Chapter 8 - The Wedding Ring Elena Left for the Woman Who Came After Her
Months passed.
The trial became one of the largest organized-crime cases Boston had seen in years.
Victor testified.
Arthur testified.
Eva testified.
Even Nikolai eventually cooperated.
Sabrina's network collapsed.
Victor's legitimate companies survived.
The criminal side of the empire disappeared.
Aliyah completed nursing school.
She became a registered nurse at a Boston hospital.
She no longer worked at the Red Lion.
Victor still visited the pub occasionally.
He hated the soup now.
Aliyah reminded him that he had once ordered it twice a week.
"I've matured."
"You've become difficult."
"I learned from you."
Adrian loved making fun of them both.
He became an energetic teenager who asked too many questions and loved baseball.
The house became warmer.
Louder.
Human.
One evening, Victor asked Aliyah to join him in the library.
She entered.
A single lamp was on.
On the table was a small velvet box.
Aliyah stopped.
"No."
Victor smiled.
"You don't know what's inside."
"Yes, I do."
"Do you?"
"You're terrible at hiding things."
He laughed.
Then he opened the box.
Inside was a ring.
Not a huge diamond.
A simple sapphire surrounded by small diamonds.
Aliyah stared.
"It belonged to Elena."
Victor nodded.
"She left it behind."
He placed it in her palm.
"The blue stone matched the ribbon."
Aliyah touched it.
"Why are you giving this to me?"
Victor stepped closer.
"Because she wrote something about you."
Aliyah's eyes filled with tears.
"What?"
He handed her a letter.
It was addressed simply:
For the woman who teaches him to live again.
Aliyah's hands shook.
She read.
I don't know who you are.
I don't know your name.
But if Victor ever finds someone after me, I hope he doesn't spend the rest of his life feeling guilty.
He deserves peace.
And whoever you are, please remind him that loving someone new does not betray someone he lost.
Aliyah cried.
Victor watched silently.
"She never knew me."
"She knew you would need those words."
Aliyah looked up.
"She was extraordinary."
"She was."
Victor knelt.
Aliyah immediately covered her face.
"Don't."
"I haven't asked yet."
She laughed through tears.
"Then ask."
He took the ring.
"Aliyah Brooks, I spent twelve years believing my heart was something that had died with my wife."
He swallowed.
"Then you walked into a booth carrying onion soup and shattered every rule I had built around myself."
She laughed.
"You nearly killed me with that soup."
"Your soup."
"My soup."
He smiled.
"You touched my hand."
"Because you were bleeding."
"You made me laugh."
"That's not hard."
"For me it was."
His voice softened.
"You gave me a reason to come home."
Aliyah cried harder.
"Will you marry me?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
He stood.
She wrapped her arms around him.
Adrian appeared in the doorway.
"Finally."
They both jumped.
Victor turned.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough."
Aliyah laughed.
Adrian grinned.
"Does this mean I get to be best man?"
Victor sighed.
"Absolutely not."
"Rude."
The wedding was held in the spring.
Not in a church.
Not in a mansion.
At a small garden overlooking the ocean.
The same blue color appeared everywhere.
Blue ribbons.
Blue flowers.
Blue napkins.
A small reminder of Elena.
Aliyah walked toward Victor with tears in her eyes.
He looked nervous.
She smiled.
"You're shaking."
"I know."
"Never thought I'd see that."
"Neither did I."
When they exchanged vows, Victor promised something simple.
"No matter what happens, I will never make you afraid to love me."
Aliyah answered,
"And I will never make you ashamed of the life you survived."
Adrian stood behind them.
Arthur cried openly.
Luca pretended he had something in his eye.
When they kissed, the people who had once feared Victor Malenkov applauded.
The man who had not let anyone touch him for twelve years was holding his wife in front of everyone.
May you like
The past had not disappeared.
It had simply stopped controlling him.
