I'll Be There

Evgeni sighed as he sat on the couch, it was a weekend off from games and since he had an early morning skate, he would have nothing to do for another two days. Flipping through the channels on Rachel’s TV, letting her sleep in, he folded laundry in their small family room. He couldn’t help but think of all the space and the nice TV he had at home that was going to waste now that he had all but moved into Rachel’s apartment.

They had been together now for a solid six months, and even though things were less than ideal with Ava, he loved Rachel, and he knew that some day, they could be a family. He couldn’t help but laugh when he sorted through the laundry that had just come out of the dryer – jeans, t-shirts and tiny pink undies that looked too small to fit an actual human. He struggled to fold the small pieces into even smaller garments before piling them up on the coffee table.

“Geno.” Evgeni’s head turned to see Ava standing in the archway of where the hall met the family room in her pink nightgown, rubbing at her eyes with a balled up fist as she held her teddy in her other hand. “Cartoons, not golf, Geno.” She wandered over to the couch beside him, throwing herself down on the couch and attempting to steal the remote from the Russian, but he grabbed it just in time. “It’s Saturday, Saturday means Phinny-yus and Ferb.” She insisted, looking up at him with a sleepy pout that made her look much younger than seven years old.

“Da, Da, Phin and Ferb.” He sighed, flipping the channel to Disney where the two brothers were thinking of another way to spend their summer vacation. There was a lot going in the small apartment today, and more importantly, back at Geno’s house in Fox Chapel. There was a cleaning service there now to spruce up the place seeing as his parents were arriving that afternoon for a weeklong stay to see their son and to take in a few games with Rachel and Ava.

Rachel got the chance to meet Geno’s parents while they were in Russia before the season started, and it was clear right away that they adored their son’s new but serious girlfriend. Geno, however, was a little anxious about introducing his parents to Ava.

“I wanna build a rollercoaster.” She mumbled, curling up even more on the couch, situating her tiny size two feet in Evgeni’s lap, twisting them around to feel the fabric of silky basketball shorts against her cotton socks.

“I doubt Mama would let us do that in the backyard,” Geno insisted, patting her feet on his lap, making her twitch softly, in turn, making a slow grin spread across his face as he made a keystone discovery. He ran his hand across her feet again, dragging his pointer finger up her foot from heel to toe, making her squirm and jerk, letting out a high pitch squeal.

“Dun’ tickle me!” She squealed, tucking her feet up to her chest, narrowing her eyes at him. That was one of the things that entertained Geno the most, how much she looked just like Rachel, the same blue eyes and the same blonde hair with high cheek bones and a dust of freckles, but Ava’s sassiness made her so much different than her kind, bleeding-heart, caring mother.

“You better be nice, or I will tickle.” Geno grinned, holding up his wiggling fingers, making her tuck her legs up even more as she stuck her little pink tongue out at him. “I’ll tell Mama,” he warned, “you know you’re not supposed to do that.” He wagged a finger at her – in turn, she stuck her tongue out again, making him laugh as he shook his head.

“Good morning every one.” Rachel smiled as she entered the family room, seeing Ava and Geno on the same couch gave her just a hint of hope as she tightened her robe around her waist. “Who wants eggs and bacon?” She asked, sliding her hands down Geno’s shoulders to kiss his cheek gently.

“Mama, tell Geno to stop being a butthead.” Ava frowned, sitting up.

“Ava, what did I tell you about calling people buttheads?” Rachel said, giving Ava a stern look, not liking the phrase she had picked up thanks to time spent around the Staal home.

“She’s been sticking her tongue out, too.” Geno added, making Ava widen her eyes at her Mama’s boyfriend, holding back the urge to kick him with her ruffled socks.

“Tattletale.” She mumbled, getting off the couch and going into the kitchen to find her Lucky Charms. Geno couldn’t help but chuckle as he pulled Rachel down to the couch with him, glancing back to the kitchen before placing a hot kiss on his girlfriend’s mouth.

“So it’s been a good morning?” She asked with a hushed giggle.

“It’s been a morning.” He sighed, placing a hand on her cheek gently before kissing her again. “I folded laundry.” He motioned down to the basket of completed garments that were waiting to be put away in drawers and hung up in closets. “My baba and deda will be here at five. Maybe we will all go out for dinner?” He suggested. “Do you think Ava will come along, or we call Jordan?” He asked, having a hard time not running his hand up her bare thigh that was teasing him from under the hem of her bathrobe.

“I think if we drop Ava off at Jordan’s one more time this month, she might actually disown me as her mother. You know she has low tolerance for those boys.” Rachel laughed as Ava re-entered the family room, holding her bowl of Lucky Charms filled to the brim.

“I am not going to Jordan and Pheebies.” Ava narrowed her eyes, “I want to go with you guys.” She insisted. “Where are we going? When are your Mama and Daddy coming?” She asked, handing Geno her bowl as she flopped back up onto the couch before taking her bowl again.

“They are coming today at five, can you be on best behavior if we go get dinner with them?” Geno asked.

“Can we go somewhere fancy?” Ava asked, looking upset Rachel and her mother expectantly. “Or to the playplace?” She asked, speaking of the McDonalds with the playground attached to it.

“As much as I’m sure Geno’s parents love McDonald’s, we were thinking something a little more special.”

•••

“But really, what am I doing wrong?” Evgeni asked, glaring at Ava who was climbing all over his father with wild giggles as he entertained her. They had been introduced a whole fifteen minutes ago and were now acting like best friends.

“Прошло всего несколько месяцев, Евгений,” Evgeni’s mother insisted, patting his cheek softly, making Rachel smile as she reassured him that it’s only been a few months.

“It’s been six months,” Evgeni gave her a pointed look, his mother rolling her eyes as she followed her husband out to the car as they all decided on a restaurant for dinner. Evgeni hung back, holding Rachel’s hand softly. “Maybe my parents can watch Ava tonight? You and I can have alone time.” He whispered against her ear, kissing her cheek gently. Their intimate time together was rare and sparse and now they had a chance to be together for a night.

“Baby your parents just got here, I don’t want to push Ava off on them, let your parents relax for a bit, huh? They’re tired.” Rachel insisted. “You should stay with them tonight at your house anyway.” She added, “It wouldn’t be fair to spend the night at my place after they’ve come so far to see you.” Evgeni nodded wordlessly, wishing she wasn’t right. “We’ll get time, Ev, I’m going to be able to cut back my hours at the hospital soon and I’ll get to be home more.” She rest her hands on his chest as they reached his car, his parents and Ava already strapped in.

“You are?” Evgeni asked gently, their faces inching closer and closer together.

“Yes, so I can spend more time with you and Ava and not have to leave her with you all the time.” She laughed as he leaned in to kiss her.

“Ev-geeny! Let’s go!” Ava called from the car, kicking the back of the driver’s seat to accentuate her point and effectively ruining Rachel and Geno’s kiss.

Evgeni sighed, getting into the car and tossing a glare back at Ava who was nestled happily between his parents in her booster seat, a big smile on her face. The drive to the nearby steakhouse went by quickly and Ava nestled into the side of Evgeni’s father as they whispered secrets to each other. Evgeni’s mother was having a great time coddling Ava, cutting up her food, stroking her hair and clucking to herself as she fixed Ava’s little pink socks.

“Mama, are Baba and Deda staying at our house?” Ava asked, making Evgeni look over at his mother with raised eyebrows, knowing she must be loving the fact that the little girl was calling her the Russian equivalent to grandma and grandpa.

“No honey, they’re staying at Geno’s but we will get to see them plenty while they’re here.” Rachel smiled, taking a bite of her steak as Geno sighed dismally beside her, taking an active interest in his iPhone.

“Гено, разумением твоим манерам, не будьте так антиобщественной.” Geno’s mother scolded him for being on his cell phone at dinner and behaving anti-socially. He scoffed, putting his phone back in his pocket as Rachel squeezed his hand under the table.

A few moments later, the house band began to play a slow, sweet blues tune and Rachel watched dreamily as Evgeni’s father extended his hand to his wife and lead her out to the dance floor.

“They are so cute.” Rachel sighed as Geno squeezed her hand again.

“Will you dance with me?” Geno asked gently, bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing the back of her knuckles.

“Of course.” Rachel blushed, looking down as he lead her away from the table, away from Ava and to the dance floor. Ava watched as her Mama and Geno walked out to the floor, swaying and moving gently to the slow music. She swung her legs under her, not nearly close enough for her feet to touch the ground as she watched on jealously. The night wore on and before he knew it, Evgeni was pulling up to Rachel’s apartment building.

“I got her, I will be right back.” Evgeni assured his parents as he followed Rachel into the building, Ava dead asleep in his arms.

“It was a good night, huh?” Rachel asked as she unlocked the door to her apartment. “I think Ava had a good time.” She added.

“Da, it was a good night.” Geno nodded, whispering as he carried Ava right to her room, it was small and pink, but he knew she loved it. He stopped and helped Rachel change Ava into her favorite little nightgown before he tucked her in, kissing her forehead softly as Rachel pulled the blankets up over her shoulders and tucking her teddy under her arm. It wasn’t long until Ava was curled on her side with her thumb in her mouth. “What’s this?” Geno asked, looking at the wall opposite of Ava’s bed to see a few four by six photos crudely taped to the wall at Ava-height.

“They're from the first hockey game.” Rachel giggled softly. “She loves her pictures from it.” She insisted. “She asked me to print them off right away so she could hang them up.”

“You can hardly see anything.” Geno frowned, squinting to try to make out the numbers on the jerseys that were far away and blurry – knowing her photos were taken with a cheap disposable camera from club level. How were these pictures so great?

“I know, but she loves them, I think she’s really fascinated by it all. She wants to make sure she’ll have more film before the game tomorrow night.” Rachel shrugged as the sleepy little girl turned her body towards her Mama.

“Mama?” Ava called sleepily, reaching her arms up with her heavy eyes lidded.

“Go back to sleep baby girl.” Rachel cooed, walking over to Ava’s bed with Geno behind her. “We love you, sweet dreams.” She whispered before Ava could reply sleepily.

“Love you Mama, love you Daddy.”

Rachel looked over at Geno with wide eyes as Ava fell back asleep. He shrugged noncommittally, they both knew that it was an accident – he knew that she would never call him Daddy.