Page 35 of Scarred (Russian Sinners 2)

“That’s good,” he confirmed.

“You just make sure we get there,” I muttered low so only he could hear me. He nodded with understanding and I smiled at him gratefully.

Then I turned all my attention to the little girl and started my game.

“So Tasha,” I started with enthusiasm. “Which way should we go? Left or right?”

She clapped her hands together. “I get to pick?”

“You sure do,” I confirmed. “Whichever you pick, you have to tell me in English and Russian so I can start learning your language.”

She glanced left then right debating, then spoke. “Left,” then quickly added in Russian. “Sleva.”

“Sleva,” I repeated and eyed her for confirmation that I pronounced it right.

She nodded.

“That was a good word to start with,” I told her happily.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the playground. Andrey was clever and each time he had to nudge us in a certain direction, he’d point out something to capture Tasha’s interest to get us in the right direction. When we arrived, I knew I made the right choice. Tasha’s eyes widened at the number of children on the playground, her eyes darting here and there. She was trying to soak it all in.

“Do you want me to walk over there with you?” I offered.

It could be intimidating when you knew nobody. When we were children, I always had my brother or Anastasia so I was never alone, although we did not go to public playgrounds for different reasons. Anastasia’s parents were always worried about various threats to the family, which turned out to be valid. And my father had made an adequate number of enemies very quickly so my mother wouldn’t allow us to go to public playgrounds either. In turn, the three of us formed our own little circle and had each other for playmates.

Tasha grabbed my hand in answer, and I squeezed her hand gently. We walked slowly over to the group of children that were around Tasha’s age.

“Hello,” I greeted them, quite aware they might not understand English. “I’m Olivia and this is Tasha.”

They watched us for a few seconds and then all of them smiled in unison. “Hello. She only speaks English?” One of the boys asked, pointing to Tasha.

“No, she speaks Russian too,” I explained with a smile. “I don’t speak Russian so she translates for me.”

The little boy Tasha’s age spoke to her in Russian as if testing her language skills.

Tasha turned to me and translated. “He asked if I want to play with them and be a pirate.”

The boy nodded pleased and a smile played around my lips. Little smarty pants! And just like that, Tasha was part of their group. I lingered for several more seconds and then left them to work things out in that special way only children can.

I found my way to Andrey who was smiling.

“That was a good idea,” he commended me.

“Thanks,” I accepted his praise. “I figured it would be good for her to hang out with her own age group. She knows too much about romance and dating.”

He chuckled. “That comes from Katja.”

“I figured.”

My gaze traveled to the children and was happy to see Tasha was already part of the group and part of whatever game they were playing. Although she looked slightly out of place in her fancy dress. The other children wore play clothes that were much more suitable for the environment and climbing playground equipment. But it didn’t matter, as long as she was happy and having fun.

On an impulse and wanting to seize the moment, I took out the iPhone Nikolai had given me and snapped a few photos capturing the moments. I thought he’d appreciate it since he couldn’t be here with his niece to enjoy them firsthand. It made me happy to see her enjoying being a kid.

Satisfied with the captured moments, I turned to Andrey.

“So how long have you known… Tasha?” Nikolai was the name on the tip of my tongue but I chickened out at the last minute.

“About two years,” he responded and I got a sense he knew it wasn’t the question I intended to ask. “Nikolai gave me a job four years ago. My mother was very sick and I couldn’t leave her alone all day to work. He caught me stealing food from his restaurant. Instead of turning me into the police, he got a nurse to care for my mother and a job for me.”

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