot chocolate and asked him to stop and fetch some for Anya on his way.

      Then he went back in to her. ‘You look better.’

      Roman took down the side of the gurney and she made room with her legs for him to sit on the edge, and still he was not cross.

      ‘There is some colour coming back to your face,’ he said.

      Panic had hit him as he’d raced backstage, but there in the midst of the pandemonium he’d been glad that he’d been beside her, because with or without him this would still have happened.

      She would never have to deal with anything alone again, and for so long she had.

      The weight of her mother’s expectations, the pressure, the demands of her profession, and he wondered about his decision to leave.

      He was still sure that he had been right to do so.

      But she no longer had to face the world alone.

      And when she was at her very worst he made it her best.

      ‘I’ve spoiled everything,’ Anya said. ‘We were all going to go out...’

      ‘We might still,’ Roman said, ‘just without you.’

      And his small smile told her he was joking.

      ‘Or we might just have a little after party here.’

      ‘Some party.’ Anya took in a breath. ‘I honestly don’t know what happened, I felt fine when I was dancing...’

      ‘You were amazing.’

      ‘I think maybe it was just the stress of rehearsals, or maybe...’

      And she closed her eyes because she would not change a part of yesterday. It hadn’t been the conversation or staying up late or making love that had caused this. She had been tense and teary all week, and yesterday had actually helped things.

      ‘Well, I can’t wait any longer,’ Roman said.

      ‘Sorry?’ Anya frowned.

      ‘I’ve waited for many years to say this, and I don’t want to wait another night.’

      He went into his pocket and took out a jewellery box and a faded envelope.

      She went for the envelope first and inside it was a letter. She let out several small cries as she read it.

      Dearest Anya,

      I never wanted to be a burden to you. I know I never said it but I love you.

      I have loved you all my life and I still love you in death.

      Roman

      There were no hearts or kisses, for that was not Roman’s way.

      ‘You were never a burden.’ And then she found out he would have looked after her even in death.

      ‘I made my will out to leave everything to you. Had I died, Dario or one of my comrades would have seen you got this letter and, if possible, the earring that I carried with me wherever I went.’

      And she looked at him as she found out not just that he loved her but that he knew the depth of their love.

      ‘You were by my heart when I jumped out of planes, and you were there with me through war, and when I thought I might die you were with me too.’

      He would not have died without her knowing, and that meant more than the world to Anya. She had not been left behind.

      ‘Why didn’t you tell me this last night?’

      ‘Last night was to clear the air.’

      ‘And what about at the stage door?’ Anya said. ‘You should have told me then before I went on.’

      ‘You did not require my love to dance as you did,’ Roman said. ‘You did that by yourself, for yourself...’

      And she understood him some more.

      With the drip in the back of her hand and her fingers suddenly shaking, it was Roman who opened the box.

      ‘It’s time for us to make it official, Anya. You are my family, always.

      ‘Tomorrow, in sunlight, the stone will be the colour of your eyes. Tonight it is the colour of fire.’

      He did not ask her to marry him.

      He did not need to ask, he just slid the ring onto her finger and kissed it.

      ‘All the years we wasted,’ Anya said with a sob in her voice.

      ‘No. These haven’t been wasted years...’

      They hadn’t been, she realised.

      Roman was so proud and so determined in all that he did and he had made his way back to her, and to his twin, only when he had been ready. He had returned proud to reclaim the life he’d had to leave behind.

      ‘What about babies?’

      ‘Anya, I love you. If that’s what you want, we can look at other ways.’

      ‘What do you want?’

      He had never considered that he might become a father until he had held Nadia.

      Then he’d looked at Anya and had never really considered her a mother.

      Until now.

      Others thought Anya icy, yet he knew СКАЧАТЬ