* * * * *
As she was leaving, Nina gazed at Marina again. «No more stupid actions?» She gave her a wink.
«No, more. I swear.» Marina nodded. She honestly felt fine now. Closing the door, Marina thought about David, but now those thoughts did not hurt anymore, becoming just memories.
* * * * *
Jeff went to the gift shop to browse through Valentine cards.
He dearly wanted to make a special card for Vera. This is why he borrowed the dictionary. He wanted to write something in Russian to her. He spoke Spanish, and in school he studied German, so he understood that this task would not be easy, as most of the cards contained words that would lose their meaning in translation.
In addition, he did not want his card to be too open-hearted, so he made his choice very carefully.
Finally he chose a card.
At home he attentively read the instructions on how to use the dictionary. He paged through the book, and he was glad to find a lot of examples.
He wrote a few phrases, chose one of them, and hesitated for a while.
«It’s okay,» he said to himself, checking the sentence again. He thoughtfully copied these strange looking letters, sighed, and put the card into an envelope.
* * * * *
Vera Grach collected the mail, and quickly sorted it as usual, separating the personal mail for her husband.
She opened the envelope with the phone bill and checked it. Oleg called Russia sometimes twice a week; he needed to control his business. However she was surprised to see that during the last month he called Moscow more often. But he never let her into his business, so Vera only shrugged her shoulders. Taking a pencil, she marked her calls, then checked the other mail.
This small red envelope had no return address. Vera ripped it open, saw a Valentine’s Day card. She opened it with curiosity.
She saw a picture of a bee holding a heart. The big hand-written letters caught her attention, and she was astonished when she realized it was written in Russian.
«You to be mead,» she read, amazed, and looked at the English text: «You are honey.» Then she understood and gasped. «Oh, Jeff…»
She pressed the card to her chest. Although there was no signature, she realized at once from whom it had been sent. Her gaze fell on a huge bouquet of fourteen scarlet roses that Oleg had given her today, and the woman blushed, feeling guilty.
«Oh, Jeff,» she whispered, not noticing the tears running down her cheeks. «Why are you doing this? I can’t, I simply can’t…» And, sobbing, she hid the card in her jewelry box.
She heard a knock, hastily rubbed her eyes, opened the door, and saw Nina and Larisa Lapina there. She invited them into the apartment.