The Secret Wife(103)
‘Marta!’ Dmitri rebuked. He was too exhausted, too drained to deal with this.
Marta was hysterical, spitting out her words. ‘Nicholas and I followed you in my car because I suspected you might come to your other woman. Oh yes, I’ve known for ages: all those long walks with the dog, and mysterious errands, and fictitious meetings. I warned Mum there was someone else, but she would never hear a word against you. All the time she was struggling with cancer you were coming here … I just thought you might have the decency not to come tonight. Have you no respect at all?’
‘Have a drink,’ Tatiana urged. ‘You are overwrought. You don’t know the facts but we will explain if you sit down. I’ll go and invite your brother inside …’
‘You must be joking,’ Marta screamed. ‘Sit down for a chat? In your house? Frankly, I never want to see either of you again.’
She turned to leave. ‘Marta, wait!’ Dmitri called, and stood to go after her, feeling utterly useless.
Tatiana put a hand on his arm. ‘Leave her. You can explain tomorrow when she has had some sleep and calmed down a little. Talk to both of them. I don’t mind what explanation you give. It’s up to you.’
A few hours later, Dmitri drove home. He expected to find his children sitting in the kitchen over breakfast, but neither of them was there. Trina whined and nudged his leg, desperate to be let out to empty her bladder, and equally keen for her breakfast. There was a short note on the table telling him that both Marta and Nicholas had gone to stay at their grandmother’s house. He sighed, imagining the character assassination that would be going on over that breakfast table. It would all come out now. How could he talk to his son or daughter with the disapproving in-laws present?
He made the necessary phone calls to tell friends of Rosa’s death and spoke to an undertaker about organising a funeral then called his mother-in-law’s house to consult them on the date. Neither Nicholas or Marta would come to the telephone and Dmitri didn’t know what to do, short of driving round and forcing his way over the threshold. Tatiana suggested that he write to them, and he did: ‘We need to stick together to get through this terrible loss,’ he wrote. ‘After we have buried your mother, I will tell you anything you want to know about my long friendship with Tatiana. Be assured it is not what you imagine.’
Worrying about the rift with his children stopped him grieving for Rosa. He went through the motions of ordering flowers, choosing a coffin, and picking hymns for the service, with only brief phone calls to his mother-in-law’s house to ask their wishes. On the day of the funeral they made their way separately to the church and when Dmitri walked in, he saw that his children, their partners, and Rosa’s family had occupied the front row, forcing him to sit one behind. After the service, they huddled together at the graveside leaving no room for him, just glancing across red-eyed and accusing when the minister called Rosa a ‘beloved wife and mother’. From their sneering expressions, he suspected Nicholas and Marta had been told he never married their mother: one more sin that would have to be explained.
In his head Dmitri asked Rosa, ‘What should I do?’ She would have known how to fix this, just as she had smoothed over every family argument through the years, but there was no reply because she was in the cold earth.
He telephoned that night and Nicholas answered the call.
‘Won’t you meet me, son?’ he begged. ‘We need to talk. Please let me explain …’
‘I don’t care about your private life, Dad,’ he said wearily. ‘Nothing will bring Mom back. I can’t come out tonight because Pattie and I are flying to California in the morning and I’d like to spend the evening with my grandma.’
‘What about your sister? Is she there?’
‘Marta and Stanley have gone back to their place. I’d leave her to calm down a while if I were you. She’s taken it hard.’
Dmitri couldn’t stop trying though. The day after the funeral he drove to Marta’s house with Rosa’s jewellery box. Stanley opened the door but refused to let him in.
‘Please,’ Dmitri begged. ‘She’s my daughter.’
Stanley was immoveable. ‘She’s been telling me some horror stories about her childhood, about how you used to beat them both, and to be honest I’m surprised she didn’t disown you long before now. She kept her feelings to herself because she didn’t want to hurt her mother, but now she says she just wants you to leave her alone.’
Dmitri was surprised by the accusation. Didn’t everyone smack their children? ‘I’m the first to admit I wasn’t a great father, but surely I deserve a chance to explain myself? Tell Marta that her mother knew about my relationship with Tatiana – she had always known.’
‘I don’t reckon that’s going to help, somehow.’ Stanley folded his arms. ‘It don’t make it right that you went to see her before Rosa’s body was cold, when your own children needed you.’
‘I thought they were asleep!’
There was no sense in arguing with this pig-headed man, who seemed to have positioned himself as Marta’s new protector. Dmitri begged to be allowed to see her, but Stanley would not budge.
Eventually he handed over the jewellery box. ‘Will you at least give this to my daughter? She should take what she wants and send the rest to Nicholas’s wife.’