Chapter 10

Twist

He didn’t have to wait till the next morning. He felt like he had just fallen asleep when his cell-phone rang.
“Hello” he answered groggily. His facial expression changed as the caller spoke and soon he was wide awake.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can” he said and jumped out of bed.
“Where?” his roommate asked. Darren was an American skater who trained along with them and shared a room with him at the skate house.
“It’s Katherine” he said. Apparently she fell on the stairs and she’s in hospital. “will you please wake Igor? We need to go get her.”
When Igor and his wife, Tatiana followed by Alexander entered her hospital room along with the doctor, Kathy let out a groan and collapsed against the pillows.
“Hello again, Katherine” the doctor said approaching her. “Apparently you have twisted your ankle. I’ll put on an air cast and then you can go home. I’ll have someone draw your discharge papers” he told her smiling.
“Thanks” she said and then she turned to a little girl vaguely resembling her except she was blonde, who sat on chair in a corner her arms tiny arms crossed over her chest. “You called 911 for a twisted ankle?! No, sorry” she continued her voice slightly raised “you called 911 AND my coaches for a twisted ankle?! Seriously, sis, you’re being paranoid”.
“You fell” the girl said quietly “and I was scared … I’m sorry …” she looked at her sister with sad eyes.
“Paranoid, Abigail, paranoid!” Kathy said angrily.
“Katherine, that’s enough!” Igor said and his voice made both girls flinch. He switched to Russian and said something to his wife. Tatiana nodded and turned to the little girl.
“Hi, I’m Tanya. What is your name?”
“Abby” she answered tentatively.
“Abigail” Kathy answered, too. “She’s my sister.”
“The one with anemia or the one getting married?” Alexander asked and winked at her. “Sorry, couldn’t help it” he added quickly when his coach stared at him. But he did notice Kathy’s features softening just a little bit.
“Abs, would you step outside for a while with the nice Russian lady, please? I think coach Igor plans on telling me something you’re not supposed to hear” Kathy said sighing.
“Ok” Abby said as she took Tanya’s hand “let’s go, nice Russian lady” and they both walked out of the room.
“Katherine” Igor started as soon as the door closed “what really happened?”
“I tripped and fell on the stairs” she answered without making eye contact.
“No, Katherine” Igor said raising his voice “you dressed like a … a … never mind, went to a night club or who knows where, got drunk and after that, yes, you probably did trip and fell on the stairs!”
“I …”
“I’m not finished, young lady! You obviously scared the hell out of your sister. Why did she have to call 911? Or us? Where are your parents?”
“Africa” she answered calmly.
“What?” Igor and Alexander asked at the same time.
“Médecins sans frontières” she said “Doctors Without Borders. Ever since Abby turned five. We had a nanny until my sister Billie finished med school and moved back home. Now she lives in New York but it’s ok because I’ll turn eighteen in two weeks. I can look after myself and Abby and we have, um … staff that takes care of everything else, maids, gardener and Mrs. Neil, the cook. She had been on my parents service since their wedding and she cares about us. She watches Abby when I’m at the skating rink and we also have a chauffeur who drives her to chool and back … We’re ok. We don’t need a nanny.”
“But I think you do” Igor said after recovering from his initial surprise “because what you did tonight was stupid. And irresponsible. You’re not ok. Neither of you is.”
“Sorry” she mumbled.
“You’ll need someone to help you until you get rid of that” he said pointing to her swollen ankle “is there anyone you can ask to come stay with you for awhile?”
“I don’t think so. My sister Billie is in New York and my other sister, Lynn, is at Stanford…”
“That only leaves us one option. Or two. Whether you and Abby come live with us or … Tanya comes live with you. And Sasha?”
“Yes?”
“You’re her partner. The sooner she gets better, you can go back on ice. So you should go, too. You know, bring a glass of water, watch the little kid, make sure the big kid doesn’t get all depressed… Stuff”
“What?” both Kathy and Alexander asked shocked.
“But …” Kathy started.
“I can’t …” Alexander gave it a try too.
“You’re a team You work together. Period.”