A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Alena

Matteo and I were standing in front of my parents‘ house. It had been six months ever since we eloped, including the months we ignored each other. We spent a lot of time together whenever we weren’t busy–if kissing and having sex were considered spending time. But we talked more than usual, it became normal.

I had knocked and now we were waiting for someone to open the door.

As soon as I started to grow anxious, Mama came to open the door. She was smiling when she saw me, but her smile started to fade when she saw my husband.

“Mama, how are you?” I asked, pulling her in for a hug

“All good, sweetheart. How are you?”

“Never been better.”

“You must be Matteo,” she greeted him.

“Mrs. Orlov, it’s nice to meet you. We picked these flowers for you,” he smiled, showing off his perfect pearly whites as he handed her a bouquet of baby breaths. Mama had always loved baby breaths because she could keep them when dried and she didn’t have to throw them away.

“Fresh baby breaths. Thank you, they’re lovely.”

“Can we come inside?” I asked.

“Of course, Come in, come in.”

When we got inside the house, the three of us made our way towards the kitchen. Matteo and I took a seat on the stools while she moved around to fill in a vase with water. Then, she placed the baby breaths inside, a smile slowly forming on her

face

“These are very lovely, Matteo. Thank you so much. Alena must’ve told you baby breaths are my favorite.”

“I must say I was trying to impress, he replied, smiling back.

Mama laughed as she placed the vase on the dining table. Once she got back inside the kitchen, she was serving us puddings. Knowing Mama, she always knew how to fill her time to keep her busy–it was either shopping with her friends or spend the time at home cooking and baking.

She expertly managed to gain her skills from all of that.

I always loved her cooking because she knew how to make my tummy full. I kept coming back for more.

“You did a good first impression.” Mama said before turning to look at me, “I didn’t know your husband’s a charmer, Alena.”

“Can’t compliment him too much. He knows it already”

“Ah, aren’t all men like that? I remember your Papa when we were younger. He was a romantic and he didn’t hide it. He just got busy when we had kids and well, I kind of missed the younger us

I cleared my throat, “Speaking of Papa… is he home?”

“Your Papa and Alexel went out but I’m sure they’ll return soon,

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I grabbed Matteo’s hand to catch his attention, “Can you give us a minute, please?”

He didn’t ask anything else as he nodded, placing a quick kiss oniny temple before walking out of the kitchen–leaving Mama and 1, on our own. Even though we could simply speak in Russian, but Matteo knew more than two languages. I couldn’t risk him knowing Russian

“You seem restless, my dear, What’s wrong? Mama asked, taking a seat beside me before grabbing my hand. She always knew when things were wrong.

“I’m scared. Mama. Tears were beginning to fill my eyes as I gripped harder onto her hands.

“Oh dear. What are you scared of, baby? Did he hurt you?”

“No. Mama. He would never,” I shook my head before wiping away the fallen tears. “Matteo treats me so well, Mama. He’s always there for me and he makes me so happy.”

“I’m happy for you, Alena but what’s wrong? Why are you scared?”

“I don’t want to lose Papa.”

Mama cupped my face, wiping away my tears as she smiled. “You have nothing to be scared of, Alena and you’re never Josing your father. I know you’re both in difficult spots with each other after what happened that night but you’re still his daughter. He loves you more than you know.”

I breathed, “What if he never wants to talk to me? What if he keeps avoiding me?”

Nonsense, sweetheart.”

“Did you guys talk about me?”

“He tried avoiding you as a topic whenever I tried but I caught him in your room, sometimes. He misses you, Alena. He’s just doing a good job at hiding it.”

1 pulled her closer towards me, “I don’t want him to hate Mattee, either.”

-Honestly, I wanted Matteo to receive the same treatment from my family just like I did from his family. They were too nice to me, and I appreciated it, but I knew Papa and Alexei were bound to be rude to him–they were going to keep their weapons, nobody was going to get hurt but they weren’t going to treat him nice, either.

She sighed, rubbing my back.

Not another word left her lips because she knew, if she tried to say nice things, they were lies.

“Let’s just have lunch and forget about this, okay? I don’t want to see you crying. I’m sure your husband doesn’t want to see you crying, too. We’ll figure out something when the time comes,” she continued to rub my back even when I had pulled

away.

“Okay, Mama. You’re right,”

“Go and call your husband. I made borscht,”

I wiped away any fallen tears, trying to appear decent as I made my way to the living room, finding Matteo standing near the glass window. He was too busy watching the view outside but as soon as I entered the room, he turned to look at me.

“What’s wrong, Alena?” He asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“Nothing. I’m fine,”

He cupped my face, staring into my eyes before caressing my cheeks with his thumb, “You were crying. Your eyes are red.

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and your lips are swollen. What happened?”

“I was just talking to Mama about Papa”

“About what?”

“About me. About you.”

“What about you. Alena? Tell me.”

Π

He was comforting me by tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear, rubbing my back, and pulling me in close for a hug. He was genuinely concern about me and I appreciated it–even though he didn’t have to.

“Papa and I haven’t talked in months. I kind of missed the way we used to be,” my fingers were playing with his shirt as I talked. “This was medical school all over again but worse.”

“Mm, I’m sure he misses you too, Alena.”

“You sure?” I lifted my head to look at him

Our eyes met in an instant and those brown eyes calmed me down. They were soft, reminding me of the chestnut horse, wild and free and untamed in its natural state. Whenever I looked into his brown eyes, I got a sense of security and stability because I knew he was trustworthy.

“I’m very sure.”

my surprise, he leaned in for a long kiss on my forehead.

It made me feel at ease.

“How did you do that?” I asked, looking at him.

“Do what, Alena?”

“Calm me downL

He raised an eyebrow, a sly smirk appearing. “I didn’t do anything

“You did. I don’t know what you did but you did something

The curves of his lips turned into a smile before he laughed, flashing his straight teeth. “I’m glad it worked to calm you down. I hate to see you cry again.”

“I’m not crying anymore.”

“You shouldn’t. I miss that smile on your face,” he leaned in, pinching the bridge of my nose playfully which caused me to instantly smile.

I didn’t realize his treatment towards me. We were acting like a real couple, and I was beginning to grow comfortable. I didn’t even notice we were never like this,

“Are you hungry?” I asked.

“Starving

“Let’s eat.”

1

Mama, Matteo, and I spent the next couple of hours in the dining room, talking. Apparently, Matteo was really good at keeping conversations, Mama was somehow cold towards him in the beginning but as time passed, she was laughing and

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smiling at everything he said. She was being extra talkative, too,

When Matt

complimented her cooking, she blushed.

1 never expected her to warm up to him as quick as she did.

Matteo was occasionally rubbing my thigh underneath the table, and I knew he did it to comfort me. As he was talking to Mama, he never made me feel left out. I appreciated his warm hand on my skin..

“Where did you hide this young man, Alena? I like him, Mama spoke.

“Oh, in my basement.”

She laughed. “Speaking of young, how old are you, Matteo? You don’t look any older than thirty–five.”

“I’m actually turning thirty–five next week,

Matteo’s birthday was next week. He was turning thirty–five soon and I didn’t even know if Mama hadn’t asked him. I was starting to think of what I could get him for his birthday he had everything already. Maybe, he needed a new car!

That was ridiculous. I couldn’t afford a luxury car.