The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 119

Chapter 119

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I shuddered. Lung drainage-that was serious. It meant blood had entered his airways. Only then did I realize he was speaking slowly, deliberately. Of course-he couldn’t breathe well. I imagined he wasn’t pronouncing English clearly not only because of his Russian accent, but because of the wound to his mouth and cheek, in addition to the lung problem.

For a moment I thought about saying goodbye so he would stop making foolish efforts to talk, but I was selfish and didn’t want to.

Who knew when we would communicate again?

“…that’s why I don’t understand you very well, I suppose. Does it hurt a lot?” I said, after swallowing.

“Now? Quite a bit. But still bearable. Yesterday I was able to see the children.”

Hearing about the little ones gave me a sudden rush of joy.

“Really? How are they? Who’s taking care of them? How are they handling all this?”

My interest must have amused him, because he laughed a little and warmth rose to my

cheeks.

“They’re fine, very fine, thank God. My parents traveled immediately and now they’re taking care of them. Sasha hates everyone, but from what I could see, she likes my mother-and her uncle too. Andre is a little overwhelmed; it’s a lot of new people to meet… suddenly, he has grandparents and doesn’t quite know how to behave around them. But he won’t cause trouble. I know it. I’m calm now that my mother is going to take care of both of them.”

It moved me to imagine him-the poor thing-nervous about meeting his grandmother. I wondered what Alexander’s mother was like, what parts of him resembled her. I made a mental note to look them up online later. I seemed to recall her name was Ekaterina, but I wasn’t sure. Most likely there were all kinds of photos-of his parents and his brother, of their relatives who were also shareholders and directors of the VLC Group. People so famous in the business world, as important as they were-surely there were tons of pictures.

“So you reunited with your family.” I guessed, with a small smile.

“Yes. It was funny, actually. At first my mother yelled at me a little and then cried, then she hugged me and yelled at me a little more, and cried again. And then she realized the left side of my body is a disaster, and she let me go-but kept yelling at me while crying. It was very funny and very confusing, I tell you. My mother had never yelled at me before. But then she made everyone leave the room and we talked seriously.” He paused. “Then it was my turn to

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tell everything-and cry.”

I pressed my lips together and for a moment didn’t know what to say.

“I’m sorry.” It was the only thing that came out.

+25 Points

“It was going to happen sooner or later. My father was there too, but he didn’t say anything.”

“… And how are you handling it?”

I meant many things with those words-his condition, his father, what would come next, the future awaiting him among his own. But he chose the easy way out. I wanted to believe it was because he didn’t have much time left to keep talking.

I leaned back on the sofa while wrapping the blanket tighter around myself, trying to imagine how and where he was. And although I have a good imagination, for some reason I couldn’t see him clearly. Again, there was a sigh on the line. I imagined he was smiling.

“Fine, fine. It’s a good clinic, but… I was very bored. Being bedridden is not fun at all. So I asked them to bring me your books, to have something to do.”

That made my eyes widen and I almost jumped off the sofa.

“My books? You’ve been reading that?”

“…wait-Richie is an architect?” I had to confirm.

“He’s a partner in his cousins’ construction company, although he usually works in Sydney and its surroundings. It’s his people, not mine,” he assured me, with a hint of pride in his voice. “I only asked who wanted to lend me a hand with that, and he volunteered automatically. He said he could rebuild your house as if nothing had ever happened.”

At that moment I laughed again, remembering all the ideas I had formed about Richie when I

first met him.

“What’s so funny?” Alexander asked, intrigued.

“Myself. I thought Richie was a rancher. You know-because of the hat.”

We were having such a good time talking, as if years had passed since we had seen each other, that we didn’t notice I had been on the phone with him for almost an hour. And I had no intention of hanging up, even though he sounded a bit tired and I should have appealed to common sense to leave him alone.

I didn’t want to hang up, because I was afraid of not hearing him again after that.

I wanted to ask him so many things-so many! But everything crowded my mind at once. I wanted to know if he knew who had alerted his brother, if he knew the Arab lions had appeared to take Haydar, if he had news about Haydar’s fate; how he was handling the “return

to his family…

I managed to find out more about the children, about his brother and his parents… but on those last two topics Alexander did not give many details. From what little he told me, sensed the situation was somewhat delicate. So I asked about the others instead, not to keep making him uncomfortable.

My relief was immense when he told me all his companions were well. That Nika was recovering-the shot had destroyed her clavicle and she couldn’t move her left arm for a few

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