"Nikola?!" Luka said quietly in disbelief as he looked the old man over,
and marveled now how much the old man had aged in nearly twenty years.
It had been seventeen long, hard years since Nikola had disowned his daughter...
Daniela had been engaged to a prominent lawyer type with an established practice and partners. Then she came to her father, one humid afternoon as he pulled weeds in his little garden, sweat dripping on his reddened brow. She told him that she was leaving Viktor and moving in with the son of a poor carpenter who had pipe dreams of becoming a doctor.
"A doctor!?" Her father had scoffed in disbelief, the young man was to weak and puerile to serve his own country in a time of need. "You are not seeing that boy.. You are marrying Viktor.. That is the end of it, Dani!" Nikola had barked, his teeth clenched and his arm outstretched and trembling as he pointed to the house ordering her inside and to her bedroom.
"I am twenty years old, Daddy! I do not have to do what you say!" Daniela had yelled tearfully. The last words she ever spoke to her father, cut off as Nikola's strong, calloused hand was brought up sharply across her cheek. A large hand print throbbed red on her face and Daniela's tears welled up, the young woman not willing to let them fall.
She ran fast across the fresh mown grass, her feet hardly touching the ground as she flew. Away from her father's cruel hand. A hand which had never held that sort of evil power till that bright spring day.
It was Nikola who had to explain to Daniela's fiancee, that she had moved out..
"Where!? Why!?" Viktor stared at the floor, trembling and shaking his head. "Why??"
Nikola was grateful that the boy chose to stare at the floor, rather than him, because he wasn't sure he'd be able to look him in the eye.
"Luka.." Was all her father could reply.
And it was at the utterance of that name, that Viktor knew fully, what had happened. Luka Kovac was dashing as hell and as much as he loved Daniela, he also knew that once Daniela had gotten something in her head, it was bloody well impossible to convince her otherwise.
******
"Luka?!" The old man waved a soft hand in front of his former-son-in-law's dazed expression.
Luka blinked and his gaze rested on that hand and his thoughts drifted again to his wife, at the time girlfriend, stumbling into his flat in tears, the ugly hand print still visible on her cheek. Holding her in his arms and feeling the pure hatred for the man he'd never formally met. Of course, he'd seen Daniela's father, in town at the shops, passing him on the street, but Luka knew early-on that he was not welcome in the Stjepan household.
"Luka.. Are you okay??" The man's voice had also aged, Luka noticed with surprise.. He remembered Nikola threatening him over the telephone and hanging up before he could answer.
"Yes.. Yes.. I am fine.." Luka muttered, pulling his purchases into his arms and carrying them awkwardly to the counter.
"I can help you with that.." Nikola answered pathetically, chasing the doctor to the front of the store.
"I do not need your help. I will pay for my purchases, then I will leave." Luka replied thickly, banging the cans down on the counter and fishing for his wallet. The remaining picture of his daughter slipped from it's pocket and onto the counter.
Both men stared at it for what seemed like ages, before Nikola reached for it. "That.. That is my grand-daughter?" He whispered, fingering the dark hair and red lips on the faded print.
"Was..." Replied Luka, pulling out the money. "They are all dead.. Have been for many years now.." He said softly, a bitterness in his voice.
"I know Luka.. I was there at the funeral." Nikola said swallowing painfully and turning his attention on the cash register, punching in the cans of paint.
"You were not.. I was the only one.. I thought I was the only one.. I did not know if you and Mariela were alive or dead, I figured it was just as well." Luka said peeling the bills out of it's clip and laying them on the counter.
"I saw you.. I didn't say hello.. I didn't come forward.. Because I thought then that you had killed my only daughter and my grandchildren." Nikola said hoarsely, as he mechanically started to pack the cans and brushes into bags.
"And do you still?? Think I killed them?" Luka said angrily, tears welling up.
"No!" Nikola almost shouted in response. "No.. I.. I stopped feeling that way, many years ago. It was not your fault. It was the war, you had no control over that, Luka..."
Luka pulled the bags off the counter and into his hands. "Well.. I think I better be going now. My girlfriend is probably buying up nearly the whole shop next door.."
"Girlfriend?" Nikola's brows went up a notch.
"American.. A nurse.." Luka replied stiffly.
"So you became a doctor then? Daniela did mention that once in her letters.. Said she was very proud, said that I should forgive her for marrying a lowly carpenter's son. I did.. Eventually, not that I ever got the chance to tell her that.." Nikola pulled out his own wallet and produced another picture. It was equally faded and creased but it was recognizable as to who the person was in the photo.
Luka gasped and a smile tugged on his lips. "Marko.." He breathed in hushed disbelief.
"I believe a father should have pictures of all his family. Daniela sent it to me, after he was born.. She had sent me a photo of Jasna, but you have one.. I want you to have it." Nikola held the photo out in an arthritic shaky hand. "Please.."
"I.. I don't know what to say.." Luka stumbled in disbelief. "I cannot take it.. It is yours.. Daniela sent it to you.."
"Take it.." The old man insisted, putting it in Luka's hand. "By the way.. What happened to your face? Who punched you in the nose?"
***
Abby stumbled out of the grocery store with her hands full of parcels, and a bottle of Croatian wine tucked in with the purchases of bread, cheese, cold cuts, peanut butter, milk and a box of corn flakes. She stumbled to the car, locked the groceries in the back seat and walked to the hardware store where she found the clerk poking at her boyfriend's face.
"Luka? What is the hardware store guy doing??" She said nervously as she approached the two men.
Luka turned slightly, nodding to the man. "Nikola Stjepan.. My father in law.. Former.. and This is Abby.." He paused.. "Wyzinksi.." Luka finished, grinning.
Abby glared at him goodnaturedly, and gave him a thump on the arm. She nodded to Nikola and held out her hand. "Abby Lockhart.. Pleased to meet you Mr.Stjepan.."
"Please.. It's Nikola.. Come.. In the back.. I will make you two some coffee and biscuits.." He waved them back to the employee entrance of the store and to the cramped 'staff room.'
*******
As Abby crawled under the covers in the bed by the window, Luka stared, watching her with frightened alarm.
"What are you doing Abby?!" He said worriedly, his voice quivering.
She pulled the covers up to her chin and rolled over, the moonlight from the window casting a soft cool glow over her. "Going to sleep. I'm tired, if you want sex, then I'm sure we can arrange something in the morning." Abby mumbled sleepily.
"Did your mother ever sleep with the moon shining on her face?" Luka asked softly, still standing in his boxers, staring at her bed illuminated in the darkness.
"WHAT?! Luka.. What are you talking about!?" Abby sat up straight in bed, awakened fully by her boyfriend's bizarre questioning. "I.. I guess so.. I don't know.. Why?"
"My uncle always said that sleeping under a moon would make a person
go crazy. Come.. Come here. Sleep over by the wall away from the
window."
"Luka.. You're being weird.." Abby protested tiredly as she was dragged from her warm bed into his. "Luka! There's no room in this bed for the both of us." She whined, tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable.
"Well then. I'll have to get creative then, won't I?!" Luka murmured happily, his fears at rest. He wrapped his strong arms around her pulling her close; close enough to smell every strand of hair, close enough to taste her skin.
Soon the couple was fast asleep in the small bed. The evil moon floating
away behind a thick, dark, cloud as it started to rain.
********