Lev: a Shot Callers novel(41)

“Jeremiah?” I asked.

He grunted affirmatively.

I sighed. “I suppose you’re going to tell me that it doesn’t hurt.”

“No.” He shook his head lightly. “It hurts very much.” He turned to me, looking me in the eye. “But the reason behind it was worth every ache.”

I am falling in love with you, Lev Leokov.

This time, the sudden thought didn’t surprise me. I think I’d known it a while now.





Chapter Eighteen

Mina



Another week went by, and as I was forced to take a week off work (doctors orders), I spent every waking moment with Mirella and Lidiya, learning as much as I could about the little girl’s likes and dislikes.

Turns out, Lidiya loved only one of her dolls. She was extremely attached to the Cabbage Patch Kid named Ivy Gail.

I didn’t know this. I thought she liked Cabbage Patch Kids in every way, shape, or form. So, early in the week, when Nas and I went to the mall, I bought Lidiya a new Cabbage Patch Kid, called Annabel Cherish, with some of my tip money. I got this one, because it looked a bit like the chubby little cherub. I also bought a tiny doll stroller so Lidi could walk her new friend around.

When we brought it home, I showed it to Mirella who, through a grimace, told me that although it was very sweet of me, Lidiya would likely not take to it and that she was very particular.

I was slightly devastated. And I moped.

Why would she not like my doll? I bought it just for her. She should like my damn doll! I spent fifty dollars on this freaking doll and stupid stroller.

But when Lidiya woke from her nap, I handed her the doll, and sulked all the way upstairs without waiting to see her negative reaction. I threw myself under the covers and was rudely interrupted from my pouting when Mirella called for me.

Flipping the covers down off my face, I called out, “Yes?”

I could hear her smiling. “Lidiya is asking for you.”

My feet shuffled the entire way down, but when I entered the living room, my attitude changed.

Lidiya sat in the middle of the floor with Annabel Cherish, hugging her to her side and muttering, “Eena, pay. Mine.” Then she spotted me and smiled. “Eena. Lookit.”

She stood and rushed over to me on her little legs, showing me her new dolly. I beamed, “You like it?” She thrust the doll at me and I gave it a little squeeze. “Her name is Annabel Cherish.”

Lidiya took the doll, hugging it around the neck. “Eena.”

I shook my head. “No, angel pie,” I corrected. “Annabel.”

“Eena,” she muttered as she walked the doll over to meet her kin, Ivy Gail.

Mirella chuckled. “I don’t believe it. She’s had other Cabbage Patch dolls. She never took to them. Only to Ivy.”

I smiled at the woman. “Now she has Annabel.”

Mirella shook her head lightly. “No,” she observed. “Now she has Mina.”

And that was how little Mina came to be.

Lev would come down on occasion and thoughtlessly interrupt my time with his daughter, often times sneaking in lunch or snacks with us.

A nice man with a pockmarked face and glasses who the guys called Pox came down every day that week to check on me. When I asked if he was a doctor, everyone seemed to avoid the question.

He told me it didn’t look as if there would be any lasting effects from being drugged. I was glad to hear it, not that I was worried. I took Lev by the uninjured hand and sat him down, forcing Pox to look at his finger. Lev tried to argue, but I wasn’t hearing it.

Everyone seemed stunned that Lev was allowing the man to look over him, including Sasha. But he sat in silence with my hand on his shoulder and let the doc splint and buddy tape his fingers, leaving me satisfied.

I asked for a moment of privacy with the doctor and, reluctantly, Lev watched me walk him to his car. As soon as we were out of hearing distance, I cleared my throat. “I want to thank you for checking me over that night.”

He smiled lightly. “You’re welcome. But I have a feeling you didn’t call me out here to thank me.”

“No.” I chuckled nervously. “I guess I didn’t.”

He spotted my discomfort and tried to soothe it. “Mina, whatever you tell me will be kept in confidence. Lev could beat the shit out of me and I’d never tell.”

I chuckled for real then. “Sounds like something he’d do.”

His smile fell. “Mina, when Jeremiah…” He cut himself off and spoke quietly, “Did he hurt you?”

“No!” I gasped, placing a hand to my chest. “Not in that way, no. But that’s sort of what this is about actually.” I scratched at my arm, embarrassed. “I haven’t had my period in months.”

He leaned back against his car. “Any possibility that you could be pregnant?”

“No,” I muttered. “But what if Jeremiah did hurt me? Could I have gotten pregnant?”

Pox made a hmmm sound. “Well, I’m guessing you stopped menstruating, because you were emaciated quite a while. But sometimes, on the rare occasion, women who haven’t been spotting at all can get pregnant, so although I’m not inclined to give a definite yes, I wouldn’t give a definite no either.”

It was enough beating around the bush. “I’m not on birth control.”