Episode 111

Gavril

Two Months Later

St. Petersburg, RussiaI held onto Naomi’s hand tightly as we followed the dirt path through the headstones, the blustery wind tearing at our winter coats. It was brutally cold, snow threatening in the air, but Naomi had refused to put this off just because of the weather. “We have to do it today,” she’d demanded this morning when I had tried to coax her back to bed. “You have put it off long enough, Gavril.”

She was right. I had put it off for years, and since Naomi had her closure with Jon Hampton, it was time for me to have mine so we could move forward.

I hadn’t told Naomi about my dream that night, how I had carried on a conversation with my former love. I didn’t know why. I knew she would believe me, but there was something that made me want to keep it close to myself for now. Maybe one day I would tell her.

Right now, though, I was going to have my closure another way with Katya.

Finally, we reached the hill where my mother had told me she had been buried