enola_power-of-love-3

THE POWER OF LOVE By Enola <<< part 2

PART 3

James didn’t sleep a wink that night, too many thoughts ran through his head at the same time. He wondered too many questions, too many ‘what if I’d done this or that’ followed by hypothetical answers ‘maybe things would have gone differently’. But the truth was he couldn’t know how thing would have gone if he had behaved in a different way. He stayed awake and attentive to every possible sound or noise that could come from the close room, but he could perceive nothing throughout the whole night. This had been possible because Sasha had collapsed on the bed and had allowed her tears to be cried until she had eventually fallen asleep.

When she woke up around 6am, the first thing she saw as soon as she opened her eyes was the suitcase James had given her the previous night. She stood up and put it over the bed and arranged those few clothes she possessed and her picture frames. Having changed, she opened the door and stepped out slowly. She saw James’ bedroom door half open and heard the shower going. She re-entered the room and searched for a piece of paper in her handbag, so she tore a page from her diary and wrote ‘Thank You’ followed by her and Yuri’s names.

Although their flight left at midday, at 7:30am Sasha was already at hospital. She was talking to one of Yuri’s doctors when she saw James arriving around 9am. He stopped when he realized she had seen him. As Yuri’s doctor left, she walked toward him.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi. I’d like to say bye to Yuri and give him something, but I can go away if you want me to.” He sounded nervous and couldn’t look at her steadily.
“I think he’d be happy to see you again.”

He thanked her and entered Yuri’s room. As soon as the kid saw him, he called his name aloud and welcomed him with the biggest of the smiles. James sat down in the bed and stroke his hair.
“I’ve got something for you,” said James giving the child a carrier.
“A present? For me?” he exclaimed in total excitement. He took a box out and opened it impatiently. His eyes sparkled when he saw a t-shirt of his football team with his name and number 9 in its back.
“A Chelsea t-shirt with my name!! How cool! Thank you James!”
“I’m so pleased you like it,” smiled James.

It was getting late and he had to go. He bent and whispered because he didn’t want Sasha to hear his words.
“Take care of your sister, okay? She loves you more than anything else in the world.”
“I know.” His voice was low too. “She’s my heroine. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No, I don’t. Why?”
“It’d be great if you were Sasha’s boyfriend. I think she likes you but she won’t ever admit it.”
James smiled stroking his blonde hair. “She deserves much more, believe me. Somebody like you. Smart, adorable and caring.”
“You like her too!” said Yuri with an insolent grin,
“Hey? Are you sure you’re only 9?”
“No, I’m just 8 years and 9 months old!” sniggered the child.
James kissed his forehead and the kid wrapped his arms around him thanking him again for his gift.

Sasha invited him to sit down next to her in the corridor as he left his brother’s room.
“It was very kind of you. Giving him that t-shirt. I haven’t seen him that happy in a long time.”
“He’s an amazing kid. I was just a poor little idiot when I was 9!” He gave a short laughed, then went on. “You must be proud of him.”
“I am indeed. He wouldn’t of me if –”
“He doesn’t have to know. But I’m sure nothing would change.”
She felt that his words were sincere and that made her feel better.
“Did you find my note?” she enquired,
“Yes, I did.”
“I’m sure you think I’ve been ungrateful to you…leaving just a piece of p...”
“You don’t need to say anything,” he hastened to say,
“It wouldn’t be fair. You’ve done so much for us.”
“I don’t think I deserve your thanks.”

They looked at each other in silence for a moment, then a nurse approached and told Sasha the helicopter that would bring them to Heathrow was ready to leave. They both got up and James said,
“Would you do something for me?”
“What?”
“I’d like you to call me after the operation. Just this.”
Sasha didn’t say anything and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. “Thank you James.”
He smiled at her sweetly, so she turned and left.
“Sasha?” he called. She stopped and he went close to her, “One more thing. Please, take care of yourself.”
His hand gently brushed her cheek and he kissed her forehead. Then he walked away towards the lift.

Sasha called him about a week later. The operation had been performed two days earlier and doctors were optimistic. Yuri had to spend at least one more month at hospital to recover. James didn’t hear from her any more, but one evening, about a couple of months after her phone call, he got another from Yuri. He said they were in London and he was dying to see him. They arranged to meet the next day at Battersea Park next to Fountain Lake.

James spotted a blonde child with a blue t-shirt kicking a ball chased by a German shepherd puppy. As he went closer he could read ‘Yuri 9’ in the back of the t-shirt. When the kid turned James waved at him and Yuri cried his name out running towards him followed by his puppy. Yuri wrapped his arms around him, so James went down leaning one knee to the ground and hugged him too while the puppy put its front paws over his thigh.
“Hey? Who are you?” he said stroking the puppy who was wagging his little tail happily.
“She’s Chelsea.” Said Yuri.
“Chelsea? Oh dear!” said James laughing,
“That’s the first thing that came to mind.”
“I didn’t doubt it!” He kept stroking the puppy and added, “So you’re back!”
“Just for a few days, unfortunately.” Yuri’s voice sounded slightly sad. “We came to see Chelsea match tomorrow and we’re going back to Houston on Tuesday. Sasha wants to stay there. I really don’t know why. I thought she liked living here.”

She was sitting in a bench reading a book. James left Yuri playing with his ball and went to her. As she saw him approaching she put down her book and got up. Her hair was quite short and of its natural colour. She had put on a little weight but that didn’t spoil her slender figure. She greeted him with a friendly kiss on the cheek which he returned straight away, so the both sat down.
“You look great,” he said pleased. She blushed as always and thanked him. “Also Yuri does.”
“He left hospital two weeks ago and since then he’s restless,” she smiled happy.
“That’s understandable. He’s got to make up for lost time!”
They both looked at him in silence with a smile on the faces.

“What about you? Yuri told me you’re going back to Houston in a few days.”
“Yes. I found a job in a ballet school almost at once.” She paused for a moment and lowering her eyes, she went on, “Nobody knows me there. Starting a new life would be easier.”
“Is this the only reason?”
“What other reason could I have?”
James shrugged and said, “I don’t know. Maybe you’ve met someone…”
“Hell no!” she giggled.
“What’s that ‘hell no’?” he asked perplexed.
“There’s no room for anybody in my life.”
“That’s pure nonsense! You’ve got every right to…”
“You can’t understand!” she cut him off a bit upset. “Just the thought of being touched by a man makes me sick!”

James didn’t speak at once, then he said, “Who knows, maybe with time -”
“I could never live with a man and keeping him hidden what I did.” Her voice was low and trembling. “On the other hand, no man would stay with me if he knew. I don’t have much choice.”
“Yes, you have! Someone who knows and doesn’t care.”
“Nobody knows apart from -” She stopped abruptly.
“Nobody apart from me! Sasha, please look at me.”
She turned slowly, so James went closer and spoke to her as sweetly as he could.
“Remember when you ask why I had given you the money for Yuri’s operation? Well, I didn’t say all the truth. I also did it ‘cos I couldn’t bear the thought of you with other men who didn’t give a shit of you. I’ve liked you since the first moment I saw you and I do know that’s the same to you. I wasn’t sure about it until the time you chased me away from your dressing room.”

“You were special to me. I didn’t want you to be one of them.” She whispered as her eyes filled with tears.
“I know darling. I know.”
“What would your family and friends think of me?” Her tears started to fall down. James cupped her face in his hands and wiped the tears with his thumbs.
“They’ll never know. That’s none of their business. You’ll just be Sasha for them. You forget Larissa. Forget she’s ever existed.”
She threw her arms around his neck, so he held her in his whispering sweet words of reassurance in her ear. He would wait for her, no matter how much time she would need.

They parted a few minutes later when Yuri joined them. Seeing that her sister’s eyes were red from crying, he got worried.
“What’s up? Why are you cryin’?”
“That’s nothing honey,” she reassured him with a tender smile and let him sat on her lap. “What would you say if we came back here?”
Yuri hugged his sister saying aloud, “thank you, thank you, thank you” kissing her in between, “you’re the best sister of the universe!”

A moment later James said he also had something to say.
“I’d like to have your permission to spent some time with your sister.”
Yuri smiled and said, “You can even marry her tomorrow,” then he grasped James’ hand pulling him to make him rise. “But now you play with me!”
James and Sasha burst out laughing and they both got up. He wrapped the other arm round her waist and planted a loving kiss on her cheek.

THE END.

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