Kindle Edition
Download to your Nook (eBook)
Download from Apple iTunes (eBook)
Barnes & Noble.com
kobo
Category:
Romance
Publisher: Draft2Digital
ISBN-10: 9781393156307
Type: Fiction
Pages: 172
Copyright: May 1, 20202
Price: $1.99 (eBook)
This short romance tells the story of how Anna and Boris find love in the midst of war.
All Anna Belko wants is a quiet cup of tea. For a young garment factory worker in the uneasy city of Dor, such moments of peace are few and far between. When she stops by a little cafe called Oxsana's on her way home from work, she has many things on her mind, but meeting the man who will turn her life upside down is not one of them.
After his cousin is killed, Boris Merkovich wonders if he will ever feel a moment of peace again. As the manager of Oxsana's, his family's cafe he doesn't have time for grieving. But everything changes when he stumbles and almost pours a pot of tea into his customer's lap. To his surprise, the young woman doesn't become angry...
Love comes in unexpected ways. Neither Anna nor Boris dreamed this unexpected encounter would change both their lives, but as Dor implodes, Boris and Anna's relationship, begun over a broken teapot and a heartfelt prayer, only grows stronger.
However, it isn't long before Anna realizes the hatred destroying her city isn't just "out there." If Boris cannot forgive his cousin's killer, it will cost both him and Anna everything they've begun to hope for.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
Anna Belko woke to the sound of a distant explosion. She rolled over in bed, pushed aside the quilt, and picked up her phone. It was 6:45 a.m. Time to start the day, she thought, and got up to look out the window.
Rain rattled against the glass and sprayed from the tires of passing cars in the street below. She searched the gray sky above the buildings opposite for traces of smoke. Hopefully, she wouldn't have a problem getting to work.
Anna went to her chest of drawers. The water stain that spread in a fan shape down her candy-pink wall had grown, so it must have been raining most of the night. She scowled at the stain as she tried to clear the morning fuzziness from her thoughts.
After dressing, she brushed and braided her dark hair. She tied a scarf over it and put on earrings.
As Anna stepped into the hallway, her favorite brother, Radoslav, walked out of the bathroom, his blue uniform bundled in his arms. "Would you have time to fix this after work?" He tossed her the shirt.
She winced when she saw Radoslav's face. He had a bruise on one cheekbone, but thanks to God, nothing worse.
"What were you up to last night?" She tried to sound casual.
Radoslav shrugged. "Somebody was in a hurry to leave, and I just happened to be blocking the doorway." His joking tone didn't match the sadness in his eyes.
"He didn't get away?"
"No, of course not."
Anna held up Radoslav's shirt. All but one of the buttons had been ripped off, and that last one was hanging by a thread.
"Can I use black buttons if we don't have enough navy blue ones?"
"Sure."
"You won't be breaking some Riverside Prison Uniform Code or something?"
"No," he said. "Thanks. I owe you."
"Then don't forget my birthday this year. May 20th."
Radoslav chuckled.
I made him laugh, she thought with a smile. That's getting harder to do.
"I'm turning in. Have a good day." He stretched, rolling his shoulders, and went back into his bedroom.
Anna walked to the kitchen where Dad was sitting at the table, his Bible open. He leaned over it, his nose inches from the well-thumbed pages.
Half a dozen eggs clicked together in a rolling boil on the stove.
"You're going to turn them into rubber if you boil them like that," said Anna, pulling the pan off the gas.
"I like them hard." Dad smiled at her and bookmarked his place. "Off already, love? I'm sorry, I forgot to put the kettle on. It's in the sitting room."
Anna raised her eyebrows. She glanced toward the open sitting room door. The tea kettle, a stack of plates, and most of the contents of the kitchen cabinets were piled on the floor beside the sofa.
"Mama had a bad night?"
"Yes. Restless. She thought she needed to pack."
"I think Rado had a bad night too," Anna said. She ladled two eggs out of the water, cooled them under the tap, and wrapped them in a dish towel. The eggs, a loaf of flat bread, and a little jar of pickles were her lunch for the day." What do you think got hit this morning?"
"I don't know," Dad said. "We'll see it on the news later, if it was anything important."
"I suppose so. Anyway, I love you Dad. You have a good day. Say hi to Mama for me when she gets up."
Anna hugged Dad and kissed his cheek. His beard smelled like shampoo; the morning goodbye wouldn't be the same without a sweet whiff of it. She laced her boots and put on the leather jacket that had been Radoslav's until he couldn't zip it over his stomach.
The rain was a fine drizzle as she walked down to catch the bus that would take her to the Muscovy Place Garment Factory.
At the factory gate, she smiled and waved at old Pasha, the security guard, only to realize a moment too late that the man in Pasha's chair wasn't Pasha. It was a man she'd never seen before, a young Sevian with a hat like the black knitted one Pasha always wore. Embarrassed, Anna hurried across the factory yard and inside through the double doors.
|
