I’ll Wait For You

Epilogue

Four years Later

Elinor woke up to two furballs sitting on her face. One was Valentine, now a full grown cat with a sleek, glossy coat, her heart-shaped chest patch shoved in Elinor’s cheek. The other was Ari – a British short hair kitten given to her by Arina, who now seemed to be copying all of Valentine’s bad habits.

“Are you two serious?” Elinor got up, and they both slid down further, judging Elinor for moving them from comfortable positions. “I swear. Why did I agree to cats?”

Yawning, she examined the tattoo on her wrist – the purple and white entwined heathers, and also the gold wedding band on her finger with a grin. Ari had been given to Elinor as a thank-you for Stolen Heart’s third successful album, Reflection of Thoughts – though she still wasn’t entirely sure if it was a blessing, given Ari’s destructive tendencies on curtains and innocent objects.

“Kostya,” Elinor called, as the cats clung to her, ears twitching, eyes wide, “What time is it?”

“Seven. I might have left the door open, sorry.”

“You did. They found me.”

A bright brown eye appeared in the doorway, followed by the  form of a little girl, no older than eight, her black hair tucked into a fluffy ponytail. “Can I come in?”

“You’ve seen me naked. I don’t think it’s an issue.” Elinor patted the bed, and the cats both blinked at Gina, the little girl with the huge eyes.

“Okay.” Gina came and sat on the bed, reaching out for the cats, who were indifferent to the attention, though they didn’t reject it, either. Elinor stared at her adopted daughter, sharing a house with her for three years, and could tell there was something on the girl’s mind, by the way she breathed shallowly and the way her eyes found it hard to stay on anything for long.

“What’s up, little one?” Elinor stroked Gina’s hair. Gina wore colorful pyjamas with kittens sprawled over them – she squealed in excitement when spotting them in the shop a few weeks ago, and Elinor couldn’t resist the idea of seeing Gina walk around in them and be all cute.

“Why can’t you be my real mommy?” Gina eventually said, after spending time wringing her hands.

Immediately, Elinor steeled herself to deal with eight year old logic. “What do you mean?” She also needed to twist her brain to remember that it was the weekend, so Gina didn’t need to go to school – and if Gina had anything to say last night, she didn’t, because she saw that Elinor had been working on a new song and muttering words to herself like a crazy person.

She loved Gina – and so did Kostya, though having Gina had not been an easy ride. The child, dumped into a foster home from abusive parents, had found it hard at first to accept that she no longer needed to endure that kind of environment.

Another thing about Gina, was that for her age, she seemed fiercely intelligent. Some of the things she came up with and said made Elinor realize that Gina needed special handling. You couldn’t baby her the same way as other children she had seen. You couldn’t lie to her, either. She detected lies easily. When discussing this with Kostya, Elinor and her husband concluded that maybe growing up in an abusive household made you more alert to mood changes as a form of survival. Elinor couldn’t remember having Gina’s deduction skills at her age.

“I would have liked to come from your tummy. I think things would be simple then. The children at school think I’m bad, because I come from a foster home.”

“What does being bad have anything to do with a foster home?” Elinor knew Gina liked having questions, liked having to mull around in her head for an answer. She continued stroking the young girl’s wrist.

Gina chewed on her lower lip. “Foster children aren’t nice.”

Kostya by now had appeared in the doorway, watching his wife and adoptive daughter. His arms were folded – and his heather tattoo mimicked Elinor’s.

“Why aren’t they nice?”

Gina Vasilev twitched one eyebrow. “Because they don’t like being a foster kid. Because it means they are not loved.”

Elinor nodded. “So they are bad because they are not loved?”

Gina hesitated, now starting to see where Elinor was heading with this. “Yes.”

“Do you feel loved here?”

“Yes.” Valentine crawled into Gina’s lap as she made herself more comfortable on the bed.

“Then I don’t think you’re bad anymore. You might have been then, but it also isn’t your fault.” This kind of admission might have hurt another child, but it reassured one like Gina.

“Yeah. Okay.”

“And, you don’t have to come from my tummy to be loved like a daughter. The other children might be mean to you, but you know something they don’t. You know you have a family. We chose each other. You are wanted.”

Looking from Kostya to Elinor, Gina nodded, her face growing in a smile. “You don’t always like me, though.”

“No. I don’t always like Kostya, either. We do things that annoy each other. But it doesn’t mean we will stop loving. And we try to make up for it.”

“Would you send me back if I become too bad?”

At this point, Kostya stepped in. “Kiddo, we have no plans to send you back. You’re not a rejected Christmas present. We’re not going to send you back as if you’re a misbehaving puppy. We will show you if you’re bad, so you know not to do it again. Is that fair?”

Kostya sat down by Gina, who snuggled into his embrace, before getting sandwiched by Elinor as well. This relaxed the rest of the tension in Gina’s body, and she hugged them both, before declaring, “I’m going to make cereal now! Thanks!”

And she bounced off the bed, startling Ari, who shot off like a bullet into the living room of their house. Gina hesitated at the door, before saying, “I love you. I’m glad you chose me.”

When the girl skipped out, Elinor had to dab away threatening tears. “Ah, crap, she’s an adorable gal.”

Kostya grinned. “I have to say, I wasn’t sure how being a sudden father to a five year old would work out at first. But I think that little girl has something special. Just like you, wife of mine.” He leaned over to kiss Elinor on the lips, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, breathing happiness into him.

“Thank you, Kostya. For everything.”

“We’ve done good in this world, Elinor. With the music. With our love. And by having Gina in our lives. Incidentally, the band are dropping in later. We might need to prepare a lot of food.”

“I suppose I better get out that board game as well that Gina’s playing with Oscar and Isaac. What’s it called again?”

“Risk.I think Isaac is convinced in a few more games with Gina, she’s going to be the one beating them.”

“Hah.” Elinor could honestly believe it. She was convinced Gina was a genius, though she didn’t quite voice the suspicion out loud. After all, most parents were convinced their kids were something special.

Gina really was, though.

Four years, since the time her fallopian tube had burst. Four years, with sometimes the reoccurring nightmares of the graveyard, the little lost souls, the feeling that something was still not quite right, even with Kostya and his overwhelming love, along with the support of Tina, her mother and father, and the band members.

Though she received treatment for her remaining ovary, she still only averaged around four periods a year. Then, Kostya surprised her by taking himself through the adoption approval process, and after some deliberation, Elinor went along with it, until they were formally registered to be able to provide a child with a permanent home.