My heart skipped a beat at that thought. After the choice I made on the stand today, it felt right to tell him about Alexis. I made a choice to trust him, and I needed to see it through. He deserved to know that she was his daughter, and Alexis deserved to have a father.
“Okay,” I said, holding her hand and leading her to the living room. “I’ll get some paper and your colored pencils so that you can make Dmitri a picture.”
She could give it to him when he got home, and then I’d tell him about her being his daughter. I just hoped he was happy about it.
I gave Alexis the paper and pencils before settling in on the couch and watching a little television. She took her time drawing her picture, and an hour passed. When it was complete, she stood in front of me with it held up with a bright smile on her face. The drawing was a man with comically long legs that was obviously supposed to be Dmitri. He was standing next to a house, and he was as tall as the building. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be Dmitri’s home because she’d colored it purple. He was holding a little girl’s hand, and I didn’t have to ask to know that it was supposed to be her.
If I wasn’t sure that she didn’t know that Dmitri was her father, I would think that she’d somehow figured it out.
“That’s beautiful,” I said, smiling. “How about we put it on the refrigerator where he’ll be sure to see it?”
“Yeah!”
She raced off to the kitchen, and I followed closely behind her, using a sensible chip-clip magnet to hang the picture on the otherwise empty front of the refrigerator. Seeing Alexis’s proud face, I suddenly couldn’t wait for Dmitri to get here. After days of indecision, I was eagerto tell him about her being his child.
But where was he? I assumed he’d come back right after the trial concluded for the day. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I expected to see a text or missed phone call, but there was nothing.
I knew he wasn’t accountable to me, but I couldn’t help feeling a little hurt. I thought he’d at least keep me updated on when he’d be here, considering the way our relationship was growing.
I decided to send him a message, asking when he would be home. It was getting close to dinnertime, so it was a reasonable question. Ronnie told me that she usually prepareda dinner for Dmitri every day and left it in the refrigerator with instructions on how to heat it up. Opening it, I saw what looked like some kind of meat and potatoes dish with a Post-it note stuck to the top with the information I’d need to heat it up.
I returned to the living room with Alexis, and she settled back onto the floor in front of the coffee table to keep drawing. I checked my phone and frowned when I saw there’d been no response from Dmitri.
Where was he?
I’d just asked myself that question when I heard a key unlocking the front door. I’d set the alarm, even though we were home, because Dmitri instructed me to always do that and showed me how to. It started to go off as a man who wasnotDmitri walked into the house. My breath caught as panic swept through me, but then the stranger turned to the alarm panel and disarmed it.
I stood, positioning my body between the stranger and Alexis, who had looked up from her drawing but was still sitting on the floor.
“Who are you?” I asked, not quite freaking out because the man knew the code to the alarm system but still uncomfortable with his unexpected presence in the house.
“Lev,” he said, taking a step closer to me. I shifted back, but not far. I wanted to stay between this man and my daughter. “I’m Dmitri’s cousin. I was in the restaurant when you arrived yesterday.”
I thought back to the unfamiliar faces in that room. Dmitri didn’t introduce me to many of them, and I couldn’t remember seeing this man there. But as I scanned his features, I could see the resemblance to Dmitri. They had the same nose and strong jaw. His hair was thick and black, just like Dmitri’s.
Glancing down, I saw the key to the house in his hand. If he had thatandknew the alarm code, he was probably telling the truth.
“Why are you here?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest and trying to sound brave.
The truth was that I was rattled from so much that had happened the past few days, and trusting a new person was nearly impossible without Dmitri around to tell me I had nothing to worry about.
“I’ve come to get you, to take you to Dmitri. There’s been an accident.”
And just like that, the panic was back.