Chapter 19
A little after noon, Irina and Jack finally got up and made their way downstairs. "Good morning," Irina said as she opened the kitchen door.
"Good afternoon, you mean," said Tatiana.
"We made you brunch," Sydney said.
"Correction: Sydney made brunch. I watched," Tatiana said.
"It looks great," Jack said, eyeing the eggs, bacon, and toast. Lots of toast. "Um, I think you made a little too much toast."
"No, we didn't," Tatiana said with a grin on her face that suddenly made her parents rather nervous—especially when Sydney developed a similar grin.
Irina turned on Sydney. "You told her the toaster story, didn't you?"
Sydney's expression changed to a very innocent-looking one. "We just thought you two would need lots of nourishment. To replenish your energy reserves after this morning's activities."
Jack and Irina looked at each other, sighed, and shook their heads simultaneously. "Let's eat," Jack said.
They all grabbed plates and started eating; all of them had good appetites, and they managed to finish it all. Even all the toast.
***
Irina leaned back in her chair and groaned. "I should not have had that fourth slice of toast."
"It's good for you. You're too thin," Jack responded.
"Jack, how many times do I have to tell you that I am never going to look like Laura again?"
"I know that, Irina," Jack said in exasperation. "But you're thinner than you were a year ago, and I didn't like it then."
Irina just sighed and shook her head. "Let's get these dishes cleaned up."
For her part, Sydney looked on in amazement. Her parents had obviously worked out a lot of their issues during the time they spent looking for her, if her mother could speak of "Laura" so casually.
Once the dishes were in the dishwasher, Tatiana turned to her mother. "Okay, Mama, I want to see what's in that book."
"What book?" Jack and Sydney said simultaneously.
Without saying a word, Irina beckoned them all into the living room, where she pulled an ancient book off a bookshelf and flipped through it until she found a particular page. The other three sat on the couch, and she lay the open book on the coffee table in front of them. "That's why I've been obsessed with Rambaldi for the past twenty-five years," Irina said.
Jack, Sydney, and Tatiana could do nothing but stare at the book in shock.