This Life We Live- Complete

Chapter 6- Getting to know you

When Dimitri got up to leave I followed him outside. I didn't want to be this nosey person, but there was just something about him that made me want to know more. No that I even knew anything about him in the first place, aside from his name and job. Oh and now I knew Adrian was his cousin. I wasn't sure how I felt about that yet, but in my heart I knew Dimitri was a good man.

" Hey Dimitri wait."

He stopped and I could see the tension clear in his shoulders. Did I make him uncomfortable? He turned around and now without my heels I could appreciate exactly how tall he really was. Damn my 5'6" height. He was looking at me waiting for me to say something. He looked a little guarded, and that made me feel like maybe I should leave him alone tonight. But my brain couldn't stop my mouth.

" I know we don't really know each other"

He cut me off before I could even say another word.

" Your right we don't"

I felt the shock flit across my face and his eyes softened.

" I didn't mean that I'm sorry. It's just I haven't heard the Ivashkov name in almost thirteen years. And hearing it tonight brought up some memories I didn't want to remember."

I walked a little closer to him and pulled him onto the porch swing. I wanted to know more about how he knew the name and why he had reacted this way.

" I'm sorry for that. I was hoping by leaving him and Montana behind that my memories of him would disappear. But it seems several people here have been affected tonight."

He looked at me like he was trying to decide if I was trustworthy or not. I guess he found what he was looking for as he took a deep breath.

" Adrian's uncle Randall is my father, he liked to beat my mother. And when Karo and Sonya were old enough he liked to beat them too. When I was thirteen I came home from school before my three sisters got there, and my father was literally about to beat my mother to death. He had thrown her through our glass patio door and he was just kicking her. I just lost it and I beat him up, and threw him out the door. My grandmother called an ambulance for my mother, and then called your father."

He stopped to gather his thoughts and composure giving me time to think on what he had said. My father why would they call him, what did he have to do with any of this? I thought. Apparently the questions I had were clear on my face, because I got my answers.

" My mother, father, and your parents went to college together. Babushka knew he was in the area at the time, and would send Randall on his way. She was afraid that when Randall recovered from what I had done to him that he would come back and kill me."

The name Randall Ivashkov finally came to my memory. I had met him once. Is that why my father had taken the extra time to go into exact detail of what he would do to Adrian if he hurt me?

" I saw Randall once. He is in prison now, he killed his wife and even his family couldn't get him out of it. I guess woman beating runs in the family, I should have realized, I saw the marks on Adrian's mom. She always said she had fallen or something like that. I'm sorry that happened to your mom. Is she better now? I mean is she able to go a day without thinking about it all?"

He looked at me with a smile I could melt to. Damn what was this man doing to me?

" Why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow and you could talk to her!"

I guess he saw the confusion on my face and back tracked to explain.

" After it all happened your dad helped her open her own business. She had a degree in psychology and now she talks to abuse victims."