Chapter 4
Daria, of course, wanted to join Yelena to go to the store. She worried anxiously each time someone left the house but if it was Yelena then she got distressed to the point where her sisters almost were not able to soothe her.
Varvara got antsy and a little more reckless when she didn’t have Yelena to constantly remind her not to give in to her wild impulses but she handled herself and Daria just fine. The pair were thick as thieves and Yelena liked to think of them as twins despite the age gap and how they looked nothing alike. They were two halves of a whole.
The duo was closer to Yelena, mainly because they were two of the youngest. Daria was the third girl that Yelena ever freed, Varvara being the fourth. They stuck around longer than anyone and were the first step that Yelena unknowingly took on her journey to being a mom.
They were the first to express their love for her. Varvara was the first to take next step in their relationship and called her “Ma”. They needed her as their mom more than the older girls did. They were clingy and lovey and needy and Yelena loved them to bits.
Yelena smiled as she watched them dart off to inform Natasha that they would be tagging along. Yelena went off in search of the rest of her girls to let them know where she was going, when she expected to be back, and extend the offer of tagging along.
None of her girls wanted to bundle up to trek out into the snow on the ground to go to the store. Yelena had figured as such and let them know that she was taking Varvara and Daria.
Varvara hadn’t protested wearing a coat, already wearing her jean jacket when Yelena checked. Yelena spied Popper the penguin sticking out of Daria’s jacket pocket, the younger girl more bundled up than her sister.
The car was cold and had a thin layer of ice covering the windshield that had to be scraped off. Varvara took great delight in taking the pieces of ice that broke off and shattering them on the ground.
It was always a bit of a drive to get to the store because of how isolated they were. Yelena specifically picked a place in the mountains away from civilization so that her girls would be safe.
“It’s cold as fuck, Ma,” Varvara mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself as she shrunk into the warmth that her jean jacket provided, Daria scooting closer to her.
“And how cold is a fuck?” Natasha mused.
“Pretty cold,” Varvara murmured, blowing warm air onto her cupped hands.
Luckily, the store was warm but that doesn’t stop Yelena’s girls from tucking themselves under her arms and wiggling close to share her body heat.
Yelena followed Natasha deeper into the store until they were standing in front of the different brands of maple syrup. Varvara and Daria watched as Natasha inspected the different brands, reading the labels on the back of each one. When she found what she was looking for, she glanced at Yelena.
“How many do you think we need for ten?” Natasha inquired as she tilted the bottle in her hand toward Yelena.
“I have no clue,” Yelena shrugged. “Go with your gut.”
“What is it for?” Varvara leaned forward to inspect the bottles that Natasha was holding. “Are you making pancakes?”
“Something even better. It’s a surprise,” Natasha grinned at her. “Wanna help me carry some?”
Varvara held her arms out and Natasha loaded a few bottles into her arms. Daria ducked out from under Yelena’s arm to peer at the colorful sprinkles on display a little further down the baking aisle.
Natasha was explaining why she picked out the specific bottle of maple syrup in particular when Yelena heard footsteps approaching rapidly.
“Daria!”
The call of her daughter’s name had Yelena spinning around as someone approached Daria. Daria had startled but smiled up at them. Yelena recognized the teenager immediately. Max had been the first friend that Daria ever made and the pair would text each other, Max constantly sending Daria funny videos and Daria sharing cute animal pictures.
Varvara stepped forward and Yelena barely managed to grab her arm before she stomped toward the girl and scared her off. “That’s Max,” Yelena explained. “Daria’s friend.”
The tension didn’t bleed out of Varvara but her posture softened as she watched Daria flip open her small notepad and produced a gel pen.
Natasha had been the one to approach the pair and Daria smiled up at her, scribbling something down for Max.
Max missed what Daria tried to show her, staring up at Natasha in awe. “You’re Black Widow…”
Yelena knew that Natasha got annoyed by recognition at times, frustrated when sometimes people would invade her privacy or refuse to leave her alone. This time, however, she merely looked amused. “I am.”
“Daria, that’s the Black Widow,” Max finally tore her eyes away from Natasha to peer at her friend only to finally see what Daria was trying to tell her. She reads the introductions that Daria had scribbled down, introducing her sister and aunt. “You… oh… you’re so cool.”
Yelena approached with Varvara, the eighteen-year-old at her side suddenly very shy. Max had quickly gotten over her starstruck reaction with Natasha and instead started to talk about the snow outside.
Max was detailing how she was sledding down a hill and narrowly missed a tree when Daria interrupted to ask what sledding was.
Max paused, glancing between the two adults and then the other teenager before she slowly started to explain. Yelena vaguely remembered children sledding down a hill by the school during snow days as a child. Yelena had gotten to go once, having no sled of her own but able to befriend the other children and share with those who had toboggans in exchange for Natasha pulling them up the hill. Natasha never minded pulling them, always able to push them down the hill super fast, jumping onto the back during the last moment.
Max didn’t seem bothered that Daria was very unsure about other activities that revolved around the snow. Yelena’s girls were clueless about sledding, snowball fights, snow angels, and snowmen. Max pursed her lips, tapping her fingers again her stomach as she thought.
“Well, if your mom doesn’t mind, I could show you?” Max’s eyes flickered to peer at Yelena. “I happen to be a snowball fight champion.”
Daria twisted to glance up at Yelena as if to ask her. Yelena was very secretive about their address and very few were privy to knowing it. Before she could answer, a call had the teenagers jumping.
“Maxine!” A man rounded the corner with a shopping basket. “There you are. You can’t be running off on me like that.”
“Sorry Pops,” Max gave a sheepish smile as she gestured to the quartet. “This is my friend Daria, her sister Varvara, her mom, and her aunt.”
The man’s eyes land on Daria and the girl subtly shifted back under his stare.
“Ah, Daria… this wouldn’t happen to be the same Daria you talk to, would it?” He questioned. At Max’s nod, he stuck his hand out. “Lovely to meet you, Daria. I’m Frank, Maxine’s father.”
Daria doesn’t take the hand so Yelena steps forward and inserts herself to soothe her daughter. “Pleasure to meet you, Frank. I’m Yelena, Daria and Varvara’s mother.”
Yelena’s girls always got squirmy with happiness whenever Yelena introduced them as her daughters. Yelena liked to do it whenever the opportunity presented itself, a claim on them, proud to show the world that she got to be their mom.
Daria gripped Yelena’s shirt, giving it a tug to remind her of the conversation they were having before they were interrupted. Yelena was not ashamed to have looked into Maxine Lee the same day they met her. Max was just a regular teenager that got slightly above-average grades in school and loved to play soccer despite her the brace she had for her scoliosis.
“Sure,” Yelena said, noticing how Natasha went back to fetch another bottle of maple syrup, Varvara trailing after her like a duckling.
Yelena doesn’t give their address, rather she gave directions to an open field nearby. She was surprised that Daria wanted to go out into the snow when she had shown nothing but disinterest and fear. Perhaps she simply didn’t want to disappoint her friend or maybe she felt as though she couldn’t say no. Yelena would probe further into the matter when they returned home.
Yelena might not even be able to make it into the field of snow, having to send her sister to watch over Daria. She wanted to go and play with her daughter but she knew that wanting to do something and actually doing it were two different things.
Guilt slithered through her gut at the thought of missing out on moments with her daughters because she was simply too weak to get over her fear. Yelena had stood there long after Frank and Max left, watching the shelf they turned the corner on.
“Yelena?” Natasha’s voice startled her and Yelena whipped around to look at her. Natasha gave her a once over, her eyes narrowing slightly as she caught the way Yelena held herself but she doesn’t mention it in front of the girls. “Do you know where they keep the popsicle sticks?”
Yelena rode in the back between her girls on the ride home and pretended it was just to keep them warm and not because guilt flickered through her at the fact that frozen water scared her so much that she couldn’t just be normal. Natasha met her eyes in the rearview mirror and Yelena looked away first, hoping that her sister wouldn’t corner her and point it out when they got home.
But her sister is stubborn and strong-willed and as soon as they got home, she dragged Yelena off upstairs to talk anyway.