27. Introducing my mother in Pskov

Dimitri

I drove carefully across the freshly snow"covered road towards my parents' house. I would arrive in a few minutes if I continued at that speed. It was December 24th, but unlike the rest of the world, we were not preparing for Christmas Eve, but for my brother's birthday.

I looked at the parcels that I had gotten on my last trip to London, I hoped he would like the present.

As soon as I parked the car at the garage door, a message notification arrived on my cell phone. I sighed before opening the picture that Blair had sent me.

In the picture she was smiling on a swing in the ocean, wearing a colorful bikini, barefoot, and with her hair loose.

It had been twenty days since we had last met. She was constantly being sent to the Caribbean and South America, while I remained in Europe.

I was about to answer the message, when Maria knocked on the car window, startling me. She opened the door and settled into the passenger seat.

" Aren't you getting in? " she asked.

" Yes, I