The Exchange Student

by Lubrican

Chapters : Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Epilogue

Chapter Ten

Almost six months after she had arrived there, Nadia stood at the same gate at the Kansas City Airport, waiting for her mother to deplane. The whole family was with her. She was antsy for a number of reasons. Her stomach was upset. It was upset a lot recently, especially in the mornings. Food didn't look appetizing to her, but she forced herself to eat. She was worried about what her mother would do when she found out ... what Bob and Molly would do when they found out. She had kept her secret for as long as she could, but she knew it would all unravel sooner or later. Probably sooner.

People started coming out of the doorway.

She felt Ruth standing beside her and leaned against him. His arm went around her and his hand came to rest on her waist. He didn't know it, but his hand was only six inches from his baby.

They weren't holding a sign this time. After all, Nadia knew what her mother looked like.

But the woman who approached, with a huge smile on her face, and spoke with her mother's voice ... didn't look like her mother at all.

"I am Petra Valovitski. Nadia is my daughter. I am very proud to meet you."

"Mama?" Nadia's voice rose into the soprano registers. "You spoke English!"

"It's about all I know," replied the woman in Russian. "Please don't embarrass me."

"But what happened? You look so young! You're so pretty!"

Petra ignored her daughter, though. She turned to the taller, older man. She grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Thank you for this. Is amazing thing. I see so many amazing things. Thank you, thank you." She kissed his hand.

Bob, seeing terror in the woman's eyes, pulled her into a hug and squeezed her in what he hoped was Russian bear tradition. He released her and brought Molly into the hug.

"You're welcome. This is Molly, my wife."

Petra kissed Molly on both cheeks, tears in her eyes. Molly hugged her too.

"We're going to get along just fine," she said.

Then Petra backed away from the adults and turned to face the boy standing beside her daughter. She could see the way the two of them leaned into each other, and sense the unspoken emotion between them. The boy left Nadia and stepped forward.

In perfect Russian, he said: "Меня зовут Рут. Я хочу жениться на вашей дочери, пожалуйста."

Nadia screamed, turned around in a circle, and jumped up and down until Molly stopped her.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He said his name is Ruth, and he wants to marry her daughter."

"Oh Lord," sighed Bob.

Then Nadia was beating on Ruth's shoulder and back. "When did you learn Russian? How did you learn Russian? I don't under-" She stopped as her mother rattled off Russian words, peering closely at Ruth's face. He just looked at her.

Molly complained, "Would somebody please tell me what's going on?"

Nadia stamped her foot. "My mother just insulted him. I am ashamed she even knows this insult. However, I think she was only trying to see if he actually speaks Russian, or just learned how to ask for my hand." She barked at her mother, also in Russian, and the woman smiled. Then she pulled Ruth to her, kissed him on both cheeks, and said one word.

"Da!"

"Do not tell me my son just got engaged, in an airport, without talking it over with us first!" complained Molly.

"Okay, I won't," said Bob, who was walking with one arm around his wife and his other arm around Nadia. Petra and Ruth were walking together too, ahead of the rest. Ruth was carrying her bags. They were trying to talk to each other. The little Russian he had learned from Nadia and the little English Petra had learned from her friend, was just enough, along with some pantomime, to communicate on a surprisingly high level. At least that's what it looked like, based on the head nods and smiles they were exchanging. Just what they were communicating about was a mystery, but Bob was sure it would all come out eventually.

"You know what I mean.” She looked past him to Nadia. "Where did he learn that Russian?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I've taught him a little bit, but not like that. The accent was western, from someplace like Novgorod. I think he memorized it, but I don't know who taught it to him."

"Did you ask him to marry you? Did you put him up to this?" Molly's voice sounded tight and stressed.

"Molly, stop that," Bob growled.

"No! I told you he hadn't asked me. He still hasn't asked me. He asked my mother, but not me!"

"We men are impulsive when it comes to this kind of thing," said Bob.

"I feel like I've lost control of everything," moaned Molly.

"We're dealing with teenagers," said Bob. "I believe that's a standard feeling in this kind of situation."

"You are not funny, Bob Cummins."

Nadia suddenly burst into tears. Her hands came up to cover her eyes and nose and she stumbled. Bob stabilized her.

"Now look what you did," groused Bob. "You made her cry."

"No," sobbed Nadia. "It's not you. I'm so happeeeeeeee."

Molly ducked out from under her husband's arm and bulldozed her way between him and Nadia. She put her arms around the girl and squeezed her.

"He's not much," she said, her voice still tight with emotion. "But he's the best we have to offer you."

Nadia shoved the woman with her shoulder. "You know I love him."

Molly squeezed her again. "Let's hope that's enough."

On the trip from Kansas City to Victorville, most of the talking was between Nadia and her mother. They rattled on endlessly. Sometimes it was obvious that Nadia was telling her mother something about the land they were driving through, or identifying types of structures or something. In other cases, it sounded like she was teaching her mother English names for things.

Petra was obviously impressed with what she was seeing. Even little Victorville made her eyes large as she tried to look at everything.

But it was when she saw the farm that she waxed poetic. To her, who came from a small farm in Russia, what the Cummins family had was a vast estate. She pointed at the tractor, and the combine, and it was obvious she was telling her daughter how important these people must be.

It wasn't until they went inside that the one thing everyone had forgotten raised its head.

"Where should I put her things?" asked Ruth.

There were only three bedrooms.

Nadia's face looked pained, and then scared.

"I have to tell you something," she said suddenly. "All of you."

"Can't it wait?" asked Bob. "I really need to go to the bathroom."

"I wish it could wait, but it cannot," said the girl. She turned to look at Molly. "I am sorry. I failed to keep my promise to my mother and to you. Ruth came to me ... that very night ... and I could not send him away."

"After I talked to you?" Molly's face showed her complete shock.

Petra said "Promise?"

Nadia ripped off a sentence in Russian. Her face twisted. Tears leaked from her eyes as her mother's mouth dropped open and she put her hand over her heart, a look of astonishment on her face. The girl turned back to Molly and sobbed.

"I'm pregnant!"

Two adult women flowed toward the crying teen. There was a jumble of words and sentences, Russian and English, but both women enveloped the girl in their arms.

"Pregnant?" Ruth's voice was hollow. He looked around for a chair to sit in before his knees gave out completely.

His father misinterpreted his actions.

"You're not going anywhere, Bub. This is the time for a man to stand his ground, and you're now a man, like it or not."

"I'm not going anywhere," said Ruth. "I just need to sit down. How did this happen?"

Bob snorted. "I think you know how it happened, son."

"But we only did it once!"

"At which time you donated some millions of sperm cells to the cause. Only one was needed."

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Why didn't you ask her to marry you?" countered Bob.

"I knew what she'd say if I asked her. It was her mother's opinion that was important."

"And how about ours? Not so much?"

"It wasn't like that. I can talk to you. I can argue with you. But if Petra was against it ... well ... then it was all for nothing."

"So you'd have just given up?"

"No."

"What would you have done?" Bob sounded interested.

"I don't know," complained Ruth. "But I wouldn't have just given up."

"And you really didn't know she was pregnant?"

"We only did it once!" he groaned. "She didn't say a word! No clues, no hints, no nothing!"

"So you never noticed the morning sickness?"

"Huh?"

"Your mother wanted to kill me when she had morning sickness. She actually cursed me. It wasn't the last time either. She did not enjoy the glow that some women seem to have. Even if she hadn't had problems with your birth, I think you'd still be an only child. I can spot morning sickness from a mile away."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Not my job," said Bob, simply. "I'm just the grandpa. All I do is spoil them rotten and give them back to their parents.

"You should have told me!" yelled Ruth. "We could have made plans!"

"What plans? The only plans there are to make is when to get her in and see the doctor. That will be taken care of tomorrow if I don't miss my guess. And I have to tell you, that proposal means a hell of a lot more now than it would have if you'd have known."

"I would have married her anyway," said Ruth.

"Yes, and I'm proud of you, but nobody else in the world would have believed your proposal was completely without any shred of troubled conscience. Now this is going to make a hell of a story. It would even make a good book!"

"You'll pardon me if I don't start writing right away," sighed Ruth. "Where are they going?"

The women were leading Nadia towards Bob and Molly's bedroom. Petra didn't know that yet, but it would become clear very soon.

"Women in this situation have strange and arcane rituals that must be followed," said Bob.

"What do we do?"

"We, my son, and father-to-be ... wait. Don't worry. You'll get the hang of it. Men have been doing this for millennia."

"What are we waiting for?" asked Ruth.

"We are waiting to see what fate is going to hand us."

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