Her Russian

Chapter 6-More Questions Than Answers

Once Galina was back home, she checked her phone.  She only had one text message and that was from her cousin, Irina.  She'd gotten stuck at the interview and said they would meet up tomorrow.  That was just fine with her as she was tired from her outing.

She had noticed that all the groceries from earlier had been put away and she wondered who she had to thank for that.  Maxim had given her his number, why she wasn't sure, but she liked him and gladly accepted it.

Taking the small piece of paper, her shaking hand dialed his number.  "Adamov" his tone sounding all business.  "Uh Maxim?" her voice sounded small and unsure.  "Ms. Ivanov?" he replied.

"I'm sorry to bother you" she started but was interrupted by his concerned tone.  "Is everything alright?" he asked her.  "Everything's fine.  I just wanted to call and thank you for making sure my groceries got put up and again for bringing me home" she told him.

He got quiet.  Too quiet.  "Maxim?" she called to him.  "Yes, uh, sorry.  I'm still here.  You are very welcome although you didn't need to call for that" he chuckled, causing her to blush and feel a bit defensive.

"Well I couldn't have my babushka disappointed in me for lack of manners.  She taught me to always thank people when they did something for me" Galina explained.  "She was a smart woman" Maxim said.  "Anyway, I'm sure you're busy and don't have time to chat.  But, thank you" Galina said as she hung up.

Galina was gearing herself up to go into her gran's room.  She still hadn't been in there yet and for some reason, she was afraid.  With her hand over her heart, she pushed on the door, it's creaking hinges sent shivers down her back.

That familiar scent hit her again, her gran's, as she felt the wall for the light switch, finally she got some light into the room, took one glance, and fell in love with it.

The walls were painted a pale mint green.  There was a valance and half curtain that hung over the one window and it was pale pink.  

The bed, which looked to be a full size, queen maybe, was an antique wrought iron bed with a canopy.  The comforter was a cream color with tiny pale pink roses all over it.

The curtains that hung from the canopy were just like the ones that hung in the window, only longer and drug the floor a little.  

There was an antique dresser, a matching floor mirror and wash stand with a bowel.  It was like she'd taken a step back in time, going into Zoya's room.

She had a tiny walk in closet and obviously since Zoya hadn't lived in this house for fourteen years there were no clothes but a lot of boxes on the shelves.  Perhaps after a shower, she would go through some of them before bed.

There was a master bathroom, not like the ones in the states, but it was good enough for her.  She had a sink with a small counter top, a claw-footed bathtub that had a shower head and a round curtain rod that made a circle around the tub and it had a very feminine and flowery curtain hanging from it.

Turning on the water and while she waited on it to heat up, she went back to her suitcase on the bed and started putting up her clothes.  Once that was done, she put the items that would normally go into a dresser into hers.

Happy with that chore accomplished, she stuck her luggage into the closet and shut the door.  Carrying her toiletries into the bathroom, she adjusted the water and stripped.

The water felt soothing on her tired body.  She was lost on what day it was or even what time it was for that matter.  Sighing, she finished washing her hair and body, grabbed a near by towel, dried and got out.

Throwing her hair into a messy bun, Galina pulled on her black boxers and a white with pink bows tank shirt and padded her way into the kitchen.  A nice cup of tea would definitely make the end of a good evening.

It didn't take her long to find her way around gran's kitchen and find everything she needed for a cup of tea.  Once the kettle made it's presence known, she poured the hot water over her tea bag and let it steep as she walked back to her bedroom.

She went to move her bag from the bed, when the book Ilia let her borrow caught her eye.  She placed it on the bedside table and put her purse on the floor, pulled back the covers and went to see about those boxes.

Setting her cup on the dresser, she pulled a couple of smaller boxes from the shelf.  They were marked with dates that went from January 1995-December 2002.  It was her gran's writing too.  And what was more curious about the dates were, January 95 was Galina's birthday month and year and the Dec 02 date was the month and year that Zoya moved to Boston to care for her.

Galina didn't know why she felt afraid to open the box, but she did.  With her hands shaking, she opened the box and started pulling out bundles of papers and what looked like legal documents.  Then she saw photos and pulled those out too.

The pictures were of someone, a woman, in a hospital holding a baby.  A newborn.  The woman looked sad for some reason.  Galina turned over the picture.  All it said on it was Allister and Galina January 23, 1995, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Who was Allister and why was she holding her?  She looked through some more pictures but she never saw Allister in any other ones.  What she did see was her parents, a lot of them, with her, with her mom, her dad and some by herself.  Then she saw quite a few of her and Zoya.  Those made her smile.

When she'd finished looking through the pictures, she started going through the documents.  She found her birth certificate but the names she saw on it did not make any sense to her at all.

  The mother's name said Allister Grimov and the father's name said Dimitry Toykin.  Who were these people?  These names meant nothing to her.  There must be some kind of mistake.  Her parents were Mariska and Boris Ivanov.

Grabbing for her phone, she called Irina.  "Hey cous!" she said excitedly.  "What's up?" she asked.  "Uh, Irina.  I really need to see you.  Please."  Galina's heart was racing and she was praying that she didn't have another attack.

"What's wrong Galina?" Irina asked, concerned now by her cousin's voice.  "I was going through some boxes in Zoya's closet.  I found some things that don't make sense.  I-I don't know what they mean, Irina and that scares the hell out of me" Galina told her.

Irina's voice changed all of a sudden.  "Don't go anywhere, Galina.  I'm on my way."  She hung up leaving Galina with more questions than answers.  Hopefully she would get some answers and soon.  The feelings she was starting to have were very off putting and unsettling.