Page 59 of Deception

“What?” I bluster, trying to lift myself so that I check his face for any sign that he’s playing with me. “Why?”

We’re at the back door when he stops to put me down and take the coats from the maid already waiting. While he’s helping me into mine, he says, “Typically, it’s poor practice to marry a woman before introducing her to your mother, so…”

I’m not sure what’s happening. I’m hot and I’m cold. My stomach is somersaulting while my heart races with panic as Tomasz puts the book in my coat pocket and then tugs my boots onto my feet.

When he stands, I ask, “What are you talking about?”

“My mother suggested it. A Vassily always protects their name. If you are a Vassily, my father will have no choice but to protect you that same way that he protects me and my sister.”

“You can’t… I can’t… Marriage shouldn’t be about?—”

“Do you still want me to keep you?” he snaps with a scowl that chills through me.

“Tomasz…”

“You want to be kept as a whore, I’ll send you to—” Before he can finish, my hand strikes his face with a loud thwack that has the maid cowering away in apprehension of his reaction.

“Call me whatever the fuck you want…pet, doll…but you will never call me a whore!” Hot tears burn in my eyes as his hand grips me by the throat.

“If you feel so strongly about it, you’ll follow my plan without another question.” Releasing me with a push, he turns to snatch his coat from the maid that’s staring down at the ground, clearly afraid that he’ll take my outburst out on her. He doesn’t.

Putting his coat on, he turns back to me, glowering as he zips up and then does the same for me. While he tugs the fur collar to close around my neck, he tells me, “You ever hit me again and it will be the last thing you ever do. I’m lenient with you because I failed to protect you once. I broke my word to you…but you will not disrespect me.”

“Respect goes both ways.” I’m not sure why it bothers me so much, given our situation. “Fuck me however you like, but…I’m not a fucking floozy.”

“If you were, you wouldn’t be mine,” he barks at me, grasping my hand before he leads me out to the vehicle awaiting us.

All the lightness from the library is gone. In its place is a stark silence that separates us even though we’re side by side, his hand grasping mine tightly as we convoy away from what has been our haven.

23

TOMASZ

The breeze whispers through the trees, bringing the briny scent of the sea through the billowing gauzy curtains. It’s busier than I would like or it normally is. The staff is milling around with last-minute preparations for tonight’s dinner and my uncle’s impending arrival from Boston.

“Are you sure she hasn’t run off again?” Mama chuckles as I pace the length of the shaded terrace overlooking the infinity pool with the Mediterranean Sea vista ahead of it. “I asked you before if you love her.”

“Mom…” I expel a bated breath as I turn to look at her.

The very first thing she told me when we discussed her condition was that the only thing that was left for her to die content was seeing her children happy. For her, that’s marriage and children. Love.

“Luchik…”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” She nods, taking a sip of sweet tea while she fans herself with a reed fan. The sun looks good on her, and while the scarf on her head does nothing to hide the fact that her blonde hair is all gone, she’s the most put together I’ve seen her in a long time. “It matters that you marry someone that you can at least grow to love. This life has its challenges, and you’ll need someone that won’t cower away. Some clever man…you know, one of those philosophers you like, once said that no man is an island, and?—”

“John Donne, Mom, and he was a poet, not a philosopher.”

“Well, he was a very smart man.” Allowing one of the staff to arrange the small platters of snacks she requested, she waits until the maid leaves before she says, “Why go through all of this to protect her if you feel nothing for the girl?”

“Because I’m a man of my word, and I said that I would keep and protect her.”

“I think that you’re hiding behind your word to escape your feelings.”

“I think you’re a romantic.”

“A dying one that wants to see her son happy.” She smiles at me.

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