ROMAN SAT IN the sky lounge of Nikolai’s yacht and tried to comprehend the fact that they were together again and in such splendid surroundings.
The yacht had been docked in the Thames for two weeks and was an attraction in itself, but no one asked to be shown around and neither did Nikolai offer.
This time together was precious.
They had been apart for the best part of two decades and there was a lot to discuss in a short space of time. Out came the vodka, which was infused with ginger, and both Roman and Daniil pulled a face at the taste.
‘Here.’ Nikolai handed him a plain bottle and Roman poured two glasses, one for himself and the other for his twin.
‘Here you go, shishka,’ Roman said as he slid the glass over to Daniil, who shot him a black look at the use of his old nickname.
There was tension between them.
It was interesting, though, to catch up. Nikolai had always known where his life would lead—the ocean.
He had not started out in such splendour, Roman found out as they drank too much and caught up—he found out that Nikolai had at first been a stowaway on a ship.
‘Anything was better than being there,’ Nikolai said.
Roman nodded. He had heard back then that Nikolai had been sexually abused by a teacher and that was why he had run away.
When he’d been young, Roman remembered Nikolai building a ship out of matchsticks and he had taken it with him when he’d left. It had been found by the river.
Sev had kept it and now returned it.
‘This took so long to make.’ Nikolai put it down on the table and was touched that his friend had kept it all these years and had had it couriered from New York to give to him today.
‘It’s good you got out,’ Roman said, and looked around the sky lounge. ‘This would be a great place to party.’
‘It is.’
‘Are you seeing anyone?’ Daniil asked Nikolai.
‘Any one?’ Nikolai checked, and then swiftly turned the conversation to Sev. Roman noticed the quick change of subject.
‘When do you go back to New York?’ Nikolai asked.
‘We are flying back tonight,’ Sev said. ‘Daniil and Libby are coming over in late December to see in the New Year there. You two should come too.’
Daniil saw Roman’s slight eye roll.
New York and happy families and more catching up he could do without for now.
His mind wandered to Anya and he was ready now to sort things out. Since seeing her again this morning he was resolute. Yes, she was doing well and at the top of her game yet there was a vulnerability in her that only he knew about.
Somehow they needed to talk and to get through those impossible conversations.
Now, though, he listened. Sev, as they had always known he would, had done well. He was brilliant and was now an expert in internet security. He had been the one who always had his head in books and yet he had also, in his own way, been the one who’d stepped up when things had got out of hand.
And they were starting to now.
Roman listened to his twin.
The family that had adopted him had proved to be awful. ‘They realised their mistake by the time I arrived, I think,’ Daniil explained. ‘I was never going to replace their son.’
Roman found out how hard he had worked to get where he was, first in a bar of a hotel that was running into troubled times. He had found that he had an eye for numbers, Daniil explained, and in helping them out in return for shares had started to build his financial empire.
Roman sat silent. There were so many similarities between them and so many differences too, from having been separated.
‘What about you, Roman?’ Sev asked, a lot of vodka later.
‘I left the orphanage at sixteen.’ He shrugged. ‘I gave boxing a go...’ He looked at his brother. ‘Sergio didn’t know what he was talking about. I lost most fights, and I only won a few. With my winnings I got a passport and left and went to France and joined the foreign legion...’ Roman did not speak of being in the secure unit of the orphanage, or the hellhole of the bedsit, and he left out the solace he had found with Anya. He could see a muscle leaping in Daniil’s cheek as he spoke with brevity about the past, when the rest of the men had revealed so much more. ‘I served for ten years, then I moved to Paris. And here I am.’
‘Aren’t you missing something out?’ Daniil said. ‘Aren’t you going to tell us about your wife?’
Roman stared coolly at his brother and then addressed the group. ‘I was married but last year Celeste died.’
Sev and Nikolai offered their condolences but Roman just responded with a brief nod. He did not know if he was worthy of them; it had not been a conventional marriage after all.
But Daniil had more to offer than sympathy. ‘You came out and got married and got on with your life...’ The tension that had been building since Libby had called out and he had seen his twin had Daniil rising to his feet. Roman stood and faced him as Daniil vented some of the anger he felt. ‘I could have been at your wedding and there at the funeral. Instead I never even got to meet her.’ Daniil was trying not to shout.
‘It wasn’t a marriage like you and Libby have. As Anya said, for you all to hear—I answered an advert.’
‘How did Anya know?’
Roman shrugged and that incensed Daniil.
‘I don’t care if you answered an ad, Roman. Celeste meant something to you, for there is no way you would share your personal space with anyone who wasn’t special.’ He knew how dark his brother was, how deep he went, and that he had been through all this and not contacted him was infuriating.
‘Daniil.’ Roman was his detached best. ‘You only recently changed your name...’
‘Perhaps but you didn’t even try to find me before then. Don’t pretend now that you looked.’
‘I didn’t look.’ Roman shrugged and then caught Daniil’s fist as it was aimed at him.
‘Do you want me to give you matching cheeks?’ Roman warned.
‘Enough,’ Sev said—he was always the one who had stepped in when things escalated.
Both men agreed.
Enough anger for now.
‘I just want to know all that has happened,’ Daniil said, and they shared a brief embrace, though it was more like a boxing clinch.
‘One day, perhaps,’ Roman answered, borrowing the words Anya had used when they had stumbled on Daniil’s gym.
He wanted to tell them more but the conversation about his marriage belonged first with Anya.
So, for now they sat and exchanged phone numbers and Daniil forwarded the ones he now had to Roman.
Within them was Anya’s number.
They briefly met each other’s eyes.
Daniil knew there was something going on between Roman and Anya.
With twins who had once been so close, there were times when no words were needed and they shared a smile so subtle that, even if they had been looking, the others would have missed it.
It was time to go. They were all a bit worse for wear and Nikolai saw them off his yacht and they stepped out into the night.
They all shook hands and then Sev headed off to return to his honeymoon and that left just Roman and Daniil standing on the quay.
Roman