Page 100 of Savage Truce

I wait for Andrea to hug my former boss before I step closer. “It’s so good to see you.”

“I was so happy when you said you’re coming for a visit. It’s been too long,” Charlotte replies while kissing me lightly on the cheek before hugging Isobel, whose eyes are firmly fixed on the lead actor.

“Don’t think about it,” Andrea mutters to her sister. “Pap will shit himself if you come home with an actor.”

“Language,” I chastise my daughter before we follow Charlotte down the hallway toward my old workshop.

“Lord, how I miss you,” she mutters, tired lines on her face. “What I’d give to find a seamstress with your talent. Move back to the UK and come work for me.”

I let out a chuckle. “Sorry, Charlotte. I’m quite happy at the theater where I’m currently working, and Russia is home.”

“I’ll just have to suffer with the incompetent people they saddle me with,” she complains.

Andrea clears her throat loudly. “Excuse me. What about me?”

“You’re busy studying,” Charlotte replies, a spark of hope igniting in her eyes. She looks at Andrea from over the rim of her glasses that are perched on her nose. “But once you’re done and you need a job, I’d be over the moon to have you.”

“Wouldn’t that be awesome, Mam? Me starting my career at the same place where you did?”

“I think I’d cry my eyes out.” It would be a wonderful place for Andrea to work. Glancing at Charlotte, I ask, “Will you still be here, though? When are you retiring?”

“I’m only seventy-two. I’ll retire when I’m dead.”

We chuckle, but as I walk into my workshop, I come to a sudden stop and gasp.

I’m so surprised to see Rodian and Ruslan, our oldest. They didn’t say anything about coming to the UK.

Then my eye catches on Rodian’s hand as he holds up a button. “I can see you’re busy.” The corner of his mouth lifts. “Would you mind sewing it back on?”

Oh my God!

I’m transported back to a time when his temples weren’t gray and the lines on his face weren’t as deep.

“Not at all,” I whisper, my voice hoarse from the overwhelming emotions filling my heart.

Charlotte pulls the door shut with a wink while Andrea brings me a needle and thread.

Taking the button from Rodian, I smile from ear to ear, loving the surprise.

As I begin to sew it back on, he says, “In this room, you stole my heart, and for the past thirty years you’ve cherished it. Being loved by you is the most extraordinary experience of my life. Because you chose me, I got to create three masterpieces with you. Half of me and half of you.”

“Dammit,” I sob as the tears begin to roll down my cheeks, and I’m unable to get the button on. In the midst of menopause, the tears come way too easily.

Rodian steps closer, his expression tender as he looks at me. “You were my first love, and you will be my last.”

Passing the button and needle back to Andrea, I throw my arms around Rodian’s neck and lift myself onto my tiptoes so I can kiss that poetic mouth of his.

Like always, he lifts my feet off the floor as he holds me tightly, his mouth claiming mine with the passion that’s never lessened but instead grown throughout our lives.

Ruslan clears his throat.

“Not what I wanted to see today, guys,” Andrea mutters, while Isobel whisper-hisses, “Shush. It’s romantic.”

Chuckling, I pull back, and staring deep into the ice-blue eyes that have only melted for me, I say, “After all these years, you are still my white knight, even if you’re the villain to others. You’ve given me a beautiful life filled with so much love it sometimes feels like a dream.” My chin quivers as I whisper, “Yes, that’s what you are. My dream come true.”

“Aww…” Isobel sniffles. “I swear, if I don’t get someone who makes me feel the way Pap makes Mam feel, I won’t get married.”

“We have a surprise for you,” Ruslan says as he goes to open the door.