Читать книгу Imprint of Heart. Illumination with love - Елена Сперанская - Страница 9

That day, Tanya Ivanova laid out on the table their dice and dropped numbers, the significance of which confirmed the correctness of the actions regarding the killer of mail employees. A long term was waiting for him ahead, but Alexey had questions to him, so she called and invited him to come into the office on a confrontation with witnesses and criminalist to prove Zheka’s sanity. At the same time to find out who is to blame for the murder of the second victim. The warrant for the arrest and search, she had already used in these vicissitudes of fate.

The next day Lucy worked with enthusiasm. Contact was found with Alexey, not today or tomorrow they were going to marry. She wanted to do herself charming, to look attractive. The shopping trip was postponed until Sunday. All the working day, instead of the schemes and drawings in the head, the shapes of dresses, shoes and coats were turning. She had to look more closely at the computer to understand what changes had been made.

The deputy chief of the workshop approached, looking at the modern interior of the design department in a businesslike way:

“You look tired. Try it. If you are sick, go to get well.”

“I feel fine,” Lucya has embellished her state of health.

Nina Vasilievna was outdone. Lucy looked at her watch: it took two hours to break. She did not want to relax; she gathered her thoughts, hoping that Torobov would not notice fatigue and make no comments.

“Sveta, do I really have a tired look?” she asked a friend in the cafe.

“Something is there,” the colleague said cautiously, hoping for a continuation.

“Yesterday I introduced my fiancé to my father, and we stayed a little longer.”

“I suppose you were going to get married, right? Who is he? Are you pregnant?”

“No, it seems. He is Alexey Izmailov – the master-serviceman of the tenth workshop.”

Lucy breathed heavily, Sveta realized that she was experiencing something, but did not continue to ask questions. After dinner, the girls strolled around the park near the factory. The sun was shining, it was warm and quiet. They did not want to go to the shop. But work is work. They returned home together.

“Lucy come to me on Sunday to visit, somehow we will go a big company to the nature. There will be co-workers of the husband and some of the relatives. Take your fiancé with you.”

“I’ll try to come. I want to sew a new dress or order from Armani or Valentino, to be fully armed.”

On the way they went to the supermarket and bought a lot of tasty things: canned food, cheese, smoked sausage, coffee, steamed veal, Hennessy brandy, sweets. Back they walked on foot. The leaves on the trees darkened and covered the asphalt with a light, yellow, lacy pattern. Flowerbeds and bushes in the parks lost their summer completeness and brightness, but were no less attractive to the inquisitive glance of the artist. The girls had a cheerful mood.

“How cool everything is, it turns out,” Lucya reasoned naively, “Alexey’s friendship, your invitation, an interesting company, songs of bards with a guitar.”

“Honey, you have not seen my husband and children yet.”

“You know, if I have children, when we get married with Alexey, they will become as glorious as yours,” Lucy praised.

In the evening, Alex did not call. It upset her, but she knew that he would call later after an urgent matter or a swim in the factory pool. She admired his athletic build, heard from him that he used anabolics based on deer antlers.

Really to go shopping her alone was boring, she wanted to consult with someone, choose an expensive cloth for a wedding dress and make a stylish model from a the purchased material.

Pattern of mode was taken from the fashion magazine, which she carried to the tailor, inveterate gossiper. Two days later the dress was ready, it was very elegant, with flowing folds.

It remained only to decide length of the dress: elongated or slightly behind the knee. “The elongated dresses are fashionable this season, but since my legs are even, I can sew a little shorter,” she reasoned, staring at herself in the mirror. So it was decided.

Personal life has always evoked the envy of girlfriends, but their connections somehow interested a little, except for some details of an intimate nature. What she would prefer was the partner’s reaction to treason.

Constant modifications in the schedule of classes and visits with a barely perceptible bridegroom or a teacher caused her irritation and response to plunge into relaxation or go to the end of the world such as Italy or Cyprus, where there would be no one except the sun, sea and fruit.

When she called Alexey, he did not answer. She decided that he fell ill, and she will have to go to Sveta without him. She examined and tried to put on the old decorations of her mother and admired the taste: a silver necklace with amethyst inserts, made of old coins, like a gypsy monisto, looked delicious.

She kept it in her safe in the form of an English-Russian dictionary in the closet, which only her father knew. There were also several hundred dollars in a pack, an expensive diamond ring, earrings and a pendant with sapphire insets.

Lucy phoned Alexey again two hours later, but it has happened that he was not there. “So he will not go to work. The holiday will be broken,” she thought.

That November day was difficult. They were offered tickets from the trade union committee to the hall of philharmonic society right on the territory of the concert parlor of the plant. Everyone happily agreed and in the break they ran to brush their hair to the nearest stylist.

Lucy also preliminarily visited the Beauty Salon combed her hair in a fashionable wave style. At the solemn meeting they announced a prize for helping sponsored farms in harvesting. The director of the enterprise congratulated all present with successes, wished all the very best in their work and in their personal life, diplomas and valuable gifts were presented to the leaders.

Following the solemn part was a concert that did not last long. During the concert, she accidentally noticed Alexey in the second row. Lucy wanted the concert to end as soon as possible. All attention was turned to Izmailov. Half an hour later, after applause, everyone rose from their seats and began to walk towards the exit. She waited while Alexey came closer, called him. He turned around, saw Lucya, her eyes shone, and he smiled. He looked more elegant than ever, and she thought: “It’s a pity that we had known each other so little. Why didn’t we meet before?”

“My employee Sveta Erengeld invited me to visit her. Will you go with me as a groom?

Instead of an answer, he involuntarily embraced her. She shrank and fell silent.

“If you do not mind, we meet at six at my house on Sunday and go to Sveta,” Lucy said, worried.

Alexey nodded in agreement. She felt so well and happy that she wanted to kiss him, and she could hardly restrain herself. They walked home together, admiring the illuminations in the factory territory.

“Shall I escort you?” he asked Lucy in the wardrobe room, giving her a cloak.

“You will,” she answered shortly. “You look beautiful. Has you a haircut?”

“Is it noticeable?” Alexey answered feeling pleasure.

In the evening it was cool, and Lucy was wrapped up in a warm scarf. Romanian gloves, she hid in a brown, lacquered handbag in accordance with the color of long boots. Alexey held his hands in the pockets of a bright, English cloak from models of Poul Richard. They walked in silence.

The fallen leaves rustled beneath their feet, and in some places the ice could be seen. They passed the house a couple of times, came back and again passed by. So they walked until it got dark. They did not want to talk, only exchanged a few significant phrases. Finally, they stopped near the entrance; she looked up at his eyes and said gently:

“You know, it seems that we became relatives.”

Alexey bent down and kissed her for the first time on the lips. In the street it was quiet, there were no passers-by, they did not want to part. She came to her senses and said sternly:

“I have to go. Waiting for you exactly at six.”

Her heels knocked on the asphalt. He stood a minute and hurried home. Walking in the night city was not very scary.

“It is a pity that we broke up. I guess she scared, I hope not to death, she ran away so quickly. She will be glad of my presence as it is today, when we will meet at the factory.”

He decided to walk to the house on foot. Occasionally enamored couples came across him, and he reflected: “Why did Lucya leave me? Maybe she remembered that she had to do something, maybe her father was sick. I did not even interested, did not ask her about father. Any girl would do just that, I’m just an ill-mannered an impertinent person, I do not know how to take care of girls.”

Alexey remembered childhood. He remembered how his mother had cooked pancakes on Sundays. He ate them with sour cream and jam at once. Jam had flowed on his hands, as he had put more sour cream on one pancake to eat. Mom had scolded him that he had been all messed up, and instead of going to wash his hands, he had wiped them about himself and then began to cry, realizing that he was messing up Sunday clothes.

She changed his clothes, and Alex was running out into the street, already wearing old trousers and a shirt, where his friends were waiting for him: Sergey who was as blond as he and the red-haired Vovka. They were in even older trousers and shirts, and the three were starting to chase dogs down the street in search of new entertainment.

At home, Alexey, as usual, had supper alone, cleaned the dishes, carefully wiped off the table and went to bed. November morning was extremely foggy and cold. He did not have desire to prepare for a long time because had everything ready beforehand. The suit and shirt were ironed, the boots were cleaned. He scented with cologne, presented with a bride, put on a cloak and went out.

It was getting dank. He hurried on. At eight he went to the factory entrance, where the people crowded. The head of the personnel department presented new passes of the delegation from China. Alexey noticed Lucy. Apparently, she came earlier and stood, waiting for him.

She looked unusually nice in a beautiful, light coat, a fur cap and short, leather boots with heels from Prada. She had a laptop in her hand. Alexey called out. She turned around, went up to him and smiled.

“How are you feeling on?” she asked mechanically.

“Fine,” he answered a little hoarsely and asked: “And you?”

“And I have the best of all. Dad remembered you and said hello. He invited without fail to visit us.”

“I will. We agreed to meet you today at six. I did not forget.”

The factory column of employees, hurrying to production, resembled a raging, with different tones, river. Someone was standing and waiting for their friends. There women’s singing voices were hearing. The mood was upbeat.

Torobov came up to them. He had long been peering Lucy, and she obviously liked him. The three of them went through the turntable and went into their workshop.

After work, Lucya met Alexey in his workshop, she was worried a little.

“Are you very tired?” he asked when they were about to go to a stop.

“Yes, I am. I would like to sit somewhere to rest,” she sighed heavily.

“Let’s go to my place. I live not far from here, ten minutes walk.”

“With pleasure. I do not mind.”

“Well, we need to buy something. Would you like some beer?” he joked.

They went to the nearest market and bought an ordinary set of food for dinner, starting with sausages and potatoes and ending with butter.

Alexey lived in a nine-story house on the sixth floor, in a one-room apartment. The room was small but cozy. Furnishings: a sofa, a desk, two chairs, two bookshelves, an armchair.

A reproduction of Picasso painting “Dove” hung on the wall, a carpet of light brown color palette lay on the floor. The whole room was decorated in brown tones – curtains on the windows and upholstery of the furniture. Alexey had a lot of books. They lay everywhere: on the desk, on the floor, on the windowsill. It was noticeable that reading in his life played a major role, mainly folios of technical content: for steel, metals, machine tools and automation. Fiction: adventures, detectives and military memoirs.

“Lucy, do you want some tea?” Alexey asked when she went into the room.

“Of course I want. I’m cold, I need to warm up a little, and something is getting colder in the street. Probably this year, early snow will fall.”

“Do you know that, I have soup and fried potatoes with sausage, let’s have a good lunch? Let’s go to the kitchen,” he suggested enthusiastically.

She followed him to an unusually clean and cozy kitchen. It smelled delicious. The furniture was white with various appliances, a powerful refrigerator, and an air cleaner from Fiore and a dishwasher.

“Alexey, I’ll help you,” she said, cooking the stove, masterfully, putting the kettle on the burner, a pan of soup and a frying pan with potatoes. He had placed plates, cut some bread.

“I like cooking,” she said in a flash. “When our group was sent for cleaning work, I was a cook. I cooked for the whole brigade with my girlfriend. The guys were pleased, even the flowers were presented to us. She gave to read, a copy of her poems ‘Illumination with Love’ and then gifted it.”

After the meal they did not want to go anywhere, Alexey turned on the TV. They gave a concert with the participation of popular artists. Lucy sat in a chair, relaxed for a moment, turned off the sound, a reality show began, which could be watched without sound. Alex was cleaning in the kitchen. He returned with a bottle of red wine and poured a bit into crystal stemware standing on the table in the middle. They touched the edges of the wine glasses.

“What are we drinking for?” he said and ran his hand over her knee when he sat down on a chair next to him. “I suggest for love…”

They drank and made love, as before, with enthusiasm and passion that resembled their first date. She leaned against his shoulder, but he silently touched her lips to her chest and whispered:

“I’ll go and take a shower, sit here and dream about our happiness.”

He did not have time to return, as she loudly said to be heard:

“I’ll read this insight. I always carry it with me,” she took something from her bag. “They say that happy people do not watch at hours.”

“I completely accepted with you. Read it,” he turned off the strong pressure of water.

Word about Rock Music

“Bravo,” he clapped when he came back and sat on the sofa, covering himself with a blanket.

“Listen,” she said, hiding herself in a silk sheet, and sat on the edge of the sofa, as an ancient Roman priestess of the goddess Vesta – vestal – in toga during a sacrifice:

Age of Computers

She stopped reading and wanted to hide the notebook back in the bag, but he stopped, and they exchanged passionate embraces and kisses. They drank some more wine and got excited.

“Beautiful and modern. Take care of your father; give your girlfriend something of value from yourself. She will be pleased,” Alexey said and ran his hand along the curve of her back.

“But listen, this is for our children,” she continued.

“Did she die?” his question caused Lucy’s perplexity.

“No, but suffered a serious trauma to the skull. Have a rest. I’ll probably go.”

“I’m escorting you,” he suggested, dressing. “We’ll finish it after.”

“It’s encouraging, I’m almost ready. Come on,” she said, standing at the door and adjusting her coat.