justlikewedo: Here is more:) enjoy this next chapter. Thanks for the review
brainDamage089: Well I'm glad you like this so much. Thanks for the review
meadow567: Thank you for bringing that to my attention. It's addressed in this chapter, not to worry. Enjoy, and thanks for the review
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I didn't want to carry the heavier load
You can't always take the middle road
There comes a time when you make your mind
And the point gets left behind
Buying Time- Great Big Sea
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She noticed that after Christmas, everyone moved back into the apartment complexes they were renting while in Minnesota.
Except for Jim Craig, he lived in the Nagobads' basement.
"Can I help you, Velma?" he asked before going back downstairs.
"Oh no dear, I'll be fine. No worries." The older woman shooed him off downstairs. He smiled at Tanya as he turned and went down the stairs.
It wasn't long after that that she left and went back to the apartment she shared with none other than her cousin, photographer Lacey Kovalev. She'd been recruited by Herb out of the University of New Hampshire, where Ralph Cox was from. In fact, she and Ralph had been together for over two years. She'd been screaming in Russian to Tanya over the phone in excitement.
The payphone again.
Jim Craig walked by the same payphone on the way back from spending time with his Boston University teammates, and there she was, rambling on in Russian again. Well, it only sounded like rambling because he didn't actually speak the language.
When she hung up, there was a sad smile on her face.
"What happened?" he asked, offering his hand.
"I, uh..." she looked down at the floor. "Nothing. Really, it's nothing. I'm... I'm fine."
The tears welling in her eyes told a different story
His hand moved to her shoulder.
"What would you say to a cup of coffee?"
"Well, if I were rational and sane, I'd say no, because I'm really not supposed to consult with you guys, only to really represent you in the press and what have you..."
His face fell.
"But..." she continued, "seeing as I an neither rational or sane because I have been awake for the past 48 hours, I'd say yes."
And with that, they were sitting in the university's cafeteria, gulping sludge they could only legally pass off as coffee.
"So are you actually back?"
"Not yet," she shuddered as the coffee burned her throat. "I still need to talk to Herb, resubmit an application and my portfolio, but I felt so guilty about leaving you guys the way I did, I had to come back," she gulped, her mouth was suddenly dry.
"Can I ask why you left?"
"It's a long story," she answered. No don't tell him why you left. He'll never look at you the same again.
Shut up, Brain. Last time I listened to you I ended up stuck in Boston.
"We've still got time," he told her, looking at his watch.
Do it, Tanya, tell him.
"My mother told me to come home. She didn't want me to be around you guys," she put on a fake accent and raised her hands in the air. "What with the hitting, and the slashing and the violence, and..." she let loose in a string of Russian dialect he didn't understand.
"Say that again?"
"She told me that my father would brand me a whore if he knew I was traveling with the team."
The look of confusion on his face told her to continue.
"She's under the impression that all Herb wants me for is um..." she cleared her throat and stared into her coffee mug. "To... how can I put this lightly..." she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Satisfy the team's needs."
"What?" he balked. "Tanya, Buzzy's married, happily I might add, and his wife is the nicest woman in the world, unless you count Velma Nagobads, Kenny Morrow's engaged, Coxie's dating a photographer..."
"I know, he's dating my cousin." Tanya answered, chuckling.
Jim's eyes went wide.
"Lacey? Lacey Kovalev? She was just... here... getting team photos. She's your cousin?"
"Oh yeah, on my Mom's side."
"How is that possible? Your last name is Burnaby."
You really are thick.
"My mom and her sister married into the same family. I know, how cliche. Anyway, my mom married Vladislav, who was the older of the two, and my aunt, Marina, married Vladislav's younger brother, Dmitri, who to this day can't look at me without seeing my father."
"Why is that so bad?"
"My family considers my father to be nothing more than dirt," a single tear ran down her cheek. "He committed suicide the day I was born."
His mouth dropped open.
"And ever since then my mother blames me for what he did."
If possible, his jaw dropped even farther.
"Why?"
"Well, she never actually said that, but I can see it in her face. The way she looks at me, she looks at me like she wants to cry."
Jim was silent.
"She tells me "Tanya, you look like your father, always like him." And every time she does I want to smother myself with a pillow."
"I don't think she blames you, Tanya," Jim reasoned. "I think she's hurt, and the emotional scars are still there."
She shrugged and continued. "I used to ask her why she hated him, but now I just don't bother," she gulped another hard mouthful of coffee. "I know what he did..." her words turned bitter. "I know what he did..."
Jim reached out to touch her hand. "Tell me?"
She turned her head to look him in the eye.
"He had an affair before I was born, and my mother did all she could to forget. To make the marriage seem absolutely perfect. Before I was born she asked my father if he was happy that they were having a baby girl, and you know what he said?"
Jim shook his head.
"He said it would've been better if, when she had found out she was pregnant, if she had gotten rid of me."
His jaw literally hit the floor.
"And what's worse, he's dead because my brother and I reminded him of his misdeeds. My brother was the product of that affair and I was the child he never wanted. All he had done to never subject anyone to what they had been through. The Holocaust, I mean. All he had done to preserve his dignity was shattered because I was born!" The tears were coming on stronger now. "You know what, Jimmy, I have... to go. That's it. I just..."
She got up out of the chair she was sitting in and turned to walk away, tears welling in her eyes.
"Wait," Jimmy stopped her and gently gripped her arm. "Your brother... what's his name?"
She choked as she turned around again to look him in the face.
"Vladislav Tretiak," she managed.
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I know, I had to leave it there, and the cliffhanger will be explained in the next chapter. I know Tretiak is A LOT older than Tanya, but you'll see how it fits together. :) Reviews are nice. :)