«Not me,» thought Megan. «I’ll fight for my husband. I don’t want to be third.»
She looked at the girls. Hannah and Larisa were playing next to Dylon in the sandbox. In the same moment she noticed Marina with a man, and Megan gazed at them as they neared.
«Hi!» Marina greeted them, and said quickly to Nina, speaking Russian, «Cover me. I said that you need my help here.» She continued in English, introducing her escort. «It’s Joe Jones.»
«We know each other.» Megan smiled, and Joe nodded.
The Russians were obviously surprised, and she explained, «I used to baby-sit this guy when he was a lad. He was a very good boy.»
«Now he’s not.» Nina addressed him. «Why do you catch Marina? You see,» she voiced plaintively showing her foot with a bandage. «I stepped on a nail, and can’t run, but kids need some physical activity, so Marina promised to play with my daughter. Larisa!» she called out. «Auntie Marina is here.»
Both girls ran to them and hugged Marina. She laughed, being glad to have a good reason to leave, and they raced around the playground.
Joe kept his eyes on Marina, dreaming of how she would play with their own children.
«How long have you been dating?» Megan asked with a calm voice, but everyone understood her concern, and Joe felt pity for her.
«Long enough,» he replied, and smiled. Marina neared them again and was able to hear his words. «We’re gonna get married.»
Marina did hear this, and her cheeks blushed, but she said nothing, just lowered her eyes, and everybody took this as her consent. Hearing that, Vera dropped her brush, and, glancing at Nina, she met her amazed look.
«Something’s wrong,» Nina said to herself. «Why did Marina never tell me about this guy?»
But Megan did not notice this, and sighed with relief. «Thank God!» she thought. «Even if David felt something for her, now it’s over.»
«Congratulations,» the women said at once.
Gleefully laughing, Joe settled down to the children’s game, and, observing him, Marina was thinking, «He would be not a bad father. My God! But we are so different! No, I don’t know… Why do I have such enmity to him? He looked at me, better me to smile back. Gosh, if he tries to hug me one more time, I can kill him! What’s going on with me? His just a nice, primitive man. Hell, how primitive! What glares he’s giving me! Stupid! No, no, what a poor guy… I never felt such antipathy to anyone! Oh, God! Why?» She asked and asked herself, but could not find an answer.
Vera watched Marina and Joe. She was not as a close a friend of Marina as Nina was, so she was not as astonished as Nina. Vera was thinking about tomorrow’s date with Jeff. She did understand it would be a date. Their first date!