Chapter 10: Tatyana Ivanovna Voronina

New Year's Eve, 1984, Chicago, Illinois

Pete, Melanie, Jamie, Jackie, Anala, and Prajesh all arrived just before 6:00pm. I made the necessary introductions, and we went to the dining room. I pulled Melanie aside and quietly and firmly requested that she leave Jennifer be, and then we joined the others at the table.

I'd made sure that the meal didn't include any beef out of deference to my Hindu guests, though Anala had always assured me that it was OK if others ate beef in her presence. Stephanie, Josie, Jennifer, and I had cooked a mix of Indian and American food and had a veritable feast for our friends.

"This food is excellent, just as at Thanksgiving," Prajesh said when we'd finished.

"Thanks. Anala taught me a few of the recipes, and the others are my own concoctions. We have dessert as well. Let me know if you want coffee or tea, and how you take it," I said.

I got the orders and Stephanie and I went to the kitchen to get the tea and coffee ready, and then brought it out along with the cake that Jennifer and Josie had made that afternoon, along with some ice cream that Stephanie had purchased at Jewel. When everyone finished their dessert, I refilled the coffee and tea and we sat around the table to talk. It started with talk about architecture between Jackie and Anala, but quickly switched to a more important topic.

"Prajesh found a house," Anala said. "It's in Downers Grove, not far from where he works, and it's right on the train line that goes out to Aurora, which is convenient for working downtown."

"So, you're engaged, then?" I asked with a smile.

"Yes!" she said happily.

"Congratulations to both of you! I'm happy to hear it!" I said.

"When's the wedding?" Jackie asked.

"Our parents need to work that out," Anala replied. "Probably in March or April. It depends on when the sale on the house closes and Prajesh is able to properly furnish it and get settled."

"Will you have a traditional Indian wedding?" Jackie asked.

"Of course," Prajesh said with a chuckle. "Our parents would not allow it any other way!"

While we were talking, the phone rang, and I excused myself and got up to answer it.

"Hi, Steve," I heard a very weak voice say.

"Hi, Sweetheart! How are you?"

"OK. Just tired and my arm hurts like hell. But I'm not taking the pain pills during the day because they make me loopy."

"Ed would say that was normal!" I teased.

"He would!" she replied with a groan. "How's Jennifer?"

"Better. She finally broke down and talked to me this morning. It's about as fucked-up as you could imagine. She agreed to go for counseling, but she said the same thing you did — only I can help her through this. She asked me to make love to her."

"Did you?"

"No," I replied. "That would have been foolish in the extreme."

"Maybe. Let's talk about it tomorrow. I just ate and I want to take my pain pills and go to sleep."

"OK. I'll see you tomorrow after lunch. It'll be Tatyana, Stephanie, and me. Josie and Jen are going to stay at my house and talk."

"Good."

"I love you, Bethany!" I said.

"I love you, too!" she said.

We hung up and as I was walking back to the dining room, the phone rang again. As I expected, it was Tatyana confirming her flight. I let her know about the change of plans, and that we'd be in Chicago for the most part, and that Jennifer was going home on Wednesday as planned. Tanya was confused, but I promised to explain everything when she arrived.

The rest of the evening was enjoyable. We ended up watching only one of the movies, The Towering Inferno, starring, among others, the former pro-football player OJ Simpson. He wasn't very good, and I thought he might be better at being a football analyst than an actor. Overall, the movie was entertaining, but nothing special. We ate snacks and talked, waiting for the magic hour of midnight.

About five minutes before midnight, I realized that Stephanie and I were the only ones without a partner. Given where we were in our relationship, and especially with people who didn't know about our past at the house, I wasn't about to give her a sexy midnight kiss. Jennifer must have read my mind because she whispered in Josie's ear and Josie nodded and came to stand by me. Jennifer beckoned Stephanie to her and whispered, and Stephanie nodded and laughed.

At midnight we toasted and everyone kissed, including Stephanie and Jennifer, which drew a concerned stare from Prajesh and a mirthful smile from Anala. I heard her whisper to Prajesh that he could hardly have expected me to kiss my sister, and he nodded. Everyone exchanged handshakes, hugs or quick kisses on the cheek, though Melanie gave me one of her patented French kisses, drawing a surprised look from Prajesh.

"Ignore her," my sister said to him. "She's been like that since they were teenagers and even being married hasn't made her stop. They used to be a couple a long, long time ago. He's responsible for her and Pete being together."

"It's very strange to see that, as well as you kissing another girl."

"Jennifer and I have been close since I was little," Stephanie replied.

Everyone had at least something to drink at midnight, so I offered to make beds available, but everyone declined. They hadn't had a lot to drink, so I didn't insist that anyone stay. By 1:30am everyone had left and the four of us staying at the house headed to bed. I wondered if Jennifer and Josie would sleep together, but that was up to them, and not really any of my business. My bigger concern was what my sister had planned. It turned out to be the same thing as the previous night, and we fell asleep spooned together.

New Year's Day, 1985, Chicago, Illinois

The morning routine was the same as it had been the day before, though Jennifer and Josie showed up for breakfast just as I was finishing making it, rather than much later as they had the previous morning. I got the newspaper and saw that the man who had committed the subway shooting in New York just before Christmas, Bernhard Goetz, had turned himself in to the police in New Hampshire.

"I'd have done the same thing he did if a bunch of kids tried to mug me!" Josie said.

"I'm with you on that one," I agreed. "But I'm afraid they'll convict him, anyway."

When we finished eating, we cleaned up the kitchen and collected the glasses, plates, and bowls from the previous night's festivities, and then Stephanie and I changed the sheets on my bed and moved her things into Kara's room. I grabbed Sofia's car keys from the desk in her room and we went downstairs.

"Are you two going to be OK?" I asked. "Do you need anything?"

"We'll be fine," Jennifer said. "We just need to have a long talk. She cuddled me last night, and that helped a lot."

"OK. We'll be back to drop off Tatyana's bags, but we'll only be here for a few minutes. We can do introductions later."

"Drive safely, Steve," Jennifer said.

I hugged both girls, and then my sister and I got into Sofia's Dodge Charger and headed for the airport.

"What's up with you, Squirt? Sleeping with me and being naked in the bathroom together?"

"What did you tell me Anala said about intimacy?" she said.

"That it doesn't have to do with sex," I said.

"Are we still intimate, Big Brother?" she asked.

"Yes. I guess I was concerned that you were trying to restart things."

"No, but I WAS curious how you would react."

"And if I'd said 'wild fuck' instead of 'nice breakfast', what would have happened?" I asked.

"You wouldn't have. We're past that."

"Pretty gutsy, Squirt," I said.

"The worst-case scenario was that you would fuck me senseless," she said with a soft laugh. "How is that gutsy?"

"Because of the problems it would cause for both of us. Ones we're fully aware of and have dealt with. We don't want to deal with those again. We don't NEED that the way we did before."

"True," Stephanie agreed.

"Squirt, you loved me unconditionally. You still do. You were, at least in part, trying to make up for the love I wasn't getting from mom. Your choice of how to do that was unconventional, at best."

"It worked out perfectly for both of us."

"And it could have ended in disaster in so many different ways. Did Bethany talk to you about her research, or just interview you?"

"She discussed it with me. But those other situations were different. Didn't your friend Sarah have a good experience?"

I thought back to the talks I'd had with Sarah Leonard, then said, "Until they got caught, but yeah, I guess. But there was something kind of off there. I could never quite put my finger on it."

"I'm sure people thought that about us too, Big Brother."

"I'm sure they did," I agreed.

We rode quietly the rest of the way to the airport, where we parked in the short-term lot and walked into the terminal. I checked the arrival board, and we went down the concourse to wait for Tanya's flight to arrive. We only had to wait about ten minutes before the jet parked on the ramp and the Jetway was rolled out. As usual, Tanya was one of the first passengers off the plane.

I gave her a hug and a soft kiss, and for once she didn't protest, nor did she call me «некультурный».

"Hello, Stephanie Rayevna! How are you?"

"Very good, Tatyana Ivanovna!" my sister answered.

"Do you have another bag, Tanya?" I asked.

"Yes. This carry-on isn't big enough for a week!"

"OK. Let's get it, and then we'll drop your bags at my house and head to Indianapolis."

"How is your friend?" Tanya asked.

"OK. She had surgery yesterday on her arm, but that's the last one until they need to remove some of the hardware they used to put her arm back together. She has a lot of hard work to do in rehab, but she's not in any danger."

"Rehab?" Tanya asked.

"Rehabilitation. Basically getting her arm and chest better, and recovering from all the surgery."

Tanya's bag was one of the first on the carousel and we were quickly on our way back to the house.

"Is this your new car?" Tanya asked.

"No. This belongs to Sofia. Mine is still being repaired. I'll get it back the day before you go home so you can see the new decadent American sports car I bought!"

Tanya laughed, "I see Lyudmila Alekseyevna looking at magazines with such cars all the time. And computers. She is plotting!"

"I'm sure. I suspect that Katya Sergeyevna has her hands full with Lyusya!"

"Yes, she does. Lyusya is hoping you visit again soon so she can talk to you."

"Talk?" I laughed.

"She will have constant supervision when you are in Washington the next time! We will have no repeat of her «некультурный» behavior!"

We arrived home about thirty minutes after leaving the airport and I took Tanya's bags to my room. We all used the bathroom and then were back in the car. I hadn't seen Jennifer and Josie, but they could have been just about anywhere in the house, as we'd only used the powder room by the front door and I'd gone straight to my room and back. I hoped everything worked out for them, but at that moment, my mind was on Tanya and Bethany.

New Year's Day, 1985, Indianapolis, Indiana

The drive to Indianapolis was uneventful. We stopped at Wendy's in Lebanon for lunch, a new experience for Tanya, and arrived at the hospital just before 2:00pm. We parked and went inside, and up to Bethany's room, where we found Harry, Nora, and Ed with her.

"Ed, let's go take a walk," my sister said, taking his hand.

They left the room, and I walked over to Bethany and gave her a quick kiss. Tanya stood by my side.

"Hello, Bethany Haroldovna," Tanya said, using Harry's formal name I'd given her as we rode up in the elevator.

"Hello, Tanya," Bethany said. "Thanks for allowing Steve to come and for coming with him."

"You are Stepa's best friend! How could I refuse his request? It would be «некультурный» in the extreme!"

"How are you feeling, Sweetheart?" I asked.

"Like sh ... crap," she smiled. "I'm just taking Tylenol 3 during the day. The codeine doesn't make me loopy like whatever they're giving me otherwise. I just take that other stuff before I want to sleep at night."

"What did the surgeon say?" I asked.

"That it was like putting together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle. There are four screws, two rods and some other miscellaneous hardware in my arm. It's like Melanie's, only worse."

"Do you remember anything about what happened?" I asked.

"No. I was driving along and then I was here. As I said, I remember a Prince song playing, then nothing."

"Did the police come talk to you?"

"They're coming tomorrow. They wanted to come yesterday, but with the surgery, that wouldn't have worked."

"Are they going to let you out on Friday like you thought?"

"Supposedly. Dad made all the arrangements. I want you to wait until the 12th to come to Milford for the first time. Next weekend is going to be crazy."

"Just let me know when the plane will pick me up and drop me off. I'm at your beck-and-call. I'll just bring my homework with me. I'll have plenty of reading I can do. I don't know the requirements for my computer classes yet, but I'm sure I can work that out. Do you know when you might go back to Madison?"

"I'll have to go sometime before April, and Doctor Winslow and Doctor Hicks said six weeks before I can travel sitting up for a long period of time. I'm not even allowed to climb steps for two weeks. I can start working on my research as soon as I feel up to it."

"How were you doing that? I mean, keeping your notes and stuff."

"It's all on note cards and hand-written. I typed the first draft."

"I'm going to get you a computer. That way I can use it when I'm there. When you move to Chicago, you can keep using it."

"You don't have to do that," she protested.

"It's for you, but it's for me, too. I have two computer classes. I'll bring it with me when I come see you on Friday before you go home."

"That's really nice of you, Steve," Harry said. "But it's not necessary. I can get one for Bethany. It'll be much easier if I do it in Cincinnati. Just tell me what to get."

"I really would like to do it," I said.

"It's just not practical," he said. "You'd have to bring it here, and we'd have to get it home. I'll have it ready for you when you come down on the 12th."

"OK," I said, yielding to his logic, despite the fact that I wanted to do that for Bethany. "If you want to take a break, Tanya and I will stay with Bethany."

"Thanks. That's a good idea. We'll take a walk, get some coffee and be back in an hour. Is that OK?"

"Perfect. Stephanie and Ed should resurface by then," I said, causing Bethany to giggle.

Her parents left arm in arm and I was glad that I could do this for them.

"How's Jennifer?" Bethany asked.

"OK. She and Josie are talking. She basically spilled everything yesterday. It's a bit more complicated, but you were right about her wanting and needing my help."