My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter. ~Thomas Helm

What do you think? Is it true? Or more importantly (in my view, anyways), do you feel that way about this story?

I'd like to have your honest opinion about this story.

Thank you for reading it.

…Chapter 21…

Natalya stretched her arms above her head as she walked tiredly down to the kitchen. Another day, another start. It was time to prepare the lunches for her charges before they went to school.

A few times before, Eduard had suggested that she let them prepare thier own lunches, but she refused.

In the beginning, the simple fact that someone needed her helped her get going in the very beginning. Now it was mostly habit. It was a part of her routine now, simply the way she started off her day, even if she wasn't the best cook.

She could at least prepare sandwiches and pour herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

And Eduard and Raivis received the sleep that she knew they needed.

In fact, they should be getting up soon. After she got the sandwiches made, if they weren't seen, she'd go in and check on them.

She paused as she noticed a light on the kitchen.

Suddenly, ice-cold awareness spread through her previously sluggish brain.

Someone was in the kitchen.

She was the only one supposed to be up at this time.

Cautiously, she felt for her knife, the one she always kept on herself. After the…sinking, she hadn't felt safe unless she always had a knife. It wouldn't have done her much good then, admittedly, but it was something.

This was much more wicked looking than the blade she had used to cut through…Toris's bandages.

This could kill a man.

Carefully, she snuck into the kitchen. This must be the worst robber in the history of thievery. The lights were all on, and he was making plenty of noise.

He even seemed to be…cooking?

She paused for a moment to look at the neat picture, even as she tightened her grip on the knife. Longish brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail that didn't seem to do much good as strands of hair fell forward around his face. An apron was wrapped around his waist (her pale blue one, she was amused to note), and he seemed to be quite intent on his work.

The man then turned and smiled at her, "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

Her jaw dropped.

"Toris?"

His expression turned worried, "Was I not supposed to be here? I'm sorry, I'll leave right this minute…"

She dropped the blade, heedless of the damage that might've been done to the edge, and flung herself at him, holding him tight, feeling his body stiffen in surprise as he caught her and kept his feet, keeping them from flying back into the stove top.

"You'll do no such thing."

Yesterday was coming flying back to her.

Toris was alive. He was ALIVE!

How could she have forgotten this magical fact, even for a minute? After all that time of flinching away from his name because of the pain that it brought, he was finally back.

"I missed you," she murmured into his shoulder as his arms came back around her.

"I haven't even left yet," he spoke jokingly, "I'm not going anywhere, Nat…though I do believe that your breakfast is burning."

Her eyes grew wide.

"You're making me breakfast?"

"Yes."

She hugged him even tighter with a girlish giggle.

"You are the greatest."

"Thank you, but like I said, before, your breakfast is burning. Even "the greatest" won't be able to save it if that happens."

…

For once, she allowed Eduard and Raivis to skip school to go on a picnic with their brother and her. Well, it wasn't quite skipping. She had contacted the school to tell them what had happened and that she would be taking the boys out whether they liked it or not.

Then Alfred showed up, and invited himself, Arthur, and the Nordic bunch.

Natalya had wanted to yell at Alfred for being so impolite, but Toris had only laughed at that, and made more food, suggesting that the other groups do the same. Oh well, Arthur would probably end up yelling at the fool for her anyways.

So it was a large group going out to picnic that day, setting up a myriad of blankets as they put down their hampers.

Natalya curled up leaning on both Toris and the tree that gave them shade. Eduard and Raivis also sat close to their older brother…any closer and they might've been actually on his lap.

Of course, the same could possibly be said about her…but she didn't care. She just wanted to be close to him.

The cooking was spread about, though Natalya figured out fairly quickly to avoid the others' food. It's not like they were bad…just not quite her cup of tea.

To put it nicely, Arthur's food was burnt to a crisp, Alfred's was all marinated in a layer of grease, and as for the Nordic cuisine…it was kind of weird. But from how they had centered their food on their blankets, it looked like they had expected no one else to enjoy their dishes, so she didn't really feel guilty about not trying any.

She stuck with the Lithuanian food, still relatively similar to the meals she had back in Belarus.

But she would have to hurry if she wanted any more. Even though Alfred had brought about a million of his burgers, he was practically inhaling Toris's food.

"You are an awesome cook man!" at least, that's what it sounded like around the found he was chewing as he spoke, "You wanna come work for me? You could be my housekeeper."

Natalya glared at him and pulled the Lithuanian closer to her. Toris laughed at that.

"It looks like I'm going to have to decline your offer, Mr. Jones."

"Alfred! Call me Alfred!"

It was nice to see that her new friends accepted Toris so well.

"Toris," the impassive Nordic called, holding up a fiddle, "You up for it?"

She didn't think that his grin could possibly get any wider.

"Always, Lukas!" he moved to get up, but Natalya grabbed his hand.

"What about your leg?"

"I might not dance as well as I did, but I can still move to the beat! Just watch!"

Reluctantly, she let him go, watching as he walked to the center of the clearing as some of the other Nordics pulled out instruments. He got into position, nodded to the musicians, and waited for the music to start.

He moved.

It wasn't quite the breathless airiness that it had been before, but no one but those who had seen that would realize it. He moved freely, as though the metal leg wasn't holding him back.

"I see what you mean now," Alfred whispered to her, "When you said that he could dance on air."

"Yes," she responded, refusing to take her eyes off him, "He is amazing, isn't he?"

She could watch him dance like this forever. This memory would always remain one of her favorites.

The day after Toris returned to her and danced for them on a warm field.

The sunflowers were even blooming.

…

Toris finally went to visit his grave a few years after that.

It was kind of weird, staring at something that proclaimed your death when you were standing right in front of it.

Toris Lorinaitis

A bright light extinguished too soon

A man who could dance on the very air

March 9,1893 - April 15, 1912

It was touching that she thought so well of him, even right there at the end. Especially considering that she had spent most of their acquaintance hating his guts and planning his murder for "enchanting" her brother. She had told him that she had figured he was a witch for how much his employer had liked him.

"Dance on the very air", huh? Though his dancing wasn't that good, he was flattered that she thought so. It looked like she had told her friends as well as his friends after she met him. Whenever he danced nowadays, he got comments like that.

But he wasn't that great. Though it was nice that someone thought so.

He patted his headstone before turning away from his plot. Maybe he should talk to Nat about removing it. There was something a little morbid about his grave being ready for him the moment he stopped breathing.

He turned to the one by his side.

Ivan Branginski

Beloved Brother

You will be missed

May 7, 1889 - April 15, 1912

He smiled gently at it, before kneeling down to place sunflowers on the grave.

Toris sat in silence for a few moments before he started speaking, the words flowing out of his mouth like a river, desperately needing to be said.

"I just wanted to tell you that I forgive you for what you did to me. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have met your sister, and I wouldn't have been so happy right now. You were a good man, Ivan, flawed, but I like to think that you just didn't know how to deal with your phobia of being alone. I wish I could've helped you better," he gave a little laugh here; "I probably should've talked to you about it, instead of just letting you do what you would. And I'm sorry for that trick I played on you at the end. I didn't want to die, and there was no way you'd let me leave, even if I could've found a way for you to escape as well… I'm still dancing, though it's more difficult with a false leg. But I've gone to college and gotten a degree in psychology. Hopefully I can help people like you before they hurt people like me... I hate to say it, but I've been relying on your sister a lot to help me through school, and I hope I'll finally be able to make it up to her. I've tried before, but she's pushed away any offer I've made. I just hope she'll make an exception for this one… Wish me luck; I hope to soon think of you as my brother-in-law, Ivan... I hope that you're surrounded with your sunflowers, safe and warm, wherever you are. I hope that you're having a pleasant dream. After all, what is death except for a very long sleep filled with happy dreams?"

He patted the stone fondly before standing up and leaving.

He had a proposal to prepare for.

…

An outsider would be intrigued by the scene before them, even if they were a ways away or didn't know the players.

They would watch the brown-haired man walk up to the icy beauty, whose cold façade would break upon seeing him, rewarding him with a large grin.

He would walk forward, but would stop short of her waiting arms.

Her face would grow puzzled, and her arms would fall, as she would grow worried. Was something wrong? Had she done something wrong? What was going on?

But then it would turn to pure astonishment as the man would move to kneel in front of her.

Even if they couldn't hear what the man said, there would be no mistaking what was going on.

A stunned silence would pass before they would finally hear something as the woman would yell…

"Do you have to ask?"

She would fling herself at the man, who would then start laughing, holding her close as he got to his feet and swinging her around in a circle until she was laughing in her dizziness.

They would be the very picture of the happy couple, and the outsider would move away at this point to let them have their privacy.

It was a different time then, a period where ladies were treated like royalty by the gentlemen who loved them, a time before planes could watch scenes like this on a screen in their own home.

It was a time when death seemed so far away.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in New York as the couple walked towards their home. Drops of sun reflected off the grass, creating puddles of light that flooded the ground and warmed anyone lucky enough to be caught by it. Everywhere, people were strolling around, content in the beautiful weather and wrapped up in the person they were with. The man gave a sigh as he regretted leaving the outdoors when he finally reached the home, but happy to have the woman he loved by his side. He took one last look at the beautiful blue sky before he entered the door, following the fair-haired beauty inside.

He was poor Lithuanian commoner - normally one would expect him to be staying in a small house - but Toris Lorinaitis had found that his pride was nothing in the face of the wealthy Belarusian that loved him and insisted on him having the best, no matter how much he argued that he didn't deserve it, or didn't need it. And at this point, since she had accepted his proposal, it didn't really matter anymore.

At the risk of sounding cliché, one could say that this was Happily Ever After.

And so it was.

Thank you for reading.

I would like to finish this with the immortal quote by Robert Porterfield:

"If you like it, talk about it. If you don't, keep your mouth shut!"

Thank you!