North Meets South, Worlds Collide - 82. Moving Forward

We arrived before Sasha had returned from getting Alik from school. It wasn’t long before the door opened and the two came in.

“Hi, Uncle Tony…Hi, Uncle Mitch!” He said happily and rushed over, dug in his bookbag and brought one a piece of paper. “Look! I got an A!”

We looked. It had been a math test. Numbers are numbers. Well, how they write in some countries like the seven with the line in the middle or some put a line through the zero to show it’s a number and not the letter O. What I did see, was this had multiplication and division. Some were double digits both to multiply and divide. A couple was triple digits! He got them right! My eyes widened.

Tony was impressed, too! “I think we have a math prodigy.”

Alik looked confused. “What’s that?”

“Вундеркинд.” I translated.

Tony bumped me lightly. “And you say you’re not fluent!?”

I nodded. “I’m getting there!” I said loud like a Queen’s raised Italian would.

Alik smiled bigger! “You think so?”

“Anyone who can multiply and divide where they both are in the hundreds!?” Tony claimed. “Hell yeah! I say you are a Вундеркинд!”

“I surprised my teacher. I was the only to get them all right!” Alik said proudly.

We both hugged him together.

Sasha smiled and said. “Возьмите свой и добраться до вашей домашней работы. Хорошо, сынок и добраться до вашей домашней работы. Хорошо, и добраться до вашей домашней работы. Хорошо, сынок?” He said kindly to take his book bag and get to his homework.

Alik frowned. “Yeah, grammar.” He said sadly and glum. “I have to…diagram…ten sentences.” He said in dread. “Nouns, verbs, adverbs and all that.”

“And you know two that are fluent in English.” Sasha pointed at us. “I’ll check it, but even I might miss one or two. Pronouns and adjectives. I get the words a, the and those...articles…I’ll be learning that myself.”

“Certainly.” Tony smiled nodding.

“Теперь, добраться до него.” Sasha smiled at his son, telling him to get to it.

“Да-да.” He said with no enthusiasm. He took drug his bookbag up the stairs slowly with quiet resolve. Then when Alik was upstairs, he came to us. “Okay, what did the doctor tell you?”

“It’s in stage one and he gave me a good chance of beating it…90%!” Tony assured happily. “The treatment will make it rough. I will hurt when I swallow.”

“But we will encourage him to try,” I said.

“How soon are they starting this treatment?” Sasha asked.

Tony held his hand up. “We’re going to New York. My sister is a nurse and her husband is a doctor. All are big huggers and they will feel that port in my chest. It sticks out about an inch. They would ask about it. I don’t want to worry them if I can. Especially my son Nick.”

“Can you wait a month?” Sasha asked.

“We asked,” I said. “It’s stage one. He said a month wouldn’t hurt him. I wanted to start tomorrow, but I understand Tony’s decision to wait.”

“Okay.” Sasha smiled.

I hugged Tony. “It’s great to have the Tony before this happened back. He’s back with wisecracks and one-liners he used to use. If anything, I’d almost say he is in a manic state! We went downtown to the corner of King and Calhoun just to kiss there.”

Sasha’s eyes widened, but that smirk was knowing. “That’s a busy part of town. A lot of people walking and cars. Were there shocked people?”

“A few, but it’s a college area. There were many smiles!” Tony grinned. “Even Jerry at Starbucks was happy about what he and his customers saw it clearly, he also had a boyfriend!”

“Really!?” Sasha chuckled. “That’s the only reason?”

“Gay men, drag queens and lesbians will do an outrageous thing to say we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.” I laughed. “This was before you, Tony. I was with Ted then. We went to this club called Friends and there were drag queens performing that night. One had this outfit…it had flowing wings when she extended her arms. She was a butterfly! She not only did it there but outside even in the street! There was a man in this lovely dress like from Mexico…a dancer’s dress. He looked great, from behind, when he turned around…he had a full beard!!”

Sasha and Tony laughed. Tony said. “That was for shock value clearly. Did he perform?”

“No, he was there for the shock value.” I chuckled.

“I say he did!” Sasha smiled. He turned as David came in rushing to us. “Now, you can explain the situation to him.”

David asked and we explained it again. “Well, you can count on Sasha and me. We’ll be there to support both of you.”

I hugged them both. “Thanks, I am so glad you’re here.”

“Now we’ll have a busy few days coming.” Tony grinned.

“After the 28^th, I’ll be here a month!” David said happily.

“Yea!” Sasha hugged him happily.

Things were good in the Delveccio/McKenzie/Lebedev house. Tony was happy again. I asked Tony to make his baked Ziti.

“You can make it,” Tony said he said in minor light irritation.

“You’re the Italian!” I said louder. “I’m not.”

Tony’s mouth dropped open in mock surprise and even gasped. “Yes! You are!” He yelled back. Then his one eye squinted, but I saw the mirth in his eyes and the smile on his face. “You are a Delveccio and most defiantly Italian!” He said shaking his finger at me.

I smiled at him, hugging and kissing him. “Aww, I love you, too.”

“Now, I’ll make the Ziti and gravy you do the garlic bread!” Tony said.

I saluted. “Roger that.”

Tony grinned. “I love you, wiseass and all.” He hugged me and kissed me.

Alik came down the stairs. “Why do you two often yell? You’re not mad or anything.”

Tony rocked us gently his head against mine. “That’s what Italians do.”

“We only do that with people we love,” I said to Alik.

Alik looked disappointment. “You never yell at me! Don’t you love me?”

“Of course!” Tony chuckled. “We didn’t at first, you might think we were angry or something. We adore you!”

“So be ready,” I said. “Go watch TV or something!” I yelled lightly but kept the smile on my face.

Alik smiled now coming to us and hugged us. “I love you, too!!” He hurried off to the TV. An American cartoon.

Sasha came down holding what I assumed was Alik’s homework. He handed me the paper. “He did it and David helped him. It’s right.”

I took the paper looking it and smiled. “Yep!”

“I missed some prepositions,” Sasha said smiling a little sheepishly.

“So? It’s another language. I had a terrible time with written Russian sentence structure. What the noun is and verb and arranging them correctly.” I patted Sasha to assure him. “It will come.” I grinned. “Prepositions aren’t too hard. In school, they taught us…a preposition is anywhere a mouse can go…over, under, through, around and others.”

Sasha smiled. “That will help.”

“I had an issue with nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives in Russian!” I said lamenting. “I finally got the alphabet in order though!” I said in triumph and raised my finger to add to that triumph. “I even learned the Alphabet Song! The Number’s song too.”

“That’s great!” He grinned. “You’re an American, Scottish, Tony swears you are Italian…you’re becoming Russian, too.”

“Why not? I told you when I dream in Russian I’d dance on your head!” I said as he smiled back at me. “That proves I was thinking in Russian.”

“I’ll expect it pretty soon then.” Sasha hugged me.

Soon it was Alik’s bedtime and David’s, he had to drive an hour and a half early to get to his class on time. He took Alik upstairs and put his soon to be son to bed. A few minutes later, Sasha followed his future husband upstairs. Tony took my hand and pulled me to the toward our bedroom walking backward.

“You and I will get ready for bed, teeth brushed and all that,” Tony said as his eyebrow waggled again. “Then you and I will share a night of loving.”

Then I was pushing him backward. “Allora non perdere tempo. Fretta!” I said to not to waste time and hurry.

“Io vado! Io vado!” Tony chuckled saying he was going.

Making love now was no challenge. We knew what the other liked and how to do it. More than an hour of more, Tony and I separating, both panting to catch our breath.

“That…” Tony panted, “never gets…” his breath was easing, “old.”

“No, it’s doesn’t.” I rolled over to him hugging him again. “At first was a fun time of discovery. That was exciting, but you know I prefer this comfortable familiarity best. We have that.”

Tony hugged me tight and kissed me. “We do.”

We went peacefully to sleep. Tony’s warmth against my back, the crackle of the fireplace as it burned between the family room and our room. Peace.

The morning brought the usual, David left at six, Sasha took Alik to school at seven and Tony was at our coffee pot.

I chuckled as I got breakfast started. “That must be why you're so dark. Espresso of if it’s coffee, always black with just a little sugar.”

Tony smirked. “Sure, go with that. Never mind the Moors’ blood in me.” He grinned as he saw me taking out things. “What are you making?”

I pulled out a clear plastic with croissants, shook the bottle of extra-virgin oil. “I’m Italian, you said, I was going to make that wonderful buttery casserole, like we had in Rome!” I shrugged. “With a McKenzie twist.”

“I can’t wait.”

The different part is, the breakfast we had in Rome had fine yellow scrambled eggs. I, however, like Mom did, scramble them in the bacon grease. I loved it! I would put the sweet sausage in and when it was almost done, add the scallions, eggs, sage, milk, heavy cream, gruyere, and salt and scramble them together. It took a little prep work, but I did it in a cast iron skillet which it would be served in. It took a bit of time to cook and get the ingredients cooking when Sasha came back.

“What’s that?” Sasha asked sniffing and looking at what I was doing. “It smells good!”

“An Italian breakfast casserole. I made plenty, you welcome to have some.” I told him.

“Absolutely. Alik didn’t come down very fast, I got him his breakfast, but no time for me.” Sasha grinned.

At the table, Sasha asked. “What the plans today?” He dug in for the first bite and his eyes widened. “This is delicious!”

“The McKenzie way is very good.” Tony smiled. “I was hoping to go see our property and then we were going car shopping.”

Sasha looked startled. “You're selling your Benz!? I’ll buy it!”

“It’s almost ten years old!?” Tony said.

“So? I know that car.” Sasha explained.

“You could have bought one any time. You have the money.” Tony said. “With that million you had me do some investing with, that million has gone to three.”

“I know, but where do I go? I take Alik to school and get groceries. I always take that car.”

Tony chuckled. “I’d give it to you, but I know you wouldn’t take it. You protested when I offered to keep you here without paying rent.”

“Damned straight!” Sasha said it in a very American way.

We took his AMG SL 63 Roadster and drove to James Island. Then arrived at the island. The bridge was new and looked strong. Going onto the island where we saw a trench where they were continuing the power lines, the pipes for water pipes and sewage pipes. There were men doing it now! There were other men were clearing the property of the house and getting the wood and dilapidated furniture in a dump truck. One man looked up and came over. The foreman?

The man smiled as we got out. “Expensive car and clothes, one sort of dark…you must be Mr. Delveccio.” They shook hands. “James Matthews.”

“I am.” He held his arm out to me as I got near Tony. He put his arm around me. “This is my husband, Mitch McKenzie.”

His eyes widened a little.

“Is that a problem?” Tony asked.

Mr. Maxwell shook his head. “No, I work for Mr. Kincaid. Robert Castie had me working for a month before he told me. He had to, I walked in the office as he was kissing his life partner. You just say it!”

Tony smiled. “Well, of course.”

“Are married or in a relationship?” I asked.

“Married for eighteen years,” James said smiling and was nodding understanding.

“And you introduce her as your wife as your wife, right?” Tony asked as James nodded grinning more.

“Actually, we married three times!” I added looking at Tony. “Once as each other’s Power of Attorneys, again that next June in a Commitment Ceremony and recently we made it legal in the first state to legalize it! We’re triple married!!”

Tony chuckled squeezing me quickly. “Yes, we are.” He looked at James. “How many times have you married your wife?”

James nodded and scratched the back of his head, smiling. “Just once, but we are renewing our vows at twenty-five years.” He looked back and the house. “We’ll get this…house…cleared out and tear it down. That won’t take too long. We’ll continue the laying of pipe, power and fiber optics. We should have it done by the first of next month. Then we’ll start laying the foundation.”

Tony grinned. “Of course, you and the others are taking Christmas off, right? A week or two with family and friends?”

“We’re taking the week of Christmas.” James nodded.

“Take two!” Tony said happily.

“Oh, Mr. Kincaid is just giving us the week with pay,” James said.

“Christmas means a lot for Tony and me,” I said.

“Suppose I pay all of you for that extra week?” Tony said. “Say, until New Year’s.”

James’s eyes widened. “Mr. Kincaid won’t like it. You don’t have to…”

“No, we don’t.” I smiled.

“Max Kincaid is technically working for me, and you do, too.” Tony grinned. “I say you will. I’ll tell Max I insisted!” He frowned. “Isn’t Robert Castil your boss?”

James shook his head. “Castil has a boss, Max Kincaid. He’s the CEO and President of the firm. Robert is a Vice-President, he is a top Architect, but Max assigns the work.”

“I’ll tell Max, I insisted,” Tony said. “He won’t say no to me.”

“We’re just Minions.” James shrugged smiling.

“Either you just liked Despicable Me and the Minions, or you have children.” I smiled. “I loved Kevin, Bob, Tim, Norbert…all the others!”

James laughed. “I do, too. Kevin’s my favorite and I do have children, three. There’s Cassie, Casandra really, she’s 16. Charlie, Charlene who is 10 and JJ, a rambunctious six.” He said proudly.

“We know about rambunctious six-year-olds.” I chuckled. “Our future cousin-in-law had a six-year-old when he moved in with us. He’s a brother really.”

“I had a rambunctious six-year-old once who’s now twenty-six last October.” He glanced at me. “I wasn’t gay then.” He smiled.

I rolled my eyes hearing that again. “Suuure you weren’t.”

Tony chuckled. “I’ll call Max Kincaid when we get home. I promise.”

We left them heading toward the only Mercedes Dealership that had new models, but also sold Infinitis, Lexus, Maserati’s, Porsche and other luxury cars. Even Rolls Royce! He had gotten this Roadster there.

Pulling into the dealership we parked in one of the customer spaces. Getting out, a man in his late forties approached us holding out his hand to Tony. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Delveccio.”

“Thanks, Mr. Rhodes,” Tony said.

“There haven’t been problems, have there?” He looked at the roadster.

Tony glanced at our car and then looked at Mr. Rhodes. Shaking his head, he said. “Hell, no! He purrs. I want to put in an order for a 2010!” He looked at me shrugging. “I have that and you have that Bronco.” He looked at Mr. Rhodes. “I can do that?”

“Certainly. We’re making a lot of 2009s, but the 2010s will come out. We’ll have some ready by June. You can get yours as early as March. You’re ordering it.”

Tony grinned even bigger. “I’ve even chosen the model…if you approve, of course.” He said to me.

“Show me.”

In Mr. Rhodes’ office. “What model did you want?”

“A Maybach S 650!” Tony said. “Can you bring an image up to show him.” He grinned at me.

I took his hand. Mr. Rhodes did even blink. He knew our money was green. He moved his monitor where I saw it. It was bigger than the Mercedes S550 we had. It had to be. I saw the interior. The dash and controls I would have to learn. The back seat! Tony and Sasha could stretch out back there, there was plenty of leg room.

Then they were planning some of the features and options. What I liked was as Tony, the car on the screen changed. Custom paint color, a dark navy that so dark it was practically black. Sporty hubcaps. There were safety features added. Now the interior was in dark navy, just a little lighter than the paint outside, premium sound boasting surround system that made you feel you were at a symphony that played just for you. The artist sang just for you. I wondered how Queen, Billy Idol or even Nickelback would…Disturbed, Godsmack and some of the more…energetic groups would sound. There were all music groups and kinds could be accessed from that system that could find any song. There were access ports for everybody could plug their laptops in hooked through our WiFi in the car. Phone chargers for phones and devices that needed power. There were nice sized screens to watch any movie, live show or program in the endless library. They could even choose to lounge as both seats reclined and Sasha or Tony would still have plenty of legroom! The seats where heated and could be shaped for maximum comfort. Still cold or warm? They had their own climate control! And there were not one, but two cool compartments! There was the one behind the seats like Tony’s S550! One as was a little refrigerator in the lower part of the central console for drinks our passenger’s desired. A couple of six packs. In a compartment the were four glasses. (Tony would insist of that.) There were desks or trays for them to work or eat that came up from below the seats in front of them. It was a luxury car that was practically a limousine! The trunk was spacious and even Tony’s overpacking would fit back there! We added all the extras like Mercedes’s mbrace Concierge to get destinations and turn-by-turn directions! Better than GPS! I shook my head to keep the old me from bugging me when I saw the price was going closer to a quarter of a million. I reminded myself we had more than enough money.

Tony was again the excited little boy getting a great present on Christmas! He glanced back at me. “What do you think?”

I chuckled patting him on the arm. “You can’t add anything, you got it all. I can get used to driving it.” I smiled. “Do it.”

Then there were shipping cost because it was not a normal delivery. Tony didn’t hesitate and gave his credit card and was getting his license out.

Mr. Rhodes shook his head. “I checked it with the Roadster.” He chuckled. “I know this is your card.”

Tony paid the whole thing.

We arrived home and smelled something cooking. Sasha smiled at us. “I’m cooking a roast and making Borscht.” He waved at the two crockpots. “It will be done by the time David gets home.”

“Borscht?” I chuckled. “You never made that for us.”

“There are all kinds of borscht. Cabbage Borscht, Vegan Borscht…” he shuttered with a frown letting out a sound of disgust, “Lean Borscht…”

Tony grinned. “What exactly is borscht?”

“Some can be a soup, but I make a sort of heartier stew-like dish.” Sasha gave a shrugging nod. “It has salted meat, potatoes, radishes...that adds a sort of purple color to the borscht…but its good! I’m using as a side dish.”

“For the vegetable?” I asked.

“There are potatoes and carrots in it.” He chuckled. “I’m also making an Olivier salad. Plenty of vegetables.”

“If you want…we can do the needed transaction tonight or tomorrow. Change of title can be done tomorrow…if you still want him.” Tony suggested to Sasha.

“Yes, I want him! I’ve been driving it for almost two years! I love that car!” Sasha stated firmly.

“Okay,” Tony said chuckling. “It will officially be yours tomorrow.”

“So, where’d kissed publicly today?” Sasha smirked.

“Nowhere today, but if we kiss, even in public, we will,” I answered.

“Oh, I need to make a phone call.” Tony hurried to the computer room.

Sasha jutted his head in Tony’s direction. “He seems good.”

“Very good.”

Then we heard Tony’s raised voice. “I’m sorry. I thought you were working for me!” It was quiet a few moments. “I don’t give a damn about the schedule you’re trying to maintain. How many days are you taking off? Tell the truth, because I can find out the truth.” I could see Tony in my mind. I knew how would physically act. “A ski vacations? In Switzerland. For a week? I’ll find out.” “I don’t care that you earned it or not. I don’t care if you go a month!” “These men need to go home, spend time with the families and friends…I insist! No reprisals on any of them, you are answerable to me. They deserve this! I am paying for them to go, not you. It will happen.” With older phones, you could slam it down. Now, you just disconnect. Maybe new phones with “end call” and “slam call.”

Tony came freezing when he found Sasha and I were staring at him, both of us smiling at him. He smiled at us. “I guess you heard that.” He resumed his way to us.

“You’re Italian! Sure, we did.” I chuckled.

“I didn’t want to embarrass him, but that arrogant prick needed to remember…I’m paying him to get this house done! Then he went about cost and time…the arrogant son of a bitch.” He waved his hand at the absurd notion. “I don’t give a shit about his schedule, what will another week cost in getting things done?” He let out an angry, frustrated grunt. “I know he’s the President and CEO. He probably doesn’t people telling him what he has to do. I heard it in his voice. He had to comply.”

Sasha chuckled. “Probably.”

We had a good afternoon. Sasha had everything arranged and cooking and then went to get Alik. Tony turned to me on the couch. “Okay. What did you think about today? About the money I spent today?”

I bowed my head slightly. “Okay, the old me tried to come up with an objection, but I swash it back down. Besides, I know what’s in our account and you’ll make more. You’ve done well for two decades. I have no doubt that you can.” I wondered. “How do you keep up with trends, new companies and drastically falling stocks and stuff like that?”

Tony chuckled. “I started with the program I used at Morgan Stanley and created shortcuts and improved the search and tracking program. I set up…watch dogs that constantly monitor the stock market. They alert me as new companies that get on the DOW. Those I have to research to know who is running it and what their history is. The program helps me know that as well. The others I already invested in and guided customers to…has an alert that lets me know if one is going down drastically. Stocks go up and down, but ones that fluctuate a lot shows trouble. I prefer stocks that show a steady increase. I have invested in new stocks and I invest some time and they’ve split and even split again! We’re not just millionaires, we’re heading toward the hundred million.”

“And that million Sasha and David gave you to invest?”

“Is now 3 point 25 million,” Sasha said proudly. “I’ll keep on doing it for them until they tell me to stop.”

I chuckled. “Bye-bye Mustang of David's. I see a Maserati or Ferrari or even a Lamborghini in his future.”

“Kincaid or your Aunt Mary can out-snob me!?” Tony chuckled. “Let them think they can.” He backed his head back a little. “Am I?”

“No.” I pulled him in a passionate kiss. “I love you, Tony.”

Tony was still kissing me but said. “I know. I love you.”

“I know.”