A/N: Hey ya'll! Long time no see. At this point there isn't much I can say aside from the fact that I'm pretty sure all my characters went on vacation to the Caribbean with my muse (who I've decided is named Delilah) and Gleb discovered Rum Jumbies because they have all been VERY uncooperative lately. Hope you enjoyed. Cheers!
A cool breeze fluttered the leaves as Gleb and the rest of the Dassins left the inn. Ten days had passed since M. Dassin's accident and life was settling down into something of a rhythm again. It was Saturday, and the whole family was on their way to the local market where they usually purchased things that they could not easily grow or make themselves. L'Auberge du Miroir would be opening again on Monday.
As they left the walk and started down the road, Henri stepped up to his mother's side and offered her his arm. She hesitated a moment then took it with a sad smile.
"Merci, Henri. Tu es un bon fils," she told him gently.
Gleb noticed that Jean had done the same to Elena and even little Vincent had given his arm to Vera. Marianne was the only one left without an escort, so he quickly offered his arm to her. Maybe it was some kind family tradition for the boys to escort the girls when the family went walking?
Marianne, however, cocked an eye at the arm Gleb had offered then turned and called to her mother.
"Mama, why doesn't Jean walk with me so Elena can go with Gleb? He's her especial friend you know."
Mme. Dassin and Henri turned back and everyone looked at Elena who was blushing despite her best efforts. There was a pause.
"Why, Marianne! If I didn't know better, I'd say that you didn't like him!" she managed at last. "You know it's rude to refuse someone who offers you his arm! And Gleb is a friend to all of us, not just me!"
Jean looked thoughtfully at his flustered sister then at Marianne and caught a naughty twinkle in her eyes.
"Oh I'm sure that's not what Mar meant!" he cut in hurriedly. "Besides there is something I want to talk to her about and it's much easier to talk to someone who is next to you."
Dropping Elena's arm, Jean went to Marianne and took hers, ignoring his older sister's indignant protests. They shared a Look and then hurried off, giggling, at a pace that could hardly be called dignified.
Mme. Dassin merely sighed and set out after them with Vincent and Vera skipping along close behind. Gleb and Elena stood for a moment looking after the rest of the family, then Gleb offered her his arm. She rolled her eyes, flushing again, but took it and they walked slowly after the others.
"Is this some kind of family tradition?" Gleb after they had been walking in silence for several minutes.
Elena nodded.
"Something like that," she replied. "Papa would always walk arm-in-arm with Mama and Henri started doing it for me for fun when we were little. As our family grew, the tradition continued."
She sighed.
Gleb smiled.
"You have such a wonderful family, Lena," he said. "Of course it was just me growing up, but Father would always walk like this with Mum whenever we went somewhere. I think he was something of a romantic at heart."
Elena smiled up at him.
"You seem to have gotten that trait, Glebushka."
Gleb looked down at her with a face so comically distressed that she started laughing.
"Glebushka?" he asked.
"What? I warned you you'd get a nickname! Didn't you ever have a nickname growing up?"
Gleb sighed.
"Yes. My mother used to call me zaichik because I would hop around when I got excited." He sighed, looking down at Elena with a thoughtful half-smile, thinking of his mother's sweet face
"I still miss her," he added after a moment and Elena squeezed his arm gently.
They were now walking through the main part of the village. Shops lined the street, which was bustling with people going about their Saturday shopping. Flowers and leaves were everywhere and the sweet scent of growing things mixed pleasantly with the smell of fresh bread and pastries on the gentle breeze.
By this time, the Dassin family had broken up. Mme. Dassin was holding Vera and Vincent each by the hand as she looked through a fruit vendor's inventory. Henri was bargaining at a meat stand and Marianne and Jean were disappearing off on some other errand, bickering good-naturedly about something.
With no fixed purpose, Gleb and Elena wandered easily through the stands. After a while, Elena stopped to buy some yarn and Gleb stood nearby, looking around curiously at the various shops and stands around them. Elena finished her purchase and turned back to him with a quip about teaching him to knit that died on her tongue as she saw his face. He was staring with intense concentration into the window of a nearby pawnshop, looking as though he had seen a ghost.
"Gleb? Gleb! What on earth is wrong?"
He looked down at her as if out of a daze and noticed her anxious expression.
"Nothing's wrong. I…I just need to check something…" his voice faded off and he moved purposefully towards the pawnshop. Several people got in Elena's way as she tried to follow, so by the time that she made it to the shop, Gleb was already inside talking to the broker.
"Oui, oui, oui! Celle-là!" Gleb's French accent had improved greatly from when he first arrived at Le Miroir, but right now, Elena thought as she walked up beside him, the Russian was coming though much more strongly than usual. She had noticed that this seemed to happen when he was upset.
"What is all this about?" she asked quietly, but at that moment the pawnbroker came back.
"Voila, monsieur! Here it is, ah good day mademoiselle, and how may Pierre LaFrance help you today?" he said in sweeping and slightly fastidious French.
"Oh, I'm with him," she replied, glancing up rather anxiously at Gleb.
A slight twinkle came into the pawnbroker's eyes.
"Doing some shopping together, eh? I see."
The stress he laid on the word shopping caused Elena's eyebrows to draw together slightly. Just what was this man implying? All of her doubts were drowned in embarrassment, however, as she realized what he was holding. It was a small gold ring, obviously designed for a woman's hand. Simple and elegant, the only ornamentation was a small, deep red garnet with a diamond of equal size on either side, all three set in a recess in the ring itself.
"May I hold it?"
"Why yes, monsieur; if you would like."
Gleb took the small ring from the M. LaFrance, turning it over in his hands. Elena was surprised to see that they were trembling.
"Where did you get this?"
"Oh, from a German couple. They were passing through and needed a little extra money for some tickets I think. The ring itself is of Russian make, however. It appears to be some sort of wedding band and the inscription and initials inside are in Russian which I do not speak myself, of course."
"How much?"
Elena stared at Gleb in shock. His voice was tight with emotion that he was obviously struggling to hide and there were tears in his eyes.
"Hm, how much? It is a rather handsome thing. I'm thinking seven hundred and fifty francs at least; perhaps more."
Elena could see the hope fade out of Gleb's eyes and she felt annoyed. There was no possible way that ring was worth so much.
"Seven hundred and fifty francs? For that little thing?" she cried indignantly. "Why it can't be worth more than ten if you ask me."
"Ten francs? My dear young lady, this is pure gold and those are real gems! One of those diamonds alone would cost more than that! I can't possibly part with it for so little!"
"Elena, what are you doing?" Gleb muttered in Russian into her ear.
But now the shrewd bargaining part of Elena that she had inherited from her father was thoroughly awoken. She laid a hand on his arm.
"Just trust me," she replied.
For the next fifteen minutes, the haggling went back and forth as Gleb looked on anxiously and tried to decipher what exactly as being said. The French number system had always been a profound mystery to him and both Elena and M. LaFrance were speaking so quickly that he was completely bewildered.
In the end, Elena won and they got the ring for a decent (although still high) price. Only when they had decided on the final amount did Elena realize that she hadn't the faintest idea of how they were going to pay for it.
"Did you bring any money?" she asked Gleb in an undertone. To her great relief, he produced an old leather wallet, from which he produced the necessary bills and coins. M. LaFrance produced a jewelry box, put the ring into it, and gave it to Gleb who took it almost reverently.
"A fine day to you!" he called as they left. "And congratulations!"
"Merci, monsieur. To you as well." Gleb replied affably. Elena rubbed her forehead with one hand, flushing. Was the whole world intent on embarrassing her today?
"What's wrong?" he asked as they left the shop and headed out into the crowded street again.
"What's wrong? Didn't you hear what he said?"
"Yes, he congratulated me on my purchase. A little strange perhaps, but I confess I didn't think much of it."
Elena smacked her forehead with an exasperated groan.
"Gleb Vaganov, isn't that a little dense? You're buying a ring while in the company of a young lady and all…"
Gleb looked at her blankly.
"He thought we were engaged; that the ring was for me!"
Gleb's face went from confused to slightly amused mortification.
"Ooooooh."
"Yes! What possessed you to buy it anyway? I mean, it's pretty of course, but isn't it rather odd for a man to just randomly buy a woman's wedding band?"
Gleb did not reply at once and when Elena looked up at him, she saw that he was wearing a slightly wistful smile.
"It was my mother's," he said at last, so quietly that Elena had to strain to hear him above the hubbub of the marketplace.
"What!" she dropped the arm she had taken again when they left the pawnshop and turned to face him fully. "Your mother's?"
Someone bumped into them and Gleb stumbled slightly on his still-weak ankle.
"Is there somewhere a little less loud where we can talk?" he asked.
"Absolutely! That foot of yours could probably use a rest anyway. Follow me."
Taking his arm again, Elena steered them away from the push and bustle of the main market. After a few turns, they came to a little side street that led to a path. It wandered down along the waterfront of the small river that ran near the edge of the town. A few people were scattered here and there, but for the most part, the area was empty. Both Gleb and Elena sighed with relief over the comparative quiet.
"So that ring was your mother's?"
Gleb sighed, biting the edge of his lip.
"Yes. It was her wedding ring." he replied quietly.
"Her wedding ring? But how on earth did it get here then? M. LaFrance said that he got it from a German couple. Was it stolen?"
Gleb frowned, sitting down on one of the benches that were scattered about. Elena sat beside him.
"After my mother's death, we had to sell everything of value to pay the doctor's bills and there were still several debts from my father's last illness that needed to be taken care of as well. That is a large part of why I joined the army. Military wages aren't exactly stellar, but it sure beats nothing at all. Plus they feed and clothe you."
Elena felt tears prick her eyes.
"How old where you?" she asked.
Gleb shrugged.
"Oh about sixteen. I lied about my age to get in and have been in the military ever since." He paused. "Or rather I was until this spring."
"Oh Gleb," she whispered, laying a gentle hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry."
Gleb smiled, patting the hand. They sat in silence for a moment.
"So, how did you know that the ring was your mother's." Elena asked, forcing some lightness into her tone.
"I recognized it when I saw it in the window of the shop and the engravings confirmed it."
Opening the box, Gleb took out the ring and held it up.
"Look at the initials: EIP and MBV. My mother's name before she was married was Ekaterina Ivanovna Petrovna and my father's name was Mikhail Borisovich Vaganov. This date here, July 9, 1903, was their wedding date, and this inscription, lyubit' navsegda, was on the inside of both my parents' rings. Like I said, my father was something of a romantic. There are just too many matches for it to be a coincidence. Now I finally have something of her with me." he added softly.
Elena smiled.
"May I see?"
Gleb handed the ring to her and she took it gently, turning it so she could read the engravings inside.
"It's so beautiful. Your father certainly had a taste for jewelry."
Gleb laughed softly.
"Yes he did. He was always getting Mum little things. Not usually very expensive ones of course, but she loved them. Flowers, fruit, her favorite candy. I think she's the one who gave me my sweet tooth."
"Says the man who likes his coffee black as night!"
They both laughed, then sat in companionable silence, looking at the lowering sun shining on the river. Elena leaned against him and he let his arm rest on the back of the bench behind her.
In the distance the clock chimed, snapping them both out of their respective reveries. Elena sat upright, flushing guiltily.
"Mama is probably going crazy looking for us!" she cried. "We have to go back."
"Great stars, you're right!" Gleb stood up, flexing his foot and offering her his arm again with an exaggerated gesture of gallantry that set her laughing. Together they made their way back towards the main market place where the rest of the Dassin family was anxiously awaiting them.
Translations:
Merci, Henri. Tu es un bon fils. – Thank you, Henri. You are a good son.
Zaichik – transliteration of the Russian word for "bunny"
Oui, oui, oui! Celle-là! – Yes, yes, yes! That one!
lyubit' navsegda - transliteration of the Russian words meaning "love forever"