Here We Go Again ✓

Epilogue

The hospital room had that awful vomit-inducing smell of medicinebut I couldn’t care less. All I could think about was that I was holding my healthy, beautiful daughter and looking at her amazing mismatched eyes - one blue and one... green - the same shade as that of my mother-in-law’s. Which reminded me:

“I called your parents; your father is busy but your mother is coming over tomorrow afternoon.”

Alex groaned from her position on the bed.

“I still can't believe our daughter inherited her eye color. Well, at least it’s only in one of her eyes.”

Boris’s death had set a gap between Alexandra and her parents. Even now, many years later, they still weren’t the same family they’d been before the tragedy. Becoming an only child to them, her parents had had high expectations of her, even hoping she’d enter into politics like her father. But Alex had chosen a different career path. What disappointed them even more was the fact that we got together and we stayed together. When the two of us married, her father tried his best to put up with me whereas her mother… Let’s just say there was still a long way to go before that woman warmed up to me. When we’d announced we’d gotten engaged she outright accused Alex of accepting my proposal simply to vex her. Alex had looked her straight in the eyes and had calmly explained that even though that was not the reason, it did add extra pleasure to the occasion.

We heard a knock on the door and turned our heads just in time to see Angel come in the room. He had followed his father's footsteps and became a dance instructor. He and Alex opened a studio right after graduation and now, four years later, it was a huge success. Due to his big break, Angel’s mom was able to quit one of her jobs and get a much more relaxed schedule at the other as well as spend more time with her children.

“Have you chosen a name for her?” Our best friend inquired, gazing with such love at the baby in my hands as if she was his own.

“Angelica. We thought it's suitable; you are her Godfather after all.”

We had unanimously chosen Angel for that role; he was a loving and caring person and we knew we could entrust our precious child to him. Danny and Tarra were also a good choice and had the advantage of being married to each other, but they had moved to Boston to get their business degrees and were now starting work at Tara's father's company which was situated there. Angel on the other hand was still in town and that suited Alex and me just fine; we really wanted our child to grow up close to her Godfather. He had yet to tie the knot with his long term Russian girlfriend who worked at the local Art Gallery. Speaking of her...

“How is Galya?”

“She's on her way here. Couldn't wait to see this little bundle of joy,” he replied in a sing-song voice, tickling the baby gently and making her laugh.

“We didn't inconvinience her today, did we?” I knew the girl was pretty busy these days.

“You two can never inconvinience either of us... Well, you three, I should probably say. And don't worry; they'll survive without her for a few hours. It's not like they're getting anything new untill Thursday. To be honest I'm a bit anxious about the upcoming shipment. The Art Gallery is getting several works from a promising new artist - Caden Kavanah. He and Galya both used to study at the Vermont Arts Academy. I really like his pieces and I'm excited about one in particular that is called“Life”. It depicts a beautiful brunette with gorgeous green eyes... Actually, almost everything in the painting is different shades of green and the girlseems to emerge from the ground itself, as if she’s part of the nature surrounding her. She must be the artist’s muse because I've seen a cathalog of his work and she's present in a lot of his creations,” he stated, rummaging through his bag. He took out a leaflet and gave it to Alex and me to look at.It was a compilation of multiple pictures, all of them with the same signature at the bottom. “I couldn't help but notice that whenever she's modeling his paintings always have this air of intimacy to them.”