Bedtime

Eventually, you return to your bedroom. Nadia is already in bed, her bedside lamp on and spreading a faint glow across your threadbare quilt. The nearby alarm clock reads nearly nine o'clock.

Nadia is reading, but she rests the book across her chest as you enter the room. The old quilt is up to her chest, almost covering her shoulders and the black pajama top she is wearing. A faint, hesitant smile is on her lips.

"Finally decide to return to me?" she asks. Her voice is laden with something, some emotion. Teasing at first, but still somehow serious and demure. "I didn't know if you'd ever leave her room."

It crosses your mind that Nadia may have heard the sounds of your lovemaking with Karina, but you set it aside. Either she didn't hear, or she didn't seem to really care. With everything the app had made happen, the latter wouldn't surprise you at this point.

"She needed me, Nadia. I had to be there for her." You run a hand across your forehead, through your short hair.

Nadia pats a spot on the bed beside her, the soft thud of her palm against the old mattress barely audible. "I know, dear. Join me." Her smile fades into something else, something sad and lonely.

You change into some shorts and a clean shirt, then slide into bed beside her. Nadia is back to her book, her eyes lazily scanning the words on the yellowed parchment. You nestle against her, resting your head against her shoulder, and sigh.

Absent-mindedly, she strokes your face with her offhand. You sit like that for some time, until you realize that, despite having sat here for some minutes, she hasn't flipped the page of her book once.

"Nadia?"

Her hand stills. "Yes, dear?"

"Are you alright?"

The book falls to her chest once more, this time unbidden. A slight tremor shakes her, and she leans against you. "No, Lev, I don't think I'm alright."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

You turn your torso to face her, your face only inches from hers. Her eyes are cloudy, a waterfall mist on a cerulean backdrop. "No, I don't think so," she murmurs, looking away.

You take her chin in your hand and gently guide her eyes back to yours.

"Nadia, I'm here for you. I mean it."

She jerks her chin from your hand, and you start to think she is upset with you. "I just can't believe I let that happen to her. Our daughter. Karina." You see the regret on her face. The doubts. The thoughts of I shook the hand of the man that **** my daughter and thanked him for it. You know those thoughts because you have them too.

You sigh. "I know how you feel, Nadia. It is horrible. Truly horrible. I don't know what we can do for her, but I will do anything I can to help her. Whatever it takes."

Nadia nods, then pauses. "And George?"

"He won't hurt anyone ever again."

Another nod. "Good. Good."

She says nothing more during the evening. After a few minutes of silence, she rolls towards you and cuddles against you, nestling into the crook of your shoulder, then slides a leg across your waist. "Good," you hear her whisper, as she drifts off to sleep. She stays there all night, unmoving, clinging to you.