Leaping for Your Dreams

There was a banging on the front door. I know because I was walking like the living dead towards it. It was 7 am and we’d been home about 3 hours. Fumbling I opened the locks except for the last one. I opened the door partially. “Hello?” I mumbled through it.

“Michaela, Is that you?” It was someone I hadn’t seen or heard from in person for several years, my only brother Nikolai. “Can you let us in please Mari?”

My brain finally caught up to me at the door. “Yeah, there’s a good idea.” I removed the last lock and opened the front door completely. There was Nikolai and someone small I didn’t know. He came in, set the small one down, and went back to grab several suitcases.

Nik turned around and began taking off the coat of the most adorable little girl I’d ever seen. “I know we’re early Mari, I’m sorry if we woke you. I’ve been driving all night to get here. No Anna, don’t lie down there.” He looked up at me. “Mari is there somewhere we can crash?”

“Uh… yeah. Come on.” I was trying to remember which rooms we had free still. Mama and Papa M were downstairs in their private suite and Denis had taken the largest room other than our upstairs. “We’ve got a room that has a play room off of it, would that work?”

Nik grabbed the suitcases. “Can you take her sis, she’s dead on her feet.” He nodded towards Anna. “How big’s the bed too?”

I held my arms out and she crawled into them. “Uh… It’s my old one so, a queen.” I led them upstairs and into the room kitty corner from the Master. “I’m in the Master, Denis is in this one here.” I pointed out as we past them. “This should be good for you guys.” I kicked the door open and went inside. As I laid Anna on the bed, I noticed Evgeni coming out of the bedroom confused. I went to the door and quietly spoke to him. “Возвращайся в постель малыш, это просто мой брат Николай и ... (Go back to bed babe, it’s just my brother Nikolai and…)”

“Моя дочь Анна. (My daughter Anna.)” He supplied. Geno gave a half nod in recognition and went back to bed.

I might have been half asleep but I heard that clear as day. “Ваша дочь? (Your daughter?)” I shook my head to clear it. “We’ll talk more after some sleep. We all need it.” I pushed open the bathroom door so he saw it was there. “Just come downstairs when you wake up. Don’t be surprised if you see at least 3 people you don’t know. Geno’s family is here.”

Nik came over and gave me a brotherly kiss. “Thanks Sis. Go back to bed yourself, we’ll be fine from here” He gave me a gentle shove. As I crawled back into bed something hit me, I had a niece I knew _nothing_ about. I would _have_ to change that, later after more sleep.

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At 10:30 am my alarm went off. Yeah I know, setting my alarm on a day off is sacrilegious but this was a day I couldn’t afford to sleep away. I shut it off and rolled into Geno, trying to stave off actually getting up. That didn’t work though as he pulled me out of bed and into the walk-in shower, peeling clothes off as we went.

Once under the spray I woke up a bit more, only coffee would finish the job. I grabbed my favorite non-hockey pink penguin shirt and a pair of yoga pants and after dressing went downstairs for coffee… Ah coffee. I could smell it on the way down and like a moth to a flame I was drawn in.

I knew where the coffeemaker was in my sleep so it didn’t faze me a bit to hear a chuckle behind me as I fixed my morning jolt. I got a kiss on the cheek from Mama M as I passed her, making me smile. Nik was sitting at the bar having his own coffee along with some food. “So that wasn’t a fantastically real dream.”

He chuckled again. “Nope, it was real Mari even Anna.” He confirmed as we stood there trying to kick our brains into gear. “She’s 4 and she’s really mine. Her mom didn’t want her but I did so she kept her for me. Signed away all parental rights.” My 24-year-old brother was a dad, wow. “Her mom’s a Model, took a year off to have her. I, well I work for the government. I can’t say doing what because of security reasons.”

“You know mom and dad will be here today too right? I’m not sure you’ll be able to get out of their questions as easily.” Mama put a plate in front of me, I turned and gave her kiss. “Выглядит замечательно Мама, спасибо. (Looks wonderful Mama, thank you.)”

Nikolai watched the exchange and smiled after I turned back. “So… I thought you weren’t going to ever tell him how you felt.” Oh yes, younger sibs and the digs…

I began eating my breakfast and smiled. “Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith Nikolai. In January I was working for the League and yeah I was happy but it wasn’t my dream job. Come the All Star Game and not only do I rekindle some friendships, but I get my dream job nearly handed to me. Geno was, well he was kind of a happy accident.”

Nik snorted as he nearly choked on his coffee. “Happy Accident? Geez, way to make him feel good.”

I swatted him. “Accident as in we didn’t plan anything it just kind of happened. Yeah we argue at times, but we do work things out in the end. I _really_ love him Nik.” I placed my right hand on his arm.

He tapped the ring. “I see that. That’s why Aleks made sure we all came down for a visit. Yeah I know mom and dad will be here. They have every right to meet Anna too. I really kinda need someone to watch her while I go do a job, I was hoping you or Aleks would be able to.”

That had me chuckling. “Oh sure dump a niece on us without us knowing her. Couldn’t one of your friends look after her?” I was teasing but apparently it didn’t come across well.

“Please Mar, they can’t watch her the whole unit’s…” He seemed to realize what he let slip.

I quickly moved around the counter next to him. “Odpočívejte. Já jsem jen legraci vás. Řekni mi víc o Anně. (Relax. I'm just teasing you. Tell me more about Anna.)” We spent several minutes talking about her, man was my brother hooked he loved his kid big time.

Geno eventually came down holding Anna’s hand. “Someone wants her Papa.” Nik was down off the bar stool fast giving her butterfly kisses; it made me giggle.

Anna looked at Geno and then at Nik. “Папа, он говорит, что он мой дядя. Прав ли он? (Papa, he says he is my uncle. Is he right?)”

Very earnestly he looked at her and nodded. “Да, мой солнечный свет, он твой дядя. И эта красивая дама ваша тетя, она моя сестра. (Yes, my sunshine, he's your uncle. And this beautiful lady is your aunt, she's my sister.)” He pointed to me as he spoke and then turned back to Anna. “Знаете ли вы, кто еще будет здесь сегодня? Ваша бабушка и дедушка. (Do you know who else will be here today? Your grandparents.)

She looked very solemn for a little bit and then, tugging her hand out of Geno’s, she went over to his mom. “Вы мою бабушку? (Are you my grandmother?)”

Before the three of us could say or do anything, Natalia replied honestly. “Нет, я не являюсь. Я даже не знаю ее еще, но если она, как ваша тетя, я уверен, мы все любим ее. (No, I'm not. I do not know her even, but if she is your aunt, I am sure, we all love her.)” That seemed to satisfy the young girl for now.

At noon the doorbell rang and I had to catch Anna before she answered it. “Anna, we don’t just answer the door, we look and see who it is first.” I looked through the glass and saw Sid and both set of my parents. I set her down and opened the door. “Hey!” I ushered them all in with lots of hugs, and tears from my folks.

“Моя маленькая девочка, смотреть на тебя. (My little girl, look at you.)” My mom hugged me tightly, then she noticed Anna. “Кто это? (Who is this?)” I looked over at Nik who was nodding.

“Мама, это Анна. Она дочь Николая. Анна, это моя мама, твоя бабушка. (Mom, this is Anna. She is the daughter of Nikolai. Anna, this is my mother, your grandmother.)” I introduced them. Anna got a big grin on her face and plastered herself to mom’s side.

It was several hours later and we were all getting close to saying goodnight when Geno asked to see my dad in another room. They came back all smiles and much more relaxed. That told me what had happened.

I claimed right of tucking Anna into bed and as we finished her story, she asked me the most awkward question. “Are you my new mommy?”

I gasped and then told her the truth. “No sweetheart I’m not your mommy. I’m your Auntie Mari and I’m gonna be the best auntie I can be if you’ll let me.” She sighed and snuggled down into the bed.

“Auntie Mari? Can I stay with you when daddy goes away?” She sounded so sad and alone as she said it.

I kissed her forehead and sighed. “Let me go talk to your daddy about that ok Anna? If we all agree then yes, you’ll stay here with us.” She smiled sleepily and I tiptoed out.

Downstairs I looked at Nikolai and sighed. “Geno, Nik needs to leave Anna here for a while. I don’t know how long but he wants me, us to care for her while he’s away. She just asked me if she could stay and if I was her new mommy.”

Nik put his head in his hands. “If I could take her with me I would, but I can’t.” This was agony for him; I could see it.

Geno sat down next to him and grabbed for my hand to pull me onto his lap. “She needs Aunt and uncle to care for her, so we will. It is what family does. Need paperwork for her. Maybe go home in end of June, after awards.”

“I’ve got it all pretty much done. She’s got a passport already so that isn’t an issue. Guys I… I can’t tell you what this means to me. Keep her safe please.”

I leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Nik you’re family, she is too. We’ll work it all out so you can see her on Skype if nothing else until we can reunite you two.”

He broke down in tears at this point. “I don’t deserve you as a sister. She needs stability and a family and I can’t give her that right now.”

Geno patted him on the back. “One day at time. You know she safe with us, start there. It work out well from here.” After a few silent minutes we all broke up the tension and went to bed. God, I was about to be a Parent In Situ.