Chapter 15
Helene and Anatole sat on the couch, staring in silence as their father paced the room. The silence loomed in the air - thick and heavy. Helene had been sitting here for nearly five minutes without anyone saying a word.
“Well… What do you have to tell us?”
Anatole piped up. Vassily turned his head to his two children, teary eyed.
“Before mom passed… she made some mistakes, to put it lightly… I had to quite literally pay for those mistakes she made - I’m still paying for them, trying to at least.”
Vassily sat on an empty space on the coffee table.
“What do you mean?” Helene inquired. Despite having already known a good portion of the story, there were still so many unanswered questions.
“Before Anatole was born, your mother was involved in an affair with Nikolai Bolkonsky…”
Helene stared blankly back at her father, while Anatole looked down at his shoes, trying to process what was being said.
“Bolkonsky was our college professor. Thalia began to date him in secret while she was dating me. The affair kept going after graduation. Once we found out about the baby, Thalia wanted to end things with Bolkonsky. But he disagreed. He threatened to expose her if she stopped it. That's when she told me about the affair. I offered to pay Bolkonsky whatever amount he wanted me to pay, just so long as the affair stayed between us. He asked me to pay $100,000. I still haven’t paid it off yet.”
Vassily breathed a sigh.
“What do you still owe him?” Anatole glared at his father.
“Five thousand.” Vassily ran a hand through his grey hair.
“Okay, well I can find a job at the local cafe. I used to go there all the time when Fedya worked there. I’m sure the manager still remembers me.”
“I have to pay Bolkonsky by Wednesday night son… there’s nothing you can do now.”
“Are you saying we’re broke? We don’t have any money?”
Anatole sat up in his seat.
“Your mother’s treatments… they were expensive… I started the charity galas as a way to pay Bolkonsky, but then when Thalia got sick, I had to take care of her. And now, I only have five thousand more to pay, with no money in my wallet.”
“If you can’t pay him, you’ll have to go back to Russia wouldn’t you?”
Helene turned her head towards her father, who simply nodded in response.
“We would have to be sent to Russia, Helene… All of us.”
Anatole looked at Helene, with a scared expression on his face.
“No… No, I can’t go back to Russia… What about Marya? I - What about Fedya, Anatole! We can’t go.”
Helene begged her father.
“Love, if I could have it my way, we would stay here but Bolkonsky is an unforgiving man. There's nothing I can do.”
“This still doesn't explain the photograph though. Why is it burned? And who burned it?” Anatole asked Vassily.
“Photograph? What photograph?”
Vassily shifted his eyes between Anatole and Helene.
“We found half of a photograph a while back. From what we could see it was a picture of you, mom and another man’s arm around mom. We did some sleuthing and found out it was Bolkonsky. We also found out who had the other half as well. Also Bolkonsky. But it's burned down the middle…”
Helene opened up her bag, and pulled out the photograph. She handed the photo to her father.
He studied the photo.
“This was your mother’s. In an attempt to prevent blackmail, she tried to destroy any evidence she could find. She burned the letters she had from Bolkonsky, she sold everything he ever bought for her. She must've kept this part of the photograph and gave the other half to Bolkonsky.”
Vassily returned the photo back to Helene.
“Isn’t Bolkonsky sick? How is he making you do all this stuff?”
Anatole asked.
“It’s Andrey isn't it? He’s finishing what his father started.”
Helene said through gritted teeth.
“That boy is a menace. I knew that when he started threatening Anatole.”
“If you don’t pay by Wednesday, how long do we have before we have to leave?”
“I don’t know… It's a good thing we still have a lot of stuff in the boxes right?”
Vassily tried to make light of the situation, but it only made Helene feel worse.
“I’m going upstairs now. I don’t want to think about this anymore.”
Helene got up from her seat and began to walk to the stairs.
“Wait, Helene… I wanted to talk to you. Not about mom or anything.”
Helene turned around, looking at her father.
Vassily then turned to Anatole, telling him he should leave the room. And with that, Anatole then rose from his seat.
“I’m gonna go find somewhere to take pictures. Might as well get some cool photos while we still live here.”
Anatole grabbed his camera and car keys from off the counter, and left through the door.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
Helene leaned on the doorway to the living room.
“You’ve been so distant lately. Maybe it's because of school, but is there more to it that I should know about?”
Vassily glared at his daughter with a look of concern.
“No, everything is okay.”
Helene’s nose began to scrunch and turn a light shade of pink.
“You're lying to me, but I guess it's fair… I haven't been the most honest either.”
Vassily and Helene both began to chuckle.
“Everything isn’t okay. I’ve just been so overwhelmed. The mom thing, school, friends… there's just a lot on my plate.”
Helene breathed out a sigh, and plopped down on the sofa.
“And how is school? I know you were in detention today - does that have something to do with the stress?”
Vassily asked the girl.
“I was in detention today, but that doesn't have to do with me being stressed. I was caught cheating on my math exam.”
“Cheating on your math exam? You love math, that doesn't sound like something you’d do.”
“I was helping Marya cheat on the math exam. We both were put in detention, which sounds bad, but it wasn’t as bad as you think.”
She began to blush.
“Hm, this Marya girl sounds like bad news. She’s got you cheating, thrown into detention…You must really like her.”
Helene whips her head to look at her father.
“You knew?”
“Knew you liked girls? No, but I had a feeling once you stayed over at her house more times than you stayed here in the past week.”
Vassily smiled to himself.
“When I’m with Marya, everything else just fades away. She’s all I can think about. I just asked her to be my girlfriend today, and she agreed!... but now that we’ll be leaving soon, I should tell her. Let her know it has nothing to do with her. I hate seeing her sad.”
She felt a tear roll down her cheek.
“Write her a letter then. Explain to her everything that happened. I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“I hope so… Thanks dad.”
Helene looked up at her father.
“You're welcome, Elena.”
======
“How’s your wrist baby? Is it doing better than before?”
Sonya pressed the phone to her ear.
“Yeah, it's almost cleared up now. You can barely tell it was bruised.”
Mary looked down at her wrist.
“That's good… if Andrey ever hurts you again, you come to me first okay? I can get someone else to take care of Bolkonsky, I just need to make sure you're safe.”
“I know, but I’ll be fine. Andrey told me he stopped drinking. I think he’s making an effort. After he hurt me like that, I think it finally clicked that he needed to make a change.”
Mary flipped a page of her book.
“Are you reading right now?”
Sonya smiled, before laying down in her bed.
“Just a little bit before I head to bed. I didn't have much time to read at all today. Father had another episode, and Andrey was no help at all.”
Mary scoffed.
“Mary, I know you don’t want to talk about this right now, but given everything that has happened, we have to talk about this. What are you going to do when your father passes? Andrey is going to inherit the house, but do you really want to stay with him? I don’t think you should.”
Mary could hear the concern in Sonya’s voice through the phone.
“I have a plan hun, don't worry. Ever since middle school, I’ve been saving up all my money. I’m gonna buy a little one person apartment.”
She looked over at her jewelry box that contained the small stash.
“I don’t have much as of right now, but I’ll just continue to collect money until I can move out.”
Mary set her book down on her lap.
“Mary… would you like to stay with me? You can live here with my aunt and Nat! We wouldn't charge you rent either. You can stay in the spare room in the back. I’m sure my aunt wouldn't mind.”
Sonya blinked back a few tears.
“I just want my girl to be safe.”
“But who would take care of him? And I would have to pay them to do so.”
Mary protested.
“The hospital across the street from the library has volunteer caretakers on standby. I can go after work, and appoint one of them to your father. Mary, when I tell you I have everything under control, I mean it. You just have to trust me bubs.”
Sonya wanted nothing more than to hold Mary in her arms right now.
“I trust you… I’ll start packing my things tomorrow okay?”
Mary wiped a tear rolling down her face.
“Okay. I’ll let you get back to your book now.”
“Can I read you some? I just don’t want to be alone right now.”
Mary asked her girlfriend.
With a small smile on her face, Sonya answered back,
“Of course lovely.”
And Mary began reading to Sonya, and Sonya swore she could listen to that sweet voice all night long….
That is until she fell asleep, and Mary whispered “goodnight”, before hanging up the phone.
=====
Natasha held the phone close to her face. The screen illuminated the darkness of the room.
Should I text Pierre?
No, he's probably sleeping
But what if he’s not sleeping….
“Ughhhhh!” Natasha clicked her phone off, and rolled onto her side.
She could hear Mary talking through Sonya’s phone, as Mary would often read Sonya to bed.
They’re so in love… she thought to herself.
Picking up her phone again, she debated on whether or not she should call Pierre, instead of texting him. Maybe hearing his voice would be… cathartic in a way?
She dialed his number.
The phone rang for a few seconds before a husky “hello?” came through on the other end.
“Hey Pierre. It's Natalie… Are you… Are you mad at me?”
Natasha sat upright in her bed.
“Huh? Why would I be mad at you?”
Pierre tried to understand what the girl was saying. The phone had awoken him from his slumber, so he was pretty out of it.
“Last night, you didn't want to watch a movie with me. I thought it was because I did something wrong.”
“Natasha, can I ask you something?”
Pierre pushed his glasses up.
“Yeah, what is it?”
Natasha responded.
“Am I a joke to you?”
Pierre said, quite bitterly.
“Wha - Pierre, where are you getting this from?”
Natasha answered, kind of taken aback by the question.
“It's just that, you're you. Beautiful, amazing, talented…. And I’m me. And so when you said “wouldn't it be funny if we dated.” It kind of felt like an insult. I mean, who am I to think that Natalya Rostova would fall for simple Pierre.”
Natasha’s cheeks began to glow red.
“Pierre, I like you.”
“No, I know you like me Natasha, but I like you more than a friend.”
Pierre answered back.
“Pierre… I like you… more than a friend.”
The girl smiled into the phone, and oh how she wished Pierre could see it.
“You - You do?”
His face was a mixture of shock, excitement, and disbelief all at once.
“Yeah, how could I not? You literally saved my life, remember?”
“Okay, it wasn’t just me that helped save you. Anatole and Dolokhov were there too.”
Pierre chuckled, and so did Natasha.
“But it's true? You really like me?”
Pierre asked one last time.
“Yes, Pierre. I like you. And if it's alright with you, I’d like to take you out on a date this Wednesday?”
“I - Yes! Yes! Of course… where are we going?”
“That's a surprise.”
“Okay… do I have to dress up?”
“No, casual wear is fine. Unless you want to dress up.”
“No, I think I’ll just wear a sweater and jeans… is that alright?”
“That’s perfect.”
“What time on Wednesday?”
“10pm.”
“10pm? That is very specific.”
“I have something very specific in mind.”
Natasha sank down further into her bed, cozying up underneath the covers.
“It's a date then… I’ll see you Wednesday night..I hope you have a great sleep Natasha.”
“You too Bezukhov.”
Pierre hung up the phone, and Natasha couldn't help but text in the groupchat.
Nat: Guys, I just asked Pierre out on a date!!!!
Fed - Ya - Daddy: ayyyeee sweet Nat!
Marya: Natasha, I am happy for you but sweetheart it's 3am, go to bed please... you too Fedya