Natalie was in the apartment building's laundromat, putting her, Ralph's, and Luke's dark clothing into a washing machine, when an attractive woman who looked to be about her age walked in. The woman had wavy light brown hair, which she wore pulled back in a scarf, blue eyes, and pale skin. "Any machines left?" she asked Natalie.
"I think that one on the end there is free." Natalie pointed.
"Thanks." The woman smiled at Luke, who sat at his mother's feet, playing with his See N Say. "Well, aren't you a little cutie!"
"Say, thank you," said Natalie.
The woman smiled. "Sometimes I miss having a little one around. Mine are almost grown now."
"How many children do you have?" asked Natalie.
"Four. Three girls and a boy," the woman told her. "Julia's seventeen, Lydia's fifteen, Sofia's twelve, and Kady's nine."
"Oh, yes! Your family must be the one my friend Jo and her husband and daughter met when they were visiting over the holidays."
The woman smiled and extended her hand. "I'm Irina."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Natalie." Natalie shook Irina's hand.
"Your little boy is adorable! How old is he?"
"Sixteen months."
"And do you have older children too?"
"No. Luke's my first. I waited until rather late in life to have him."
"Oh, I see. You must have been focused on your career."
"That, and the right man just never came along until then."
"What does your husband do?"
"He owns a dry cleaning business. He moved from New York City to be with me."
"New York City's wonderful. It's the first place I lived when I defected back in 1983."
Natalie gasped. "You defected?"
Irina nodded. "Arkady helped me. He was an investigator for the NKVD, and his job led him to New York. As a witness, I came along as well. After the case was resolved, he had to return to Moscow, and we didn't see each other again for almost ten years."
"How did that happen?"
"I was working for Radio Liberty in Germany, and he came to where I was to investigate an art theft. I was quite angry and bitter at him for having moved on without me, but of course I couldn't stay mad at him for very long, and we were married soon afterwards."
"What a sweet story!" Natalie exclaimed.
The two women chatted for awhile, and then Irina left. As Natalie was leaving a little while later, she saw a small silver bracelet lying on the floor. When she stopped to pick it up, she noticed that its clasp was broken. It must be Irina's, she told herself.
After folding and putting away her laundry, she headed for apartment 6A. Julia answered the door when she rang the bell.
"Hi, I'm a friend of your Mom's. Is she here?"
"She went to take Kady for his allergy shots."
"When she gets back, would you please give this to her? I found it in the laundromat after she'd left. I think she must have dropped it."
Julia's eyes widened as Natalie handed her the bracelet. "Oh my God, that's her ampicillin bracelet! She has to wear that to show she's allergic to ampicillin. I'll give it to her as soon as she gets back. Thanks so much for bringing it by!"
"Is my Mommy gonna die?" Arkady, Jr. cried.
"She's gonna be just fine," the nurse assured him. "She banged her head pretty bad, and she's got some nasty cuts, but she's in good hands. We'll take care of her."
Irina and her son had been involved in a serious crash on the way back from the allergy doctor. A semi had made a wide turn into their path and completely demolished Irina's little Honda. Kady hadn't been injured, but Irina had been knocked unconscious and badly cut.
"I want my Daddy!" Arkady demanded now.
"He'll be here soon," the nurse promised.
Moments later, Arkady, Sr. burst into the room. "Daddy!" Kady ran to his father, who hugged him tight.
"Where is she?" Arkady demanded a moment later.
"She's in surgery," the nurse told him. "She received a severe concussion plus some deep lacerations. We have to repair those."
"When will it be over?"
"It shouldn't last much longer. We'll let you know when she's been moved to a room."
About half an hour later, Arkady entered the room of his sleeping wife. Her skin was pale, and he noticed that both her arms were heavily bandaged, and an I.V. was in one arm.
"What's in that?" Arkady nodded toward the bag suspended from the I.V. pole.
"Prophylactic antibiotics," the nurse told him. "She suffered some rather deep cuts, Mr. Renko. It's just a precaution."
"You're not giving her ampicillin, are you?"
"We're giving her...let's see..." The nurse checked the label on the bag. "That's right. Ampicillin."
Arkady cursed as he walked over and yanked the I.V. from his wife's arm. Irina stirred but didn't awaken.
"Are you fucking crazy?" he bellowed. "Ampicillin could kill her! She's very allergic! I almost lost her that way, once."
"I had no idea."
"What happened to her bracelet?" Arkady examined his wife's arms.
"She wasn't wearing one when they brought her in," the nurse replied.