Chapter Text
Nora had had to bow out of the Easter celebration that year. This raised absolutely every eyebrow in the family, as Donovan and Nora had gone to absolutely every Easter celebration ever since their marriage—even 1991, when Nora was so heavily pregnant that her Braxton Hicks contractions had all of Donovan’s sisters fussing over her throughout the entire day. But Janna, still adjusting to pregnancy and to Colorado, flinched nervously back at the thought of being surrounded by Donovan’s large family, which was more than enough reason for Nora to decide on staying back. Stacia wanted to go, though, so Donovan took her—and Bella had to go, because it was her very first Easter, and Lea would never let them hear the end of it if the newest grandchild spent her first Easter anywhere that wasn’t the Kovacs celebration.
Which left Nora, Janna, and Ezra clustered in the front room together, Ezra sitting at the dining table with his paper and crayons while Nora worked out salaries and finances for the grocery store. They always could do with an extra worker, she knew, but Laszlo was insistent about keeping it in the family, which they all knew was code for “we need a position for Leon to fill when he comes back.” Never mind that Leon had fucked off to Aspen after college and found a more lucrative job there before obsessively working his way up the food chain and out of Colorado. Never mind that Leon spent every Easter loudly talking about how backwater and primitive his honorable, hardworking, compassionate family was for not joining the rat race. His daughters were sweet, or as sweet as they could be when they were as far removed from the Roma as their father could get them, but—
“You’re stabbing the paper,” Janna observed.
Nora groaned, letting the pen fall to pinch the bridge of her nose. “There are some parts of this gathering I’ll sorely miss,” she said, “but I do not miss having to deal with Donovan’s brother.”
“Hmm,” said Janna. Her eyes were on Ezra. “Is he okay missing it?”
There was a note of wavering insecurity to Janna’s voice. Biting her lip, Nora turned away from the account book, shifting her chair towards Janna’s so that she could place a hand on her cousin’s shoulder. “We don’t—need—to go,” she said awkwardly. “There’s one every year. And Ezra’s a quiet little mouse, anyway; he probably prefers it better there than here.”
Janna didn’t look as comforted as Nora had hoped she might. “I’m probably going to have to go next year, though,” she said, “or they’ll ask, and—are they the kind of people who are going to be shitty about me having a poshrat baby?”
“You’ve met Donovan,” said Nora. “Do you think he came from a particularly judgmental family?”
“I don’t know! I don’t want to psychoanalyze your husband, Nell!” Janna moved away from Nora’s touch, absently brushing off her shoulder. Nora bit her lip and lowered her hand. “And, I mean, it’s not exactly reassuring when you mention that you don’t like his brother—”
“His mother is wonderful,” said Nora. It had meant to come out comforting, but it mostly just came out testy. “And his sister helped make me feel secure and welcome when I was—”
“Great,” said Janna testily. Her eyes landed on Ezra, who had stopped drawing and was watching them with a worried expression. “God. I should just—I should go to my room.”
“Janna…”
“I shouldn’t have kept you back,” said Janna.
“I stayed back because that way they will understand why you aren’t there—”
“Well, I don’t see why they need to understand, Nell, because they’re not my family,” said Janna through her teeth. “In case you don’t remember, I don’t have one.” Standing up from the table, she hurried briskly out of the room and into her guest room, shutting the door behind her.
“’S Aunt Jenny okay?” asked Ezra softly.
Nora pressed her lips together, swallowing a sob. She wasn’t the kind of person who cried. “She’s trying,” she said. She thought it was at least mostly true.
“Nora has a cousin?” Teo leaned across the kitchen island, very nearly putting her elbow in the salad bowl.
“This,” said Vita, yanking the bowl away to safety. “This is why you are not allowed in the kitchen. Don, if you’re having a conversation with Teo, you need to take her outside—”
“I’m not an animal, Valentina,” said Teo derisively. “Don, Nora has a cousin? A pregnant cousin? You have got to tell us more about this.”
“Where’s the father?” Nikki piped up, bouncing Bella in her arms.
“That’s a stupid question,” said Teo, waving a dismissive hand. Donovan hastily moved the vase of flowers out of the way before Teo could make contact. “Obviously the father’s not in the picture if she’s staying with Nora.”
“Maybe she’s taking a day trip! And don’t call me stupid. We aren’t children, you know—”
“I’m not,” said Teo. Vita whacked the back of Teo’s head. “Ow! Son of a bitch—”
“None of that language in my kitchen,” said Vita. “Especially not in front of the children, Teodora. Have some sense. Phoebe, have you finished with the garlic?” Off of Phoebe’s shy nod, she turned to Donovan. “But really,” she said in a low whisper. “Nora has a cousin?”
“…I’m going to go hang with the guys,” said Donovan.
Vita’s mouth twitched. “No, you aren’t. Leon’s still talking about his pay raise, and I know you want nothing to do with him.” When Phoebe bit her lip and hugged her elbows, Vita’s expression softened somewhat guiltily. “Oh, darling, I’m sorry—”
“No, it’s fine,” said Phoebe. “We all know Dad kind of sucks. I mean, if he didn’t, I’d probably leave the kitchen more too, right? And it is nice to help you cook, Aunt Vita.” She glanced askance up at Donovan. “But Aunt Nora has a cousin?”
“No, I am going to leave,” said Donovan, and patted Vita’s shoulder, leaning down to take Bella from Nikki. Ignoring his sisters’ continued inquiries (and giving his niece a playful grin), he exited the kitchen and stepped out onto the back porch. The men were clustered around the grill, and he gave them a small wave, but his attention was on the tiny grove of trees at the very edge of the yard. Sure enough, when he made his way over, Claudia was sitting with her head resting against one of the trees, eyes on the children playing in the grass. “You and Serghei still working on one of your own?” he asked.
Claudia colored, a secret little smile stealing across her face. “M-maybe.” She straightened, scooting over so that Donovan could sit down next to her. “Not gonna h-hide in the kitchen?” she asked, reaching out to run a gentle hand through Bella’s hair. Bella tried to grab her bracelet.
“You know how many questions they ask,” said Donovan. “I like it better out here. With you.”
“Hm,” said Claudia. Then, after a moment, “D-does Nora have a cousin?”
“Yeah, I give up,” said Donovan, letting his head fall back against the tree.
“You have an aunt?” inquired Sophie with great interest. “But I thought Aunt Nora doesn’t have any family!”
“Well, she does,” said Stacia. “Aunt Jenny’s really my removed cousin but we call her Aunt Jenny ‘cause she’s basically Mama’s sister. She’s a techno-pagan. She does magic but it’s with computers. And she’s latent like me, which means someday I could do magic too if I wanted, but I don’t think I need to anyway because Aunt Jenny says I’m perfect just the way I am.”
“Magic but with computers,” said Vivi thoughtfully. “Like robots?”
“Yes,” said Stacia, who had no idea if this was true but wanted to sound impressive. “And she fought vampires too.”
Tiffany, who Stacia hated the normal amount most days but hated particularly today, gave Stacia a long look down her nose and said, “I bet you’re just making her up so that Sophie will think you’re cool. I don’t think your aunt fought any vampires. You know I met one of the Olsen twins one time and I have a picture and—”
“Shut up about the Olsen twins, Tiff,” said Sophie, squeezing Stacia’s shoulders. Tiffany’s face fell. “Will we get to meet her?”
“Um, probably,” said Stacia. “She lives with us, so maybe next time you and Vivi come over, you’ll get to see her. You won’t, though,” she added, smiling sweetly at Tiffany, “’cause you live too far away. Maybe you can play with the Olsen twins instead.”
“Like I care about your stupid fake aunt,” Tiffany scoffed, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder like she thought she was a movie star or something. But she didn’t look smug about anything anymore, especially not with Sophie’s arm round Stacia’s shoulders. Serves you right, thought Stacia. I’m going to get Aunt Jenny to teach me how to kill you with robots.
The phone rang while Nora was dicing onions. With a small groan, she set down the knife, wiping her hands on her apron before reluctantly answering it. She was fairly certain that she knew what this was. “Hello?”
“We’re coming over tomorrow to meet your cousin,” said Lea.
Nora wished Donovan was here so that she could look at him with flat exhaustion. He was good for that. “Mama, she is in no condition to meet anyone,” she said, keeping her voice as level and gentle as she could. Lea was intensely stubborn when it came to things like this. “She’s been through a lot—”
“You’d been through a lot when my son brought you home to marry,” Lea countered. “It will do your Janna good to know that she now has a family who will care for her.”
Startled, Nora smiled. Tears pricked at her eyes. “You don’t even know her—”
“She’s yours,” said Lea, her usual brusqueness giving way to the quiet, gentle tone that only her children ever got to hear. “And you’re ours. Always have been.”
“That’s—”
“And besides,” Lea continued, “anyone who you think needs careful handling is likely breakable indeed. Valentina and I would do well to swoop in and make sure the poor girl isn’t browbeaten into miserable submission under your iron fist.”
“Tch!” said Nora, pushing down an incredulous laugh. “What are you doing right now, then, if not browbeating me into letting you visit my cousin?”
“Entirely different. It’s absolutely necessary.”
“Mama…” Nora bit her lip, worry rising back up in her as she remembered Janna’s sharp brush-off. “She’s of the Sykoras.”
There was a startled silence. In a very different tone of voice, Lea said, “Enyos Sykora? His family was slaughtered by—”
“Danica Sykorova,” Nora corrected. “Enyos’s older sister.”
“Enyos’s older sister,” Lea echoed. There was a note of worry to her voice. “That family has ties to old magic, Elya. Blood magic. Are you sure—”
Nora’s stomach twisted. She suddenly regretted divulging even this much. “I’m telling you this because you need to understand the sort of things she’s been through,” she said, “not because it has any reflection on the kind of woman that she is. Enyos Sykora raised her to be a good little soldier and my family did absolutely nothing to stop it. She is a good, kind person, Mama. She is just…” She swallowed, hard, around the lump in her throat. “Hurting. Badly. She barely escaped Angelus with her life.”
“Angelus is back?”
“Not—not anymore. She stopped him. But he very nearly killed her and her unborn child before she could.”
“Mother of God,” said Lea shakily. “Elya—”
“She’s safe,” said Nora fiercely, “and she needs somewhere. Just like I needed you. And I can’t risk scaring her off, not for anything, so you—you can show up some other time, all right? When things are better. When she’s less afraid. But all she’s known are big, bustling families, and none of them have been kind to her. She’s half-convinced all of you despise her already.”
“Oh, that poor child.” The touch of sympathy to Lea’s voice made Nora’s shoulders drop with relief. “You know we only want—”
“I know,” said Nora. Her voice caught. “I want more than anything to allow you all to welcome her into the family. God willing, it can happen. But it will take time, and patience—”
“Ah, yes,” said Lea dryly. “Two things you have always been good at.”
Nora let out an indignant puff of air. She roundly resented how easily Lea could make her feel like a tetchy seventeen-year-old—and yet it always made affection curl up, catlike, in her chest. “I am too good at being patient,” she said, realized that this sounded wholly childish, and added, “Extremely.”
A warm chuckle. “Take care of your Janna, Elya.”
Janna was still lying on the bed in the guest room when Nora came in. She didn’t object to the interruption—she seemed mostly occupied with the ceiling—but her jaw tightened when Nora lay down next to her. “You are not gonna make this better,” she said. Her voice cracked.
Nora rolled onto her side and studied Janna’s face. “Do you remember the fireworks?” she asked. “From when we were young?”
“Nell, I don’t want to talk about anything past now,” said Janna. “At all.”
“I used to be so fucking sick of you,” said Nora.
She had chosen her words carefully. The expletive got Janna’s attention, and the lack of syrupy sentiment got her to roll over onto her side, carefully cradling the swell of her stomach. Looking up at Nora with wry, unguarded eyes, she said, “Yeah?”
“Yes.” Nora reached out, tracing Janna’s cheek with her fingertips. “You were a terrible little child. My mother always wanted me to watch you, and whenever I did, you’d run off and get yourself into trouble within minutes. I was lucky enough to never get blamed for that.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind Janna’s ear. “Always seemed to land squarely on your shoulders, from what I remember.”
“I don’t remember that,” Janna mumbled, her eyes sliding slowly shut. She pressed her face into Nora’s hand. “You still sick of me?”
“Never,” said Nora, barely a whisper.
Janna bit her lip, but it didn’t quite bite back the ghost of a smile. “You could get sick of me,” she said.
“I won’t,” said Nora. She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Janna’s forehead. “I want to meet your poshrat baby.”
“God, you are such a bitch,” said Janna. Her hand moved up to Nora’s, lacing their fingers together.