ROMANOV AUTUMN
Chapter Forty-Four
Over the next couple of days,
Jack spent as much time with his young daughter as possible. He took her to the
lake where he'd once gone ice fishing with his father--and nearly drowned one
winter--and watched carefully as she darted through the grass. Mac had quite a
bit of energy and never seemed to stop running.
Wedding plans were moving along
quite nicely for Olivia and Henry, and Jack did what he could to assist them.
For a gift, he sketched their portrait outside in the garden, and Olivia
immediately took it into town so it could be framed.
The actual ceremony took place on
a warm mid-June day, and the minister came to the Dawsons’ front yard. Jack
held Mac tightly in his arms and watched with pride as his younger sister and
her husband recited their vows.
"Congratulations to both of
you," Jack told Henry once the couple had shared a kiss, and the men
shared a quick hug.
Esther pulled Jack aside once the
bride and groom made rounds through the small crowd of guests and encouraged
him to sit with her. Mac sat playing with her toys a few feet away and Jack
smiled at the little girl's determined expression.
"What are your plans,
dear?" Esther asked, and Jack frowned a little. "I do believe Olivia
and Henry are going to move into town so she can be closer to the physician's
office. The house is going to be empty and in need of someone to live in
it."
"I promised Alyiah I would
take Mac to Russia," Jack replied, and Esther's eyes widened. "And
the more I think about it, I believe it would be best if we went overseas
sooner rather than later. Mac's young enough where she may be able to pick up
the language."
"Jack, are you sure..."
She hesitated to continue, watching as Mac stood up and immediately crawled
onto her father's lap when she reached him.
"Hi, honey." Jack
planted a kiss on top of the child's head and shifted her so she sat more
comfortably on his knee.
"I'm bored," Mac
whined, and Jack raised an eyebrow with amusement. "Can we go exploring
again?"
Esther chuckled warmly and
announced that they would continue their conversation later.
"I think it's about time for
you to lay down for a nap," Jack continued, looking at his watch, and Mac
pouted.
"I'm not tired," she
complained, and he lifted her into one arm before walking over to Olivia.
"Just bringing her
inside," he said, and Olivia smiled, waving to her niece and encouraging
him to carry on.
Jack led Mac inside and, once in
the bedroom, tucked her under the covers. "How long do I have to take a
nap for?" Mac asked as he sat on the edge of the mattress, smoothing her
hair away from her forehead.
"Can you handle an
hour?" he asked, and she stuck out her lower lip, nodding ever so
slightly.
"Daddy?" Mac asked
after he provided a quick kiss and started for the door. Jack turned around,
eyes raised with curiosity, and Mac blushed a bit. "Are you taking me
away? Uncle Henry and Aunt Olive are leaving soon."
"We'll talk about that
later, sweetheart," he replied. "Just take a rest for now."
Mac sighed, burrowing under the
covers, and Jack left the bedroom door open just a crack after leaving. He
joined Olivia and Esther in the kitchen, where they were helping prepare tea
and cake for dessert.
"Jack?" Olivia called
when she saw her brother coming down the steps, and he joined them.
"Can I lend a hand?" he
asked, running his fingers through his hair, and it was her turn to purse her
lips.
"Esther told me you're
taking Mac to Europe."
Jack glanced at his former
guardian, not surprised that she would have brought it up as soon as he
happened to be out of earshot.
"It was a thought,
yes," he admitted. "Her mother requested..."
"Do you really think that's
a smart choice?" Olivia asked. "It's not going to be like before,
when you had all of the freedom to go where you wanted. You'll have a child in
tow!"
"I realize that," Jack
growled.
"And she barely knows you,
Jack. You've been here for what, three days?"
Jack cleared his throat, sitting
down at the kitchen table for a moment. "You're planning to move to town
with Henry, aren't you? I doubt bringing Mac along was in your plans!"
"No," Olivia muttered,
"but at least if you stay here, we'll be an easy carriage ride away to
help. Why do you have to take her away now? She's only four!"
"Because children learn new
languages at a younger age!" Jack retorted. "And I think it's my
final decision to take my daughter where I wish."
"I've raised her for three
years!" Olivia snapped. "What does that make me?"
Jack was about to argue further,
and Esther stepped between them to avoid a fight. "Please lower your
voices," she begged. "There are guests still in the garden, and
Macena tends to..."
"I'm sorry," Jack
apologized, and Olivia continued to hold her body stiffly as she finished
putting the last of the cake on a silver platter. "I'm just trying to
respect my dead wife's wishes, if that's too much to ask." He took the
platter away from the counter and brought it out to the remaining group. Olivia
watched as he disappeared into the yard and glanced at Esther before closing
her eyes for a moment.
"He's impossible," she
groaned, and Esther touched the younger woman's shoulder.
"Now, dear, he means
well," she promised. "And he is right. Macena's future is in his
hands, and we should not interfere."
"But all the way to
Europe!" Olivia threw her arms into the air. "We'll never see
her!"
"I'm sure he won't be there
for more than a year, if that," Esther added. "Please, go and enjoy the
rest of your wedding. Days such as this do not occur very often."
Olivia couldn't argue with that
and rejoined her husband under the large oak tree.
*****
Once the guests left, Jack
assisted in the cleanup. Mac stuck to him like glue, which was certainly a good
sign.
Around 8:30, it was time for Mac
to go to bed, and she begged her father to sleep with her. "Mac,
sweetheart, your father would be more comfortable in the guestroom,"
Olivia insisted, but Jack shook his head.
"It's all right," he
promised, and Mac's face lit up.
"Yay!" she exclaimed,
bouncing up and down, her reddish-blonde curls bobbing with the movement.
"Let's go to bed now!"
Jack laughed heartily at his
daughter's enthusiasm and promised he would be up in a few minutes. "I
just have to speak to your Aunt Olivia for a bit," he explained, and her
expression changed from a big smile to another pout, but she obeyed at once.
When Mac disappeared, Jack and
Olivia sat in the parlor, the candlelight making the room seem an almost golden
shade. "When are you planning to take her?" Olivia asked, offering
her brother a cup of tea, which he accepted.
"Not tomorrow," Jack
replied. "But I was planning on next month, once you and Henry were
settled in your new flat."
"Oh, Jack." Olivia's
shoulders slumped and he leaned forward.
"I am not planning to live
there forever," he said, and she wet her lips. "But I want her to
feel comfortable with her mother's family."
"You can't understand a word
they say, Jack," Olivia muttered, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Alyiah's sister speaks some
English, but that's besides the point." He set the teacup on the table in
front of him and leaned back with a sigh.
"Does Mac know about
this?" Olivia asked, and he glanced towards the stairs for a moment.
"Not officially," he
admitted. "But she did ask if I was going to take her away."
"Oh, dear." Olivia
folded her hands just as Henry came in after putting the last of the spare
chairs into the closet. "Henry, did you know Jack is taking Mac to Russia
with him next month?"
Henry stopped in the middle of
the room, and Jack could feel the tension billowing up again. "Are you
insane?" he asked, and Jack raised his hands in bewilderment. "Jack,
from what I know about Russia, which isn't much, I will admit, it's ruled by an
idiot."
"Excuse me?" Jack
asked, and Henry took the other seat. "At the Tsar's coronation, there was
a huge mob outside of the palace and thousands were crushed to death. He did
nothing! And apparently workers are planning to go on strike. It's in the
newspapers, you see."
"I'm not concerned about
that," Jack replied. "I'm concerned about Mac having the chance to
meet her grandparents and relatives before they're dead, too. I don't want her
to lose all connection with Alyiah's past, and I'm willing to deal with a
worker's strike to get her there."
Silence filled the room and Henry
shook his head.
"Just promise you'll come
home if it gets too bad," Olivia begged. "I don't want Mac to lose
you, too, alone in a strange country. At least here she has us to take her in
if anything happens..."
"It won't," Jack
promised.
"You can't say that,"
Olivia said quietly. "Look at what happened to your wife."
"Olivia," Henry warned,
noticing the sadness in his brother-in-law's eyes.
"I'm going to bed,"
Jack announced, standing. "We'll continue this discussion in the
morning."
"Jack, please," Olivia
begged, watching as her brother left the parlor, and she covered her face with
her hands.
*****
Jack entered his daughter's room,
finding her playing on the floor, and the child looked up when she heard the
door creak. "Let's get you ready for bed, honey," he encouraged, and
she immediately held up her arms so he could pull the small dress over her
head.
Ten minutes later, they were both
curled up in the small twin bed, and Mac peered into her father's deep blue
eyes. "We're leavin', aren't we?" she asked, and Jack blinked with
surprise.
"What gave you that
idea?" he asked, brushing her hair away from her face, and Mac looked
sheepish.
"I heard you and Aunt Olive
yelling," Mac admitted, and Jack smiled softly.
"I'm sorry," he
apologized. "Would you like to meet your Grandma and Grandpa
Veronin?" he asked, and Mac sat up at once. "Your mother's parents,
who are living in Russia now."
Mac immediately shot up, her
mouth hanging open. "You mean we get to go there?" She bounced a
little and Jack laughed.
"If you'd like to come with
me," he replied, wanting it to be her choice primarily.
"Would Aunt Olive and Uncle
Henry come, too?" She chewed on her nails and Jack cleared his throat
again.
"I'm afraid not," he
said. "Just the two of us. We'd get to go on a great big ship across the
ocean. Would you like that?"
"Yes," Mac agreed,
unable to stop smiling. "When are we leaving? Tomorrow?"
Jack smirked. "In a couple
of weeks," he promised. "I wanted to make sure your aunt and uncle
are settled first. Oomph!" he grunted as Mac immediately embraced him with
quite a bit of force for a small girl.
"I love you, Papa," she
said, and Jack felt his throat choking up with tears. He eased Mac beside him
after a couple of minutes and pulled the blankets to her neck.
"I love you, too," he
replied. "Get some sleep, honey." He watched as her dark eyes closed
slowly and her breathing evened out. And I'm sorry, he added to himself
before drifting off.